UK Offence Report

Amendment of article 4

article 6 of The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exclusions and Exceptions) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 2) Order 2025

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

6 In article 4 (exclusion of section 4(2)(a) and (b) of the Act) of the 2013 Order— a for paragraph (2) substitute— 2 But the application of section 4(2)(a) and (b) of the Act is not excluded in relation to any question relating to a spent conviction or a children’s hearing outcome, or any circumstance ancillary to that conviction or outcome, if that conviction or outcome is— a a non-disclosable conviction, b a conviction which— i falls within paragraph (2A), and ii is not included in a Level 2 disclosure made available in connection with the purpose for which the question is put, c a non-disclosable children’s hearing outcome, or d a children’s hearing outcome which— i falls within paragraph (2B), and ii is not included in a Level 2 disclosure made available in connection with the purpose for which the question is put. , b in paragraph (2A)— i in sub-paragraph (a)(i), for “7” substitute “5”, ii in sub-paragraph (a)(ii), for “15” substitute “11”, iii in sub-paragraph (b), for “protected” substitute “non-disclosable”, c after paragraph (2A) insert— 2B A children’s hearing outcome falls within this paragraph if— a the offence which led to the children’s hearing outcome is an offence listed in schedule A1 and at least 5 years and 6 months have passed since the date of the children’s hearing outcome, or b the offence which led to the children’s hearing outcome is an offence listed in schedule B1 and it is not a non-disclosable children’s hearing outcome. , d for paragraph (4) substitute— 4 If a spent conviction which falls within paragraph (2A) or a children’s hearing outcome which falls within paragraph (2B) is included in a Level 2 disclosure, the application of section 4(2)(a) and (b) of the Act is not excluded in relation to any failure to disclose that conviction or outcome, or any circumstances ancillary to that conviction or outcome, which occurred before that Level 2 disclosure was made available. , e in paragraph (5)— i after “disclose the conviction” insert “or children’s hearing outcome”, ii after “when the conviction” insert “or outcome”, iii after “(2A)” insert “or (2B)”.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
a person
Conduct
failing to do something the instrument requires
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that a person meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

Intention, knowledge and carelessness are irrelevant to guilt. They may still matter a great deal to sentence.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

What would breach article 6?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. Not doing what the provision requires under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exclusions and Exceptions) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 2) Order 2025, by the time it requires it to be done.
  2. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated here: this instrument amends another one, and the penalty for the offence is in the instrument being amended.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
13 March 2025
In force from
Not determined
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order amends the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exclusions and Exceptions) (Scotland) Order 2013 (“the 2013 Order”). Article 4 of this Order amends article 2A of the 2013 Order to replace references to protected convictions with references to “non-disclosable convictions” and “non-disclosable children’s hearing outcomes” for the purposes of the exclusions and exceptions in the 2013 Order. This reflects the changes made to the disclosure system and the operation of the Protecting Vulnerable Groups Scheme (“the PVG Scheme”) and barring service by the Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020 (“the Disclosure Act”). Article 6 substitutes paragraph (2) of article 4 of the 2013 Order, amends paragraph (2A) and inserts new paragraph (2B) to provide when convictions and children’s hearing outcomes are not caught by the exclusion in paragraph (2). The amendments made by article 6 also substitute references to “higher level disclosure” with references to “Level 2 disclosure” to reflect the changes made to the disclosure system and the operation of the PVG Scheme and barring service by the Disclosure Act. Article 7 makes equivalent amendments to article 5 of the 2013 Order. Article 8 amends schedule A1 of the 2013 Order to update the list of offences for which convictions must and children’s hearing outcomes may be disclosed subject to the exceptions specified in the 2013 Order. Article 9 amends schedule B1 of the 2013 Order to update the list of offences for which convictions must and children’s hearing outcomes may be disclosed subject to the rules set out in the 2013 Order. Article 10 amends schedule 3 of the 2013 Order, which describes circumstances in which questions can be put to someone about spent convictions which would not normally need to be disclosed. In certain circumstances these questions can be asked of the individual whose suitability is being assessed, investigated, reviewed or confirmed for a particular role, position or employment, or of another individual who is over the age of 16 and who resides in the same household as the individual being assessed. Article 10(a)(i) and (iii) to (vi) insert provision in respect of new types of regulated roles in relation to which questions can be asked of individuals over the age of 16 who are residing in the same household as the person whose suitability is being assessed, investigated, reviewed or confirmed for those roles. Article 10(a)(ii) omits circumstances which are now regulated roles under the Disclosure Act and for which PVG scheme membership will be required. Article 10(c) inserts a new paragraph 5A, which makes provision for questions asked in the context of an individual over the age of 16 (who is not a pupil receiving a school care accommodation service or whose suitability to carry out a regulated role is not being assessed) living in school care accommodation. Article 10(b), (d) and (e) makes various consequential amendments and substitutions to reflect the changes made to the disclosure system and the operation of the PVG Scheme and barring service by the Disclosure Act. Article 3 amends article 2 of the 2013 Order to omit and insert relevant definitions to reflect the repeal of Part 5 of the Police Act 1997 (certificates of criminal records etc.) by the Disclosure Act and amendments made elsewhere in this Order. Articles 5 and 11 make consequential substitutions which reflect the changes made to the disclosure system and the operation of the PVG Scheme and barring service by the Disclosure Act.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same instrument

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.62.

Basis
the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.62 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source