UK Offence Report

False statements

regulation 17 of The Agriculture Improvement Regulations 1985

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

17 If any person, for the purposes of obtaining for himself or any other person any grant under these regulations, knowingly or recklessly makes

a false statement, he shall be liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding £2,000.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
making a false or misleading statement
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (knowingly, knowingly or recklessly, recklessly).

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

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: knowingly, recklessly, knowingly or recklessly.

What would breach regulation 17?

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. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Agriculture Improvement Regulations 1985.
  2. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  3. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£2,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Agriculture Improvement Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987
Revoked on
30 March 1987
Made
7 August 1985
In force from
1 October 1985
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

What the instrument is for

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

These regulations implement in part the provisions of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 797/85 on improving the efficiency of agricultural structures and Council Directive No. 75/268/EEC on mountain and hill farming and farming in certain less-favoured areas. The regulations, which apply throughout the United Kingdom, and operate (except for regulations 1 and 19) from 1st October 1985, make provision for aid for agricultural businesses in the form of grants in respect of expenditure of a capital nature incurred in pursuance of approved improvement plans (regulation 9). The works, facilities and transactions eligible for grant and the rates of grant applicable to them are set out (regulation 10 and the Schedule). Facilities for tourism and craft projects on a farm may be eligible for grant where they are additional to other eligible works included in an improvement plan (regulation 6(3)(k) and paragraphs 12 and 13 of the Schedule). Higher rates of grant may be payable for agricultural business in less-favoured areas (regulation 10(2) and the Schedule) or for business carried on by young farmers or by partnerships in which a young farmer is a partner (regulation 10(3) to (5)). Less-favoured areas are defined by reference to designated maps which are available for inspection during normal office hours at the addresses specified in the definition of designated maps (regulation 2(1)). Copies of the maps may be inspected during normal office hours at any Regional or Divisional Office of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, at any Divisional Office of the Welsh Office Agriculture Department, at any Area Office of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland or at any County Agricultural Executive Office or selected Area Offices of the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland. The classes of person and type of agricultural business which may benefit from grant-aid are defined (regulations 3 and 4). To benefit from assistance an applicant must submit an improvement plan for approval by the appropriate Minister (regulation 5). The plan must show that its completion will bring about a lasting and substantial improvement of the situation of the business and its economy, especially the income per labour unit required in carrying on the business (regulation 6(1)). The regulations also— (a) impose certain restrictions on approval of improvement plans (regulation 6(2) to (8)); (b) provide for the variation and withdrawal of plans (regulation 8); (c) provide for standard costs (regulation 13); (d) provide for the reduction or withholding of grant in certain circumstances where it would otherwise be payable (regulation 15) and for the recovery of grant paid (regulation 16); (e) create an offence, punishable on summary conviction with a maximum fine of £2,000, of knowingly or recklessly making a false statement to obtain grant (regulation 17); (f) confer rights of entry (regulation 18); (g) set a closing date of 31st December 1994 for submission of improvement plans for approval (regulation 7). Amendments are also made to the Farm and Horticulture Development Regulations 1981 being previous regulations relating to improving agricultural structures. Further restrictions on the approval of grant in connection with pig and dairy enterprises are set out in relation to works, facilities or transactions included in an application for a variation of a development plan received on or after the day after these regulations are made and to claims for grant towards expenditure incurred on or after that day (regulations 1(2)(a) and 19).

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

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 0.72.

Basis
the provision states liability on summary conviction; the provision states a penalty in older drafting
Confidence
0.72 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