UK Offence Report

SCHEDULE 4

SCHEDULE 4 of The National Health Service (Vocational Training for General Medical Practice) Regulations 1997

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

4 Any person who refuses or deliberately fails to attend in obedience to

a summons under this section, or to give evidence, or who deliberately alters, suppresses, conceals, destroys, or refuses to produce any book or other document which he is required or is liable to be required to produce for the purposes of this section, shall be liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

3 on the standard scale or to imprisonment for

a term not exceeding

6 months, or to both. *Note In the context of an appeal under regulation 13, these provisions should be read as if the word “appeal” were substituted for the word “inquiry”.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 (deliberately).

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: deliberately.

What would breach SCHEDULE 4?

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. On these words an offence is committed where a person deliberately alters, suppresses, conceals, destroys, or refuses to produce any book or other document which he is required or is liable to be required to produce for the purposes of this section.
  2. Not doing what the provision requires under the National Health Service (Vocational Training for General Medical Practice) Regulations 1997, by the time it requires it to be done.
  3. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£1,000
Standard scale
Level 3
Maximum prison (summary)
6 months

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
26 November 1997
In force from
30 January 1998
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 Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations revoke and replace the National Health Service (Vocational Training) Regulations 1979 and the Regulations which amended them. The Regulations prescribe the medical experience which, under section 31 of the National Health Service Act 1977, a medical practitioner is required to have acquired before being included in a Health Authority’s list of practitioners undertaking to provide general medical services (regulations 4 and 6). They also prescribe the circumstances in which medical practitioners are exempt from the need to have acquired the prescribed medical experience (regulation 5). They provide for the Joint Committee on Postgraduate Training for General Practice (“the Joint Committee”) to approve practitioners as GP trainers (regulation 7) and hospital and community training posts (regulation 8) and for an appeal to the Secretary of State by a practitioner who has been refused approval as a GP trainer (regulation 7). The Regulations also introduce a procedure for summative assessment of experience gained during the prescribed training as a General Practice (GP) Registrar (regulation 9 and Schedule 2). The Regulations require the Joint Committee to issue a medical practitioner with a certificate of prescribed experience if they are satisfied that he has acquired the necessary experience (regulation 10), or a certificate of equivalent experience if they are satisfied that he has acquired experience which is equivalent to the prescribed experience (regulations 11 and 12). The Regulations provide for the establishment and procedure of an appeal body to hear appeals against the refusal of a certificate of prescribed or equivalent experience (regulation 14) and for the procedure to be followed on appeal (regulations 16 and 17 and Schedule 4). The Regulations give effect to Title IV of Council Directive 93/16/EEC of 5th April 1993 to facilitate the free movement of doctors and the mutual recognition of their diplomas, certificates and other evidence of formal qualifications (which is referred to in these Regulations as “the Medical Directive”), as read with the Agreement on the European Economic Area (“EEA”) signed at Oporto on 2nd May 1992 (as adjusted). Title IV of the Medical Directive is about vocational training for doctors providing general medical services in the national social security schemes of the member States. The Regulations also make provision relating to a person who is not a national of a member state of the EEA, but who is entitled to be treated no less favourably than an EEA national by virtue of a right conferred by article 11 of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 1612/68 (OJ No. L 257, 19.10.1968, p.1) or any other enforceable Community right (such as those derived from articles 48 and 52 of the Treaty of Rome). With the exception of regulation 3 (power of direction), which is made under powers in section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972, most of the provisions of the Regulations could be made under powers in the National Health Service Act 1977. Community obligations are, however, of relevance to provisions of the Regulations other than regulation 3, including specifically regulation 6(6) (supervision of training by the Joint Committee) and regulations 7 (approval of trainers) and 8 (approval of training posts).

Read the full note and every offence in this 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 0.72.

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