UK Offence Report

Medical examinations required in the interests of others

article 37(2) of The Detention Centre Rules 2001

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

2 A detained person who has been required to submit to a medical examination shall, so far as is reasonably practicable, be asked to consent to the examination and be informed by the examining medical practitioner— a that he is being required to submit to a medical examination in accordance with Schedule 12 to the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999; b of the nature of the disease from which there are reasonable grounds to believe he is suffering; and c that a refusal, without reasonable excuse, to submit to the medical examination is an offence under that Act.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 detained person
Conduct
breaching the provision
Fault element
Objective fault
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened and that it fell below the standard the provision sets. That is an objective test - what a reasonable person in the same position would have done, not what this defendant actually thought.

What a detained person personally believed or intended is not the question; the standard is what was reasonable.

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: objective standard in the offence-creating words: so far as is reasonably practicable, reasonably practicable; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

e grounds to believe he is suffering; and c that a refusal, without reasonable excuse, to submit to the medical examination is an offence under that Act.

What would breach article 37(2)?

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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Detention Centre Rules 2001.

Penalty

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

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

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
29 January 2001
In force from
2 April 2001
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 Rules) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Rules make provision for the regulation and management of detention centres. They provide for matters such as the welfare and privileges of detained persons, their religious observance, correspondence, health care and any complaints they wish to make, as well as the use of security measures such as powers of search and removal from association in certain circumstances. The Rules also provide for the duties of detainee custody officers. In addition, the Rules make provision as to the making of visits by members of the Visiting Committee and for the making of reports by them to the Secretary of State.

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.

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