UK Offence Report

1 A person who has custody of a document which is required by regulation 7, 14 or 15 to be available for…

regulation 22(1) of The Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012

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

1 A person who has custody of a document which is required by regulation 7, 14 or 15 to be available for inspection by members of the public commits an offence if, without reasonable excuse, that person— a intentionally obstructs any person exercising a right conferred under these Regulations to inspect, or to make a copy of the whole or part of the document; or b refuses to supply a copy of the whole or part of the document in accordance with regulation 7(7), 14(2) or 21(2).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
obstructing an official exercising a power
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

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

“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: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: intentionally; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

inspection by members of the public commits an offence if, without reasonable excuse, that person— a intentionally obstructs any person exercising a right conferred under these Regulations to inspect, or to make a copy of the whole or part of the document; or b refuses to supply a copy of the whole or part of the document in accordance with r

What would breach regulation 22(1)?

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 has custody of a document which is required by regulation 7, 14 or 15 to be available for inspection by members of the public.
  2. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012.
  3. Sending an official away, or telling staff to say nothing, where the power being exercised does not depend on anyone's consent.
  4. Physically blocking an examination, or removing something an officer has said they intend to inspect.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£200
Standard scale
Level 1
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
Status not determined
Made
10 August 2012
In force from
10 September 2012
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 apply to county councils in England, district councils and London borough councils which are operating executive arrangements under Part 1A of the Local Government Act 2000. The Regulations make provision for public access to meetings and to information relating to decisions of local authority executives, and their committees. In addition, they provide for access to information relating to decisions made by joint committees of local authorities where these are solely comprised of executive members and are discharging executive functions. The Regulations also make provision for public access to documents where executive decisions are made by individual members or officers. The general principle of the Regulations is for the public to have access to meetings and documents where a local authority executive, committee or individual is taking an executive decision, as defined by regulation 2. Part 1 sets out preliminary matters and defines terms used in the Regulations. The purpose of Part 2 is to establish the presumption that meetings of local authority executives and their committees are to be held in public. Regulation 4 sets out the circumstances during which the public must be excluded from meetings. Regulation 5 sets out the formalities to be complied with before a private meeting is held. Regulation 6 sets out formalities to be complied with before a public meeting takes place. Rules relating to access to the agenda and reports for executive meetings are contained in regulation 7. Part 3 provides for specific requirements relating to executive decisions which are key decisions. Regulation 8 sets out the meaning of key decision and regulation 9 sets out the publicity requirements in relation to key decisions. Regulations 10 and 11 allow exceptions to these requirements. Part 4 deals with the recording of all executive decisions. In particular, regulations 12 and 13 require decisions to be recorded in a written statement. Regulations 14 and 15 set out the documents which must be made available for inspection by the public. Members of the local authority and of overview and scrutiny committees are given additional rights to access documents in Part 5. Regulation 17 sets out additional rights of members of overview and scrutiny committees in relation to decisions that committee is scrutinising and in certain circumstances the committee can access exempt or confidential information. An overview and scrutiny committee can require the executive to make a report to the local authority on matters which have not been dealt with as a key decision and which an overview and scrutiny committee consider should have been treated as such under regulation 18. Regulation 19 is a reporting requirement that the executive provides reports to the local authority on all matters which have been treated as urgent under regulation 11. Part 6 makes general provision relating to information. In particular, regulation 20 sets out general principles applicable to the whole instrument relating to the non-disclosure of confidential, exempt information or the advice of a political adviser or assistant. Regulation 21 establishes the manner in which documents required to be available for inspection by the Regulations are to be held at the offices of the local authority. Regulation 22 sets out offences where documents have not been made available for inspection as required under these Regulations. No impact assessment has been produced in relation to these Regulations because no impact on the private or voluntary sector is foreseen.

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 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person “commits an offence”
Confidence
0.92 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