Post Office (Horizon System) Offences (Scotland) Act 2024

3 Identification and notification of quashed convictions

(1) The Scottish Ministers must take all reasonable steps to identify the convictions quashed by section 1(1).

(2) Where the Scottish Ministers identify that a person’s conviction has been quashed by section 1(1), the Scottish Ministers must notify the convicting court of the details of the conviction.

(3) As soon as is reasonably practicable after receiving notification under subsection (2), the convicting court must enter, instead of the record of conviction, a record that the conviction was quashed by this Act.

(4) Where the Scottish Ministers identify that a person’s conviction has been quashed by section 1(1), the Scottish Ministers—

(a) must take all reasonable steps to notify the person, or, if the person is no longer alive, the person’s personal representatives, that the conviction has been quashed, or

(b) if it is not reasonably practicable to give a notification under paragraph (a), must take all reasonable steps to—

(i) identify some other person whom the Scottish Ministers consider it appropriate to notify, and

(ii) notify that person that the conviction has been quashed.

(5) For the purpose of identifying convictions quashed by section 1(1), the Scottish Ministers must, in particular, consider any representations made to the Scottish Ministers which claim that a person has been convicted of a relevant offence, whether or not made by that person.

(6) In this section, “the convicting court”, in relation to a person’s conviction, means the court by or before which the person was convicted.