The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) (Amendment) Order 2001

Statutory Instruments

2001 No. 1192

REHABILITATION OF OFFENDERS

The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) (Amendment) Order 2001

Made

24th March 2001

Coming into force

31st March 2001

The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 4(4) of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974(1), hereby makes the following Order, a draft of which has been laid before and approved by resolution of each House of Parliament:

Citation, commencement and extent

1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) (Amendment) Order 2001 and shall come into force on the seventh day after the day on which it is made.

(2) This Order extends to England and Wales only.

Amendment of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975

2.  The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975(2) is hereby amended in accordance with the following provisions of this Order.

Amendment of article 2

3.  In article 2(1)—

(a) after the definition of “the Act” there shall be inserted:

• ““adoption agency” has the meaning given to it by section 1 of the Adoption Act 1976(3);”;

(b) after the definition of “the Building Societies Commission” there shall be inserted:

• ““child minding” means—

  (a)

  until section 79 of the Care Standards Act 2000(4) comes into force, acting as a child minder within the meaning of section 71 of the Children Act 1989(5); and

  (b)

  when section 79 of the Care Standards Act 2000 is in force, child minding within the meaning of section 79A of the Children Act 1989;

• “day care” means—

  (a)

  until section 79 of the Care Standards Act 2000 comes into force, day care for which registration is required by section 78(1) of the Children Act 1989; and

  (b)

  when section 79 of the Care Standards Act 2000 is in force, day care for which registration is required by section 79D(5) of the Children Act 1989;

• “day care premises” means any premises on which day care is provided, but does not include any part of the premises where children are not looked after;”; and

(c) after the definition of “relevant offence”there shall be inserted:

• ““work” includes—

  (a)

  work of any kind, whether paid or unpaid, and whether under a contract of service or apprenticeship, under a contract for services, or otherwise than under a contract; and

  (b)

  an office established by or by virtue of an enactment;

• “work with children” means work of the kind described in paragraph 14 of Schedule 1 to this Order;”.

Amendment of article 3

4.—(1) For article 3(a)(ii) there shall be substituted:

“(ii) of the person to whom the question relates for any office or employment specified in Part II of the said Schedule 1 or for any other work specified in paragraph 13 of Part II of the said Schedule 1; or”.

(2) For article 3(aa) there shall be substituted:

“(aa) any question asked by or on behalf of any person, in the course of the duties of his work, in order to assess the suitability of a person to work with children, where—

(i) the question relates to the person whose suitability is being assessed;

(ii) the person whose suitability is being assessed lives on the premises where his work with children would normally take place and the question relates to a person living in the same household as him;

(iii) the person whose suitability is being assessed lives on the premises where his work with children would normally take place and the question relates to a person who regularly works on those premises at a time when the work with children usually takes place; or

(iv) the work for which the person’s suitability is being assessed is child minding which would normally take place on premises other than premises where that person lives and the question relates to a person who lives on those other premises or to a person who regularly works on them at a time when the child minding takes place,

and where the person to whom the question relates is informed at the time the question is asked that, by virtue of this Order, spent convictions are to be disclosed;”.

(3) After article 3(d) there shall be inserted:

“(e) any question asked by or on behalf of any person in the course of his duties as a person employed by an adoption agency for the purpose of assessing the suitability of any person to adopt children in general or a child in particular where—

(i) the question relates to the person whose suitability is being assessed; or

(ii) the question relates to a person over the age of 18 living in the same household as the person whose suitability is being assessed,

and where the person to whom the question relates is informed at the time the question is asked that, by virtue of this Order, spent convictions are to be disclosed;

(f) any question asked by or on behalf of any person, in the course of the duties of his work, in order to assess the suitability of a person to provide day care where—

(i) the question relates to the person whose suitability is being assessed; or

(ii) the question relates to a person who lives on the premises which are or are proposed to be day care premises,

and where the person to whom the question relates is informed at the time the question is asked that, by virtue of this Order, spent convictions are to be disclosed.”.

Amendment of article 4

5.  For article 4(b) there shall be substituted:

“(b) any office, employment or occupation specified in Part II or Part III of the said Schedule 1 or any other work specified in paragraph 13 of Part II of the said Schedule 1;”.

Amendment of Schedule 1

6.—(1) For the heading to Schedule 1 there shall be substituted:

• ““Excepted professions, offices, employments, work and occupations””.

(2) For the heading to Part II of Schedule 1 there shall be substituted:

• ““Offices, employments and work””.

(3) For paragraph 4 of Part II of Schedule 1 there shall be substituted:

“4.   Justices' chief executives, justices' clerks and their assistants.”.

(4) For paragraph 13 of Part II of Schedule 1 there shall be substituted:

“13.   Any employment or other work which is concerned with the provision of health services and which is of such a kind as to enable the holder of that employment or the person engaged in that work to have access to persons in receipt of such services in the course of his normal duties.”.

(5) For paragraph 14 of Part II of Schedule 1 there shall be substituted:

“14.   Any work which is—

(a) work in a regulated position; or

(b) work in a further education institution where the normal duties of that work involve regular contact with persons aged under 18.”.

(6) In Part IV of Schedule 1 to the 1975 Order—

(a) after the definition of “further education” there shall be inserted:

• ““further education institution” has the meaning given to it by paragraph 3 of the Education (Restriction of Employment) Regulations 2000(6);”; and

(b) after the definition of “registered teacher” there shall be inserted:

““regulated position” means a position which is a regulated position for the purposes of Part II of the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000(7);”.

Jack Straw

One of Her Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State

Home Office

24th March 2001

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order amends the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975. It adds to the list of excepted offices and employments in Part II of Schedule 1 to that Order the office of justices' chief executive and excepts work which is concerned with the provision of health services and which is of such a kind as to enable the holder to have access to persons in receipt of such services in the course of his normal duties. It also substitutes a new definition of working with children and adds prospective adopters and those who apply to become registered day care providers to the list of those who are excepted from the provisions of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

(1)

1974 c. 53.

(2)

S.I. 1975/1023, amended by S.I. 1986/1249 and 2268, and modified by S.I. 1994/1696. It is also amended by section 39 of the Osteopaths Act 1993 (c. 21) and section 40 of the Chiropractors Act 1994 (c. 17), both of which are prospectively repealed by section 133 of and Schedule 10 to the Police Act 1997 (c. 50).

(3)

1976 c. 36.

(4)

2000 c. 14.

(5)

1989 c. 41.

(6)

S.I. 2000/2419.

(7)

2000 c. 43.