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The Rehabilitation of Offenders (Exceptions) (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2019
This instrument amends the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Exceptions) Order (Northern Ireland) 1979 (“the 1979 Order”) to give effect to changes to a criminal record ‘filtering scheme’ that allows some old and minor spent convictions to be ‘filtered, so that they are no longer disclosed and cannot be taken into account in employment decisions in certain circumstances. The 1978 Order makes it possible for certain convictions to become “spent”, which means that after a specified period a person can be treated for certain purposes as if the conviction had never happened and they need not, for example, tell an employer about the conviction when applying for a job.
To ensure that the public is adequately protected, however, certain exceptions to the 1978 Order are set out in the 1979 Order so that, for specified professions and occupations that typically involve a high degree of trust and often involve vulnerable persons, applicants must declare all past convictions when asked. The 1979 Order is amended periodically to ensure that the access to the criminal record disclosure regime keeps pace with changes in public risk; to ensure that disclosure regimes remain consistent across jurisdictions where appropriate; and to maintain the public trust and protection process.
This Order, the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Exceptions) (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2019 (“the 2019 Order”), stems from a Supreme Court judgment, which ruled that elements of the criminal record ‘filtering scheme’ operated by the Department of Justice were disproportionate. The ‘filtering scheme’ was established in 2014 following a review of the criminal records regime in Northern Ireland that was carried out by Sunita Mason during 2011, which recommended that the Department of Justice should filter old and minor convictions from standard and enhanced criminal record certificates; and to take account of the findings of two court cases concerning the disclosure of criminal record material at that time.
The terms of the scheme are that a conviction can be filtered after a period of 11 years (or 5.5 years for those under 18 at the time of the conviction), so long as the conviction was not for a specified offence as listed in the 1979 Order (e.g. serious violent and sexual offences; or offences of specific relevance for posts concerned with safeguarding children and vulnerable adults; etc.); did not attract a custodial sentence; and if there is no other conviction on the individual’s record.
The Supreme Court found that limiting the filtering scheme to a single offence, with the result that more than one old and minor conviction would be disclosed automatically, was disproportionate. The Department has, therefore, adjusted the terms of the scheme to allow more than one offence to be filtered in order to comply with the judgment.
The 2019 Order gives effect to this change by amending the 1979 Order to remove Article 1A(2)(c), which restricted the terms of the filtering scheme to a single conviction. The Department is satisfied that public protection is maintained, however, as the remaining elements of the filtering scheme will continue to ensure that there is no increased risk to the public as a result of this change.
No.118 The Smoking (2006 Order) (commencement) Order (Northern Ireland) 2007
This order provides for the coming into operation of the remainder of the 2006 order on 30/04/07.
No 157 The Cross-Border mediation Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011
Although these Regulations do not specifically relate to employment there are aspects of them that could apply in an employment dispute which is cross border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
No. 470 The Disability Discrimination (Questions and Replies) Order (Northern Ireland) 2007
This Order prescribes, as of 31/12/07, the forms for questions and replies under Part 3 of the Act, cases other than employment and education, other than employment services and aspects of group insurance.
419 The Disability Discrimination (Employment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996
These Regulations provide for circumstances whereupon treatment of a disabled employee or failure to make a reasonable adjustment is justified: where pay is linked to performance, where there are uniform rates of contribution to an occupational pension scheme regardless of benefits received, where building works complied with (and continue to comply with) the building regulations in relations to disabled access and facilities.
466 Industrial Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996
These Regulations came into operation as of 3rd November 1997 (with some exceptions) and amend the Industrial Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations (NI) 1996 in relation to: proceedings under Disability Discrimination Act, notice of appearance timescales, requirement for tribunals to give extended reason for decisions under the 1995 Act, procedures for appointment of expert for equal value cases and so on.
No. 323 The Road Transport (Working Time) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007
These Regulations, as of 31/7/07, replace the references to the previous 1985 EEC Regulation with those relating to the 2006 EC Regulation and make various technical amendments and provisions on previous omissions on matters such as types of vehicle covered and provisions for Industrial Tribunals to hear appeals against improvement notices as if they had been issued under the Health and Safety at Work (NI) Order 1978 (Art.26).
No. 520 The Civil Partnership Act 2004 (Amendment to Subordinate Legislation) Order (Northern Ireland) 2005
Although the main impact on Northern Ireland employment legislation in the area of civil partnership comes from the Civil Partnership Act (2004) (for example, Section 252 and Schedule 29) itself, the above Order addresses other changes in the employment sphere.
No.426 Employment Equality (Sex Discrimination) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005
These Regulations implement the latest in a series of Equality related Directive Requirements.