The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2006

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order amends the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (“the 1975 Order”).

Article 3 of the 1975 Order provides exceptions to section 4(2) of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (“the Act”) (questions which relate to spent convictions). Article 4 of this Order provides new exceptions for questions asked in relation to public contract tendering under European Community law and in relation to assessing the suitability of a person to undertake certain activities as a football steward.

Article 4 of the 1975 Order provides exceptions to section 4(3)(b) of the Act (spent convictions not to be a proper ground for dismissal or for prejudicing a person in any occupation or employment). Article 5 of this Order provides a new exception relating to decisions to refuse approval for a person to undertake certain activities as a football steward.

Parts I and II of Schedule 1 to the 1975 Order list the professions, offices, employments, work and occupations which are excepted from the provisions of the Act. Article 6 of this Order adds “home inspectors” to the list. The effect of article 7 is to make substitutions to the 1975 Order in relation to those who work with vulnerable adults and to reflect the new arrangements in relation to “HM Revenue and Customs” and the “Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office”. Various new posts are also added to the list including persons designated under the Traffic Management Act 2004 and various persons who work in the courts and in relation to the Official Solicitor and Public Trustee.

Schedule 3 to the 1975 Order deals with excepted proceedings (for the purposes of Article 5 to the 1975 Order which allows for spent convictions to be disclosed in such proceedings). Article 9 of this Order adds certain new proceedings in which spent convictions may be used: those before the Parole Board; under section 7D of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1995; under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002; and in relation to the refusal to approve a person to undertake certain activities as a football steward.