The Police Act 1997 (Criminal Record Certificates: Relevant Matters) (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2021
S.R. 2021/156 · Made 8 May 2021
Criminal Law
Laid before the Assembly in draft
Made 8th May 2021
Coming into operation 9th June 2021
The Department of Justice makes the following Order in exercise of the powers conferred by section 113A(7)f1 of the Police Act 1997 as modified by section 126A(1) and (8)f2 of that Act.
Annotations to the whole text
Footnotes
- f1
-
1997 c.50: section 113A was inserted by section 163(2) of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (2005 c.15); section 113A(7) and (8) were inserted by paragraph 14(2) of Schedule 9 to Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 (2006 c.47).
- f2
-
Section 126A was inserted by article 12 and paragraph 38 of Schedule 14 to S.I. 2010/976 and transfers the section 113A(7) powers of the Secretary of State to the Department of Justice.
Contents
1Citation and commencement
This Order may be cited as the Police Act 1997 (Criminal Record Certificates: Relevant Matters) (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2021, and comes into operation on the day after the day on which this Order is approved by resolution of the Assembly.
2Amendment of the Police Act 1997
In section 113A(6) of the Police Act 1997f1, in the definition of “relevant matter” as it has effect in Northern Ireland–
in paragraph (a) for “in relation to a person who has one conviction only” substitute “any of the following convictions”;
omit paragraph (b).
Signature
Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Justice on 8th June 2021
L.S.
Naomi Long
Minister of Justice
Explanatory note
(This note is not part of the Order)
This Order amends the definition of “relevant matter” in the Police Act 1997. The definition of “relevant matter” sets out what information is disclosed by AccessNI in response to an application for a criminal record certificate or an enhanced criminal record certificate. The Order provides for the amendment of a scheme to filter out certain convictions that are old and minor and certain disposals from disclosure on a criminal record certificate or an enhanced criminal record certificate. Specifically, this Order removes the previous requirement whereby AccessNI could not filter any convictions that might be otherwise eligible for filtering except for the fact that an applicant had more than one conviction.