# The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012, Note: Explanatory note


(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations make a number of changes to existing regulations under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (Northern Ireland) Order 2007 (“the 2007 Order”) which are consequential upon the changes to the 2007 Order in Schedule 7 to the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (“the 2012 Act”). These Regulations also make a number of new provisions.
Regulations 2 to 7 amend the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (Barred List Prescribed Information) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008 which set out the information which the Independent Safeguarding Authority (“ISA”) is obliged to keep in relation to any individual who is barred.
Regulation 3 omits a definition which was linked to monitoring applications which were to be made under Article 28 of the 2007 Order. Monitoring (including Article 28) is repealed by paragraph 6 of Schedule 7 to the 2012 Act.
Regulation 4 substitutes a new definition which was also linked to monitoring and regulation 6 makes a consequential amendment in light of the new definition.
Regulation 5 makes further amendments consequential upon the repeal of monitoring.
Regulation 7 makes amendments consequential upon the changes to Articles 43 and 47 of the 2007 Order made by paragraphs 12(1) and 13(1) of Schedule 7 to the 2012 Act which change the duty on keepers of registers (under Article 43 of the 2007 Order) and on supervisory authorities (under Article 47 of the 2007 Order) to refer information to the ISA into a power to refer information to the ISA.
Regulations 8 and 9 amend the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (Barring Procedure) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008 to reflect the changes made to the barring procedure by paragraph 4 of Schedule 7 to the 2012 Act. Under paragraphs 2 and 8 of Schedule 1 to the 2007 Order (as amended by paragraph 4 of Schedule 7 to the 2012 Act), individuals will no longer make representations in order to be removed from the barred list(s), rather they will make representations in order not to be included in the barred list(s).
Regulations 10 to 20 amend the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (Prescribed Information) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009 in light of changes made by the 2012 Act. These regulations set out the information which is to be provided to the ISA by various bodies under various provisions in the 2007 Order.
Regulations 11, 12, 13, 14, 17 and 18 make amendments which are consequential upon the repeal of controlled activity under paragraph 5 of Schedule 7 to the 2012 Act. Regulations 15 and 19 remove the regulations which concerned information which Education and Library Boards and Health and Social Care Bodies, keepers of relevant registers and supervisory authorities were obliged to provide to the ISA under Articles 41, 43 and 47 of the 2007 Order in light of the amendments made by paragraphs 12(1), 13(1) and 14(3) of Schedule 7 to the 2012 Act, which removes these obligations and replaces them with a power to refer information to the ISA.
Regulation 16 makes an amendment which is consequential upon the repeal of monitoring under paragraph 6 of Schedule 7 to the 2012 Act.
Regulation 20 makes an amendment for the purpose of clarifying the obligation on various bodies to provide details of any court proceedings. All court proceedings taken in relation to the person’s conduct are included in the obligation and this amendment simply emphasises, for the avoidance of doubt, that this includes proceedings under the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995.
Regulations 21 and 22 amend the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009 (“the 2009 Regulations”). Article 3 of the 2007 Order defined who was a vulnerable adult in some detail and enabled regulations to be made in relation to that definition. Since Article 3 of the 2007 Order is repealed by paragraph 2 of Schedule 7 to the 2012 Act, regulation 3 of the 2009 Regulations is revoked. In addition, regulations can be made under Schedule 2 to the 2007 Order to define further the scope of regulated activity in relation to vulnerable adults. In light of the changes to the definition of regulated activity in relation to vulnerable adults made by paragraph 3 of Schedule 7 to the 2012 Act, regulation 5 of the 2009 Regulations, which further defined the scope, is also revoked.
Regulations 23 to 24 prescribe the circumstances in which conveying an adult is regulated activity relating to vulnerable adults. The circumstances are that the conveying is being done by someone who is employed as a hospital porter, emergency care assistant, an ambulance technician or is employed by the Patient Transport Service (or someone employed to assist in this conveying) or that the person doing the conveying is doing so on behalf of an organisation (rather than merely in the capacity of a friend or relative, for example) whether employed by the organisation or doing so as a volunteer, and the adult is being conveying either to or from a place in which the adult will receive, or has received, health care, relevant personal care or relevant social work where the purpose of the conveying was to ensure they could receive that care (therefore excluding adults travelling, for example, on a public bus whose purpose is general conveyance of the public).
Regulation 25 prescribes circumstances in which a person engages in regulated activity that is connected with the provision of health care to adult. Someone who provides psychotherapy or counselling (but not life coaching) to an adult, when that psychotherapy or counselling is related to health care which the adult is receiving from (or under the direction of) a health care professional, is engaging in a regulated activity.
Regulation 26 makes provision under Article 52A(1)(d) of the 2007 Order which was inserted by paragraph 14 of Schedule 7 to the 2012 Act. Article 52A(1)(d) enables the police to use information given to them by the ISA for prescribed purposes and regulation 26 provides that the police can use information given to them by the ISA for the purposes of disclosing it as relevant information on an enhanced criminal record certificate under section 113B(4) of the Police Act 1997.
An impact assessment has not been produced for this rule as no impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2012/323/note (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/safeguarding-vulnerable-groups-miscellaneous-provisions-regulations-northern-ireland-2012/note
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.