The criminal offences which have been abolished since 1 May 2008 are as follows:
Offences under the Care Standards Act 2000 (insofar as those offences related to the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) or the Healthcare Commission—both bodies abolished) have been (or will be) repealed by the Health and Social Care Act 2008:-
Section 11 - carrying on or managing an establishment or agency without being registered;
Section 24 - failure to comply with conditions of registration without reasonable excuse;
Section 25 - power to create an offence in regulation for contravention of or failure to comply with regulations;
Section 26 - offences relating to false descriptions of establishments and agencies;
Section 27 - false statement in applications;
Section 28 - offence relating to failure to display certificate of registration;
Section 30 - provision is made for what happens if one of the offences is committed by a body corporate - if the offence is proved to have been committed by, or with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of any director, manager or secretary of the body corporate, or any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, that director, manager, secretary or person purporting to act as such (as well as the body corporate) is guilty of the offence and liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly;
Section 31(9) - offence relating to the obstructing of or failing to comply with entry and inspection by the CSCI or Healthcare Commission.
Offences under the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003 have been (or will be) repealed by the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (due to abolition of Healthcare Commission and CSCI):
Section 67(5)and 89(5) - offence relating to the obstructing of or failing to comply with entry and inspection by the Healthcare Commission or CSCI;
Section 68(4) and 90(4) - offence relating to failure to comply with a Healthcare Commission request for documents or information or CSCI;
Section 69(3)or 91(3) - offence relating to failure to comply with a request for an explanation from the Healthcare Commission or CSCI;
Section 136 - offence of disclosure of confidential personal information held by the Healthcare Commission;
Section 146—provision is made for what happens if one of the offences is committed by a body corporate—if the offence is proved to have been committed by, or with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of any director, manager or secretary of the body corporate, or any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, that director, manager, secretary or person purporting to act as such (as well as the body corporate) is guilty of the offence and liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
However, many of those repealed under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 are to be re-enacted (broadly re-enacted) in regulations under the provision referred to in Part 1 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008, which will come into force at the same time that the repeal comes in to effect.
The criminal offences which have been created since 1 May 2008 are as follows:
Offences in Part 1 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008:
Section 10(1) - any person who carries on a regulated activity without being registered with the Care Quality Commission is guilty of an offence;
Section 33 - offence of failure, without reasonable excuse, to comply with conditions of registration with the Care Quality Commission;
Section 34 - offences relating to the carrying on or management of regulated activities while registration with the Care Quality Commission is suspended or where such registration has been cancelled;
Section 35 - regulation-making power to create offences for contravention of or failure to comply with regulations;
Section 36 - offence of false description of concerns, premises - any person who with intent to deceive gives any concern or premises a name or in any other way describes a premises so as to indicate that the carrying on of the concern is a regulated activity or that the premises are used for the carrying on of a regulated activity is guilty of an offence unless the person is registered in respect of the regulated activity in question and that registration is not suspended;
Section 37 - offence relation to making knowingly false statements in applications to the Care Quality Commission;
Section 63(7) - offence relating to the obstructing of or failing to comply with entry and inspection by the Care Quality Commission (without reasonable excuse);
Section 64(4) - offence relating to failure to comply with Care Quality Commission request for documents or information (without reasonable excuse);
Section 65(4) - offence relating to failure to comply with a request for an explanation from the Care Quality Commission (without reasonable excuse);
Section 76(2) - offence of disclosure of confidential personal information held by the Care Quality Commission;
Under section 91 of the Act provision is made for what happens if one of the offences is committed by a body corporate—if the offence is proved to have been committed by, or with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of any director, manager or secretary of the body corporate, or any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, that director, manager, secretary or person purporting to act as such (as well as the body corporate) is guilty of the offence and liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
"Regulated activities" (i.e. the definitions of what they are) are set out in regulations.
Section 4A(1) of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 prohibits the placing in a woman of a human admixed embryo. Section 4A(2) (read with section 41) also makes it an offence to mix human gametes with animal gametes or to create, keep or use a human admixed embryo without a licence.
Section 21 of the Health Act 2009 introduced new offences in relation to tobacco by inserting new provisions into the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002:-
New section 7A of that Act makes it an offence for a person in the course of a business to display tobacco products or cause tobacco products to be displayed, in a place in England, Wales and Northern Ireland;
New section 7B provides for exclusions from and defences to this offence;
New section 7C makes it an offence for a person to display or cause to be displayed the prices of tobacco products in breach of a requirement contained in regulations made under this section (such regulations can impose requirements in relation to the display in a place in England or Wales or Northern Ireland in the course of business of the prices of tobacco products);
New section 7D makes it an offence for a person who displays or causes to be displayed tobacco prices or their prices in breach of a requirement contained in regulations made under this section (such regulations can impose requirements in relation to the display in England or Wales or Northern Ireland in the course of a business of tobacco products or their prices on a website where tobacco products are offered for sale).
Section 22 of the Health Act 2009 also introduced a new section 3A into the Children and Young Persons (Protection from Tobacco) Act 1991 allowing the appropriate national authority to make provision by regulations prohibiting the sale of tobacco from an automatic machine in England and Wales; these regulations must make provision as to the persons who are liable in the case of any breach of a prohibition, and where a prohibition is breached any person liable inn accordance with the regulations is guilty of an offence.
Section 23 makes similar provision in relation to Northern Ireland by adding a new article 4A into the Children and Young Persons (Protection from Tobacco) (Northern Ireland) Order 1991.
Section 20 amended section 6 of the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act which automatically excluded specialist tobacconists from committing an offence under section 2 of that Act; under the amendments this exclusion will only apply in England, Wales and Northern Ireland if the tobacco advertisement complies with requirements, including those to be established in regulations.