Protection of Freedoms Bill (HL Bill 128)

(5) A disregarded conviction or caution, or any circumstances ancillary to it, is not
a proper ground for—

(a) dismissing or excluding a person from any office, profession,
35occupation or employment, or

(b) prejudicing the person in any way in any office, profession, occupation
or employment.

(6) This section is subject to section 97 but otherwise applies despite any
enactment or rule of law to the contrary.

(7) 40See also section 98 (meaning of “proceedings before a judicial authority” and
“circumstances ancillary to a conviction or caution”).

97 Saving for Royal pardons etc.

Nothing in section 96 affects any right of Her Majesty, by virtue of Her Royal
prerogative or otherwise, to grant a free pardon, to quash any conviction or
45sentence, or to commute any sentence.

98 Section 96: supplementary

(1) In section 96 “proceedings before a judicial authority” includes (in addition to
proceedings before any of the ordinary courts of law) proceedings before any
tribunal, body or person having power—

(a) 5by virtue of any enactment, law, custom or practice,

(b) under the rules governing any association, institution, profession,
occupation or employment, or

(c) under any provision of an agreement providing for arbitration with
respect to questions arising under that agreement,

10to determine any question affecting the rights, privileges, obligations or
liabilities of any person, or to receive evidence affecting the determination of
any such question.

(2) For the purposes of section 96, circumstances ancillary to a conviction are any
circumstances of—

(a) 15the offence which was the subject of the conviction;

(b) the conduct constituting the offence;

(c) any process or proceedings preliminary to the conviction;

(d) any sentence imposed in respect of the conviction;

(e) any proceedings (whether by way of appeal or otherwise) for
20reviewing the conviction or any such sentence;

(f) anything done in pursuance of, or undergone in compliance with, any
such sentence.

(3) For the purposes of section 96, circumstances ancillary to a caution are any
circumstances of—

(a) 25the offence which was the subject of the caution;

(b) the conduct constituting the offence;

(c) any process preliminary to the caution (including consideration by any
person of how to deal with the offence and the procedure for giving the
caution);

(d) 30any proceedings for the offence which take place before the caution is
given;

(e) anything which happens after the caution is given for the purpose of
bringing any such proceedings to an end;

(f) any judicial review proceedings relating to the caution;

(g) 35in the case of a warning under section 65 of the Crime and Disorder Act
1998 (reprimands and warnings for persons aged under 18), anything
done in pursuance of, or undergone in compliance with, a requirement
to participate in a rehabilitation programme under section 66(2) of that
Act.

40Appeals and other supplementary provision

99 Appeal against refusal to disregard convictions or cautions

(1) The applicant may appeal to the High Court if—

(a) the Secretary of State makes a decision of the kind mentioned in section
94(3)(b), and

(b) 45the High Court gives permission for an appeal against the decision.

(2) On such an appeal, the High Court must make its decision only on the basis of
the evidence that was available to the Secretary of State.

(3) If the High Court decides that it appears as mentioned in condition A in section
92, it must make an order to that effect.

(4) 5Otherwise it must dismiss the appeal.

(5) A conviction or caution to which an order under subsection (3) relates becomes
a disregarded conviction or caution when the period of 14 days beginning with
the day on which the order was made has ended.

(6) There is no appeal from a decision of the High Court under this section.

100 10Advisers

(1) The Secretary of State may appoint persons to advise whether, in any case
referred to them by the Secretary of State, the Secretary of State should decide
as mentioned in condition A in section 92.

(2) The Secretary of State may disclose to a person so appointed such information
15(including anything within section 94(1)(a) or (b)) as the Secretary of State
considers relevant to the provision of such advice.

(3) The Secretary of State may pay expenses and allowances to a person so
appointed.

101 Interpretation: Chapter 4

(1) 20In this Chapter—

• “caution” means—

  (a)

  a caution given to a person in England and Wales in respect of
  an offence which, at the time the caution is given, that person
  has admitted, or

  (b)

  25a reprimand or warning given under section 65 of the Crime
  and Disorder Act 1998 (reprimands and warnings for persons
  aged under 18),

• “conviction” includes—

  (a)

  a finding that a person is guilty of an offence in respect of
  30conduct which was the subject of service disciplinary
  proceedings,

  (b)

  a conviction in respect of which an order has been made
  discharging the person concerned absolutely or conditionally,
  and

  (c)

  35a finding in any criminal proceedings (including a finding
  linked with a finding of insanity) that a person has committed
  an offence or done the act or made the omission charged,

• “disregarded caution” is a caution which has become a disregarded
  caution by virtue of this Chapter,

• 40“disregarded conviction” is a conviction which has become a disregarded
  conviction by virtue of this Chapter,

• “document” includes information recorded in any form and, in relation to
  information recorded otherwise than in legible form, references to its
  provision or production include providing or producing a copy of the
  45information in legible form,

Protection of Freedoms BillPage 88

• “information” includes documents,

• “notice” means notice in writing,

• “official records” has the meaning given by section 95(5),

• “sentence” includes—

  (a)

  5any punishment awarded, and

  (b)

  any order made by virtue of Schedule 5A to the Army Act 1955,
  Schedule 5A to the Air Force Act 1955 or Schedule 4A to the
  Naval Discipline Act 1957,

  in respect of a finding that a person is guilty of an offence in respect of
  10conduct which was the subject of service disciplinary proceedings,

• “service disciplinary proceedings” means any proceedings (whether in
  England and Wales or elsewhere)—

  (a)

  under the Naval Discipline Act 1866, the Army Act 1881, the Air
  Force Act 1917, the Army Act 1955, the Air Force Act 1955 or the
  15Naval Discipline Act 1957 (whether before a court-martial or
  before any other court or person authorised under the
  enactment concerned to award a punishment in respect of an
  offence), or

  (b)

  before a Standing Civilian Court established under the Armed
  20Forces Act 1976.

(2) Paragraph (b) of the definition of “conviction” applies despite the following
(which deem a conviction of a person discharged not to be a conviction)—

(a) section 14 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000, and

(b) section 187 of the Armed Forces Act 2006 or any corresponding earlier
25enactment.

(3) The references in section 92(1) to offences under particular provisions are to be
read as including references to offences under—

(a) section 45 of the Naval Discipline Act 1866,

(b) section 41 of the Army Act 1881,

(c) 30section 41 of the Air Force Act 1917,

(d) section 70 of the Army Act 1955,

(e) section 70 of the Air Force Act 1955, or

(f) section 42 of the Naval Discipline Act 1957,

which are such offences by virtue of those provisions.

(4) 35The reference in section 92(3)(b) to an offence under section 71 of the Sexual
Offences Act 2003 is to be read as including a reference to an offence under
section 42 of the Armed Forces Act 2006 which is such an offence by virtue of
section 71 of the Act of 2003.

(5) In this Chapter a reference to an offence includes—

(a) 40a reference to an attempt, conspiracy or incitement to commit that
offence, and

(b) a reference to aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring the
commission of that offence.

(6) In the case of an attempt, conspiracy or incitement, the references in this
45Chapter to the conduct constituting the offence are references to the conduct to
which the attempt, conspiracy or incitement related (whether or not that
conduct occurred).

(7) For the purposes of subsections (5) and (6) an attempt to commit an offence
includes conduct which—

(a) consisted of frequenting with intent to commit the offence any river,
canal, street, highway, place of public resort or other location
5mentioned in section 4 of the Vagrancy Act 1824 (as it then had effect)
in connection with frequenting by suspected persons or reputed thiefs,
and

(b) was itself an offence under that section.

Part 6 10Freedom of information and data protection

Publication of certain datasets

102 Release and publication of datasets held by public authorities

(1) The Freedom of Information Act 2000 is amended as follows.

(2) In section 11 (means by which communication to be made)—

(a) 15after subsection (1) insert—

“(1A) Where—

(a) an applicant makes a request for information to a public
authority in respect of information that is, or forms part
of, a dataset held by the public authority, and

(b) 20on making the request for information, the applicant
expresses a preference for communication by means of
the provision to the applicant of a copy of the
information in electronic form,

the public authority must, so far as reasonably practicable,
25provide the information to the applicant in an electronic form
which is capable of re-use.”,

(b) in subsection (4), for “subsection (1)” substitute “subsections (1) and
(1A)”, and

(c) after subsection (4) insert—

“(5) 30In this Act “dataset” means information comprising a collection
of information held in electronic form where all or most of the
information in the collection—

(a) has been obtained or recorded for the purpose of
providing a public authority with information in
35connection with the provision of a service by the
authority or the carrying out of any other function of the
authority,

(b) is factual information which—

(i) is not the product of analysis or interpretation
40other than calculation, and

(ii) is not an official statistic (within the meaning
given by section 6(1) of the Statistics and
Registration Service Act 2007), and

(c) remains presented in a way that (except for the purpose
45of forming part of the collection) has not been organised,