Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2016/14/notes
Timestamp: 2020-08-13 06:40:32
Document Index: 395796770

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 1', 'art 1', 'art 1', 'art 1', 'art 1', 'art 3', 'art 3', 'art 4', 'art 4']

3.Part 1 of the Act includes a number of new controls on the sale of tobacco, the sale and promotion of a nicotine vapour product (“NVP”) and on smoking outside hospital buildings. Chapter 1 contains provision which puts a prohibition on selling NVPs to persons under the age of 18, a power to ban the sale of NVPs from vending machines, a prohibition on the purchase of NVPs on behalf of a person under the age of 18 and a requirement for retailers of NVPs to be on a Register and related provision about banning orders. It also includes controls which apply to the sale of both NVPs and tobacco products: a requirement on retailers to operate an age verification policy, a prohibition on unauthorised sales by persons under the age of 18 and a statutory due diligence defence. Chapter 2 contains regulation-making powers which enable certain forms of advertising and promotion of NVPs to be prohibited or restricted. Chapter 3 contains provision related to prohibiting smoking in designated smoke-free outdoor areas on NHS hospital grounds.
4.In summary, Part 1 of the Act—
introduces the offence of selling a NVP to a person under the age of 18,
introduces the offence of failing to operate an age verification policy at premises where tobacco products and NVPs are offered for sale,
introduces the offence of allowing a tobacco product, cigarette papers or a NVP to be sold by a person under the age of 18 without authorisation,
provides powers to introduce the offence of selling a NVP from a vending machine,
introduces the offence of carrying on a NVP business whilst unregistered or from unregistered premises,
provides for a due diligence defence against certain tobacco product and NVP related offences,
makes it an offence for a person aged over 18 to purchase a NVP for a person under the age of 18 (commonly known as “proxy purchase”),
provides powers to make regulations containing prohibitions or restrictions on NVP advertisements and brand-sharing and to make related offences,
provides powers to make regulations prohibiting or restricting giving away a NVP or a coupon for a NVP and to make related offences,
provides powers to make regulations prohibiting or restricting a sponsorship agreement which promotes NVPs and to make related offences,
makes it an offence to smoke outside a NHS hospital building within an area designated by regulations and makes related offences as well as powers to make regulations on the detail.
Part 1 – Tobacco, Nicotine Vapour Products and Smoking
Chapter 3 – Smoking Outside Hospitals
Section 20 – Smoking outside hospitals
60.Section 20 of the Act amends Part 1 of the Smoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Act 2005 (“the 2005 Act”).
61.Section 20(2) inserts new sections 4A, 4B, 4C and 4D into the 2010 Act. The new sections contain powers for the Scottish Ministers to designate no-smoking areas around certain buildings on certain NHS hospital grounds and provide for related duties, offences and penalties. Each new section is considered in turn below.
Section 4A: Offence of permitting others to smoke outside hospital building
62.Subsection (1) makes it an offence for a person who has management and control of a no-smoking area to knowingly permit smoking there.
63.Subsection (2) provides that a person knowingly permits smoking if the person should have known that someone was smoking in the no-smoking area.
64.Subsection (3) provides that it is a defence for an accused to show that the accused (or an employee or agent of the accused) took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid committing the offence, or that there were no lawful and reasonably practicable means by which the accused could have prevented the smoking in the no-smoking area. The onus is, however, on the accused to prove this.
65.Subsection (4) provides that a person who commits the offence under this section is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale (currently £2,500).
Section 4B: Offence of smoking outside hospital building
66.Subsection (1) makes it an offence for a person to smoke within the no-smoking area outside a hospital building.
67.Subsection (2) provides that it is a defence if the accused can prove that the accused did not know, and could not reasonably be expected to have known, that the area in which the accused was smoking was a no-smoking area. This might arise in instances where, for example, no-smoking signs had been removed or had failed to be displayed. The onus is, however, on the accused to prove this.
68.Subsection (3) provides that a person who commits the offence of smoking in a no-smoking area is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale (currently £1,000).
Section 4D: Meaning of “no-smoking area outside a hospital building” and related expressions
74.Subsection (1) defines the meaning of “no-smoking area outside a hospital building”. It is an area lying immediately outside the hospital building. It is bounded by a perimeter of a specified distance from the building. However, the area is limited to being within, and thereby cannot fall outside of, hospital grounds. Subsection (2) gives a power to the Scottish Ministers to make regulations prescribing the specified distance. The regulations can also make further provision about determining the perimeter around a building, for example they could make detailed provision on how to determine the starting point outside a building from which the specified distance is to be measured.
75.Subsection (3) defines “hospital”, “hospital building” and “hospital grounds” for the purposes of this section. A hospital means a health service hospital as defined in section 108(1) of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978. A hospital building is simply a building on hospital grounds. Hospital grounds covers land in the vicinity of a hospital which is associated with it.
76.Subsection (4) allows the Scottish Ministers to make regulations which can—
exclude certain hospitals altogether from the ban on smoking outside hospitals,
include certain land within the meaning of hospital grounds e.g. land which might not necessarily be in the vicinity of, or associated with, a hospital, so that it can be caught by a no-smoking area,
exclude certain land from the meaning of hospital grounds e.g. land which despite being in the vicinity of, and associated with, a hospital, is not to be caught by a no-smoking area,
make further provision to elaborate on the meaning of “hospital grounds” e.g. criteria could be set out for determining whether land is to be regarded as associated with a hospital or not,
provide that certain buildings on hospital grounds are not to be regarded as hospital buildings for the purposes of the ban on smoking outside hospitals, and thereby, remove these buildings from having a perimeter applied from them, and
provide that certain land within a no-smoking area is to be exempt from that area so that it is not an offence to smoke there or permit others to do so.
77.Subsection (5) allows regulations made under subsection (4) by the Scottish Ministers to make provision modifying the application of section 4C so that, for example, signage requirements can be adjusted, as appropriate, to take account of exceptions and other provision made by those regulations.
Section 20(3) to (8) of the Act
78.Section 20(3) of the Act amends section 5(1) (proceeding for offences under sections 1 to 3) of the 2005 Act to include the offences contained in new sections 4A, 4B and 4C(5) within section 5; and section 20(4) amends the title of section 5 to reflect this change. This links the start of the time limit for summary proceedings to the point at which the Crown is passed sufficient evidence on the offence to justify bringing a prosecution. This will prevent any lengthy or extended hearing processes consequential to the issuing of a fixed penalty notice under Part 1 of the 2010 Act resulting in a subsequent prosecution for that offence being time barred.
79.Section 20(5) amends section 6(2) (fixed penalties) of the 2005 Act to include the offences contained in new sections 4A, 4B and 4C(5) within section 6(2). This means that only an individual (or, put another way, a “natural person”) can be issued with a fixed penalty notice in relation to these offences i.e. fixed penalty notices cannot be issued to bodies corporate etc. who may be accused of committing these offences.
80.Section 20(6) amends section 7 (powers to enter and require identification) of the 2005 Act to apply it appropriately in relation to the offences contained in new sections 4A, 4B and 4C(5). It provides an authorised officer of a local authority, for the area in which the hospitals falls, with powers to enter and search hospital grounds and to require identification (name and address) from an accused or a person with information about the offences.
81.Section 20(7) amends section 40 (regulations or orders) of the 2005 Act so that regulations made under new section 4D(2)(a) and (4)(a) are subject to the affirmative procedure.
82.Section 20(8) amends, and renames, schedule 1 (fixed penalty for offences under sections 1, 2 and 3) to the 2005 Act to account for the new offences in sections 4A, 4B and 4C(5) for which fixed penalty notices may be issued.
Section 22 – Duty of candour procedure
88.The duty of candour procedure, which covers actions to be taken by responsible persons, will be set out in regulations made using the power in subsection (1). Those regulations will be subject to negative procedure. Responsible persons are defined in section 25(1) and include Health Boards (both territorial and Special Health Boards), the Common Services Agency (which operates under the name of NHS National Services Scotland), independent health care services, local authorities and other providers of care services and social work services. Generally, individuals providing health, care or social work services are not included in the “responsible person” definition. However, for care services, individuals providing a service who make arrangements with others to assist with the provision of the service, are included in the definition of “responsible person”.
89.Subsection (2) gives detail as to what the regulations may, in particular, make provision about. This includes taking actions to meet with and apologise to the “relevant person” (see paragraph 92 below) and provide support to them, as well as asking the “relevant person” whether they would like to receive an account of the incident or information about further steps taken Subsection (2) also includes detail on recording and monitoring incidents and providing training and support to those carrying out the duty of candour procedure.
90.Subsection (3) gives a definition of ‘relevant person’ for the purposes of the section and the duty of candour procedure, which is the person who has received the health service, care service, or social work service, or a person acting on behalf of that person where that person has died or lacks capacity, or for other reasons cannot make decisions about the service provided to them.
Section 23 – Apologies
91.Section 23 defines ‘apology’ in relation to the duty of candour provisions and subsection (2) provides that any apology or other steps taken which are in accordance with the duty of candour procedure set out in regulations made under section 22 cannot be taken by itself to be an admission of negligence or a breach of a statutory duty. This means that there is not to be taken to be a link between giving an apology (or otherwise following the duty of candour procedure) in relation to an incident and acknowledgment of any wrong-doing. This does not prevent individuals affected from taking further action in relation to an incident.
Part 3 — Ill-Treatment and Wilful Neglect
101.Part 3 of the Act establishes offences relating to the wilful neglect or ill-treatment of adults receiving health care or social care. There are two main offences in this part: an offence that applies to care workers, and an offence that applies to care providers.
Section 26 – Care worker offence
102.Section 26 sets out the care worker offence and the penalty for conviction. “Care worker” is defined in section 28(1) and covers care workers (employees and volunteers), their managers and supervisors, and directors or similar officers of organisations. The offence is committed where a care worker is providing care for another person and ill-treats or wilfully neglects that person. If providing that care is only incidental to the worker’s other activities (for example, where the worker is a cleaner) then such a person would not fall within the “care worker” definition (and the same principle applies in relation to care by a “care provider”) (section 28(4)). Section 26(2) provides the penalties for those convicted of the care worker offence: on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum (or both); and, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or a fine (or both).
Section 27 – Care provider offence
103.Section 27 sets out the care provider offence that will apply to providers of health or social care services. Care provider is defined in section 28(3) and covers both legal persons (corporate bodies, partnerships and unincorporated associations) and individuals who have others working for them. The care provider offence is committed if a three-stage test is met—
an individual is ill-treated or wilfully neglected by someone providing health care or social care on behalf of the care provider,
the care provider’s activities are organised in such a way as to be a gross breach of the duty of care owed to the individual, and
were it not for that gross breach, the ill-treatment or wilful neglect would not have occurred (or would have been less likely to occur)
104.Section 27(3) defines “relevant duty of care” for the purposes of this offence and provides further detail on what is meant by a “gross” breach of that duty. Section 27(4) provides the penalties for those convicted of the care provider offence: on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum; and, on conviction on indictment, to a fine.
Section 28 – Meaning of “care worker” and “care provider”
105.Section 28 sets out various definitions.
106.Subsection (5) defines “adult health care” and “adult social care”. “Adult health care” is defined as services provided to individuals aged 18 or over and is described by reference to the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 to include services provided under the national health service and services from independent providers. “Adult social care” is defined by reference to certain services listed in section 47(1) of the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010. Those services are support services, care home services, nurse agencies and housing support services (where provided to those aged 18 or over) and offender accommodation services and adult placement services (where provided to those aged 16 or over).
Section 29 – Disclosure of conviction for offence under section 26
107.Section 29 amends schedule 8A of the Police Act 1997 to insert the section 26 care worker offence. Schedule 8A contains a list of offences which must always be disclosed on all types of higher level disclosure. The inclusion of this offence on the ‘Offences which must always be disclosed’ list means that no matter how old the conviction is, it will always be disclosed by Disclosure Scotland on a higher level disclosure.
Part 4 - Provision of Communication Equipment
111.Part 4 of the Act places a duty on the Scottish Ministers to provide or secure communication equipment.