Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.-(1) This Order may be cited as the Management of Offenders etc. (Scotland) Act 2005 (Commencement No. 8) Order 2015 and comes into force on 31st March 2016.

(2) In this Order "the 2005 Act" means the Management of Offenders etc. (Scotland) Act 2005.

Commencement

2.  Section 10(1)(e) of the 2005 Act, in so far as not already in force, comes into force on 31st March 2016.

3.  Section 10(2)(b) of the 2005 Act, in so far as not already in force, comes into force on 31st March 2016 but only for the purposes of section 10(1)(e) of that Act.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

Article 2 of this Order brings into force on 31st March 2016 section 10(1)(e) of the Management of Offenders etc. (Scotland) Act 2005 ("the 2005 Act") in so far as not already in force. Article 3 of this Order brings into force section 10(2)(b) in so far as not already in force but only for the purposes of section 10(1)(e) of the 2005 Act.

The persons covered by section 10(1)(e) of the 2005 Act are those who have been convicted of an offence if, by reason of that conviction, the person is considered to be someone who may cause serious harm to the public at large.

Section 10(1)(e) was partially commenced on 26th June 2009. This limited commencement was only in respect of persons subject to a restriction order under section 59 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 (c.46), a hospital direction under section 59A of that Act or a transfer for treatment direction under section 136 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 (asp 13). These are the orders and directions which are set out in section 10(11)(b) to (d) of the 2005 Act which specifies the persons for whom Health Boards and Special Health Boards, as "responsible authorities", have duties to make arrangements under section 10 of that Act.

Section 10(2)(b) provides that for the purposes of section 10(1)(b) or (e), it is immaterial where the offence of which the person has been convicted was committed. This clarifies for the purpose of identifying which authorities are responsible for making the arrangements, that it is immaterial where the offence was committed. The test for establishing such responsibility is whether the person poses a risk in the responsible authority's area.

Section 10(2)(b) was partially commenced on 26th June 2009. This limited commencement was only for the purposes of section 10(1)(e) and only in respect of those persons whom section 10(1)(e) was commenced in respect of on the 26th June 2009. Section 10(1)(b) has not yet been commenced.

The Bill for the 2005 Act received Royal Assent on 8th December 2005. Sections 13, 17, 20, 22, 23, 24 and 25 came into force on that day.

NOTE AS TO EARLIER COMMENCEMENT ORDERS

(This note is not part of the Order)

The provisions of the 2005 Act commenced by an earlier commencement order are detailed in the table below.