Schedule 13 – Transfer of suspended sentence orders to Scotland or Northern Ireland Parts 1 and 2
808.Parts 1 and 2 are very similar. Paragraphs 1 and 6 enable the court to make the transfer. Sub-paragraph (1) of each paragraph requires the court to ensure that the requirements of the order can be complied with and supervision arranged in the area of Scotland or NI that the offender is transferring to. In practice this is done by the probation officer attached to the court in England and Wales which is making the transfer telephoning their equivalents in Scotland or Northern Ireland. The Scottish or Northern Ireland counterparts can turn down the transfer for any reason.
809.Sub-paragraph (2) is not a complete list of requirements available for transfer, it only contains those which have arrangements associated with them that the court has to confirm are available. These arrangements involve third parties, whose co-operation must be obtained before imposing them. For example, supervision does not need further arrangements because it only concerns the offender and the probation officer. A programme requirement, however, requires a place to be available on a suitable course.
810.Sub-paragraph (3) enables the court to require the order to be complied with in Scotland or Northern Ireland. Sub-paragraph (4) is a technical provision, such that any arrangements referred to above only have to be in place from when the order is transferred, not when it was first made. Paragraph 1(5) prevents the court from imposing an attendance centre requirement as part of transferred orders because they do not exist in Scotland.
811.Paragraphs 1(6) and 6(5) prevent transferred orders from containing a provision for court review, either as part of a drug rehabilitation requirement or of the suspended sentence order as a whole. As Scottish or Northern Ireland courts will not have the power to impose a suspended sentence, they will not have any training as to what the purpose of review is, and thus it is inappropriate to ask them to review it. Neither jurisdiction currently has any form of suspended sentence.
812.Paragraphs 2 and 7 provide for the equivalent of the local probation board in Scotland or Northern Ireland to be specified in the order, and the equivalent of a responsible officer assigned. Accordingly, the requirement for the order to specify a petty sessions area (in England and Wales) is disapplied.
813.Paragraphs 3 and 8 ensure the equivalent of the local probation board in Scotland or Northern Ireland and the local court in that area receive a copy of the order.
814.Paragraphs 4 and 9 modify Chapter 4 of paragraph 23, the chapter which provides all of the requirements available as part of a suspended sentence order, such that it can apply to Scotland or Northern Ireland, respectively. Sub-paragraph (3) omits all of the provisions which state that the provider of a certain requirement have to be specified by the Secretary of State. This needs to be omitted because it would not include providers in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and thus those requirements would not be able to form part of a transferred order.
815.Paragraph 5 is an interpretive provision.