Commentary on provisions of Act Section 5: Deletion of cautions for relevant offences: England and Wales
This section sets out the process for deleting records of cautions for relevant offences in England and Wales. Cautions are not ordered by a court and are not "quashed" in the same way as convictions or recorded in the same way. Where the Secretary of State becomes aware of cautions for relevant offences issued before the Act came into force, this Section places on him a duty to notify the police in order to ensure that records showing the caution are amended administratively. Subsection 5(2) provides that the police must delete the details of the caution as soon as reasonably practicable after receiving that notification.
	Subsections 5(3)(a), 5(3)(b) and 5(4) make similar provision to 4(4)(a), 4(4)(b) and 4(5) in relation to notification of relevant persons and information about cautions provided by persons other than the individual cautioned for the relevant offence.
	Subsection 5(5) sets out definitions for terms used in this section.