What is an "exempted question"?
An "exempted question" is a question which employers are not normally allowed to ask in relation to a person's criminal conviction history. Under the terms of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (ROA), offenders become rehabilitated after varying periods of time and their conviction(s) deemed "spent", depending on the sentence imposed and whether they have re-offended. Generally speaking, the Act provides that a spent conviction need not normally be disclosed when a person is asked about his previous record, and a rehabilitated person cannot be prejudiced if the spent conviction later comes to light.
However, the Act recognises that there are some situations where information about spent convictions ought to remain available. The ROA includes an Order-making power to set aside or modify the protection afforded by the Act in certain circumstances. These powers have been used to create a number of exceptions where both unspent and spent convictions should be disclosed for those positions involving contact with children and other vulnerable people and various other positions. An exempted question is a valid request for a person to reveal their full criminal history (including spent convictions) and may only be asked in relation to those professions excluded or exempted by virtue of the various ROA exclusions and exceptions orders. Further information on such excluded or excepted positions is available from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exclusions and Exceptions (Scotland)) Order 2003. The 2003 Order has been amended by the 2006 Order and 2007 Order. All such orders can be accessed on these links or from the Publications Page of this website.
Further information is available from the APEX website (ROA).
