Community work orders
344.—(1)  This section, including the provisions in this Part, shall apply to any offence under any Act or subsidiary legislation which is prescribed under subsection (2).
(2)  The Minister responsible for the administration of any Act (or any part thereof) or any subsidiary legislation may prescribe any offence under that Act (or any part thereof) or subsidiary legislation to be an offence to which this section and the other provisions in this Part apply.
(3)  Subject to subsection (5), where an offender who is 16 years of age or above is convicted of an offence prescribed under subsection (2), and if the court by or before which he is convicted is satisfied that it is expedient with a view to his reformation that he shall be required to perform community work that is associated with that offence, the court may make a community work order requiring him to perform any unpaid community work under the supervision of a community work officer.
(4)  For the purposes of subsection (3), community work is associated with an offence if the performance of that work will promote in the offender a sense of responsibility for, and an acknowledgment of, the harm that he has done by committing that offence.
(5)  A court shall not make a community work order in respect of an offender unless the court is satisfied that suitable arrangements can be made for him to perform work under such order.
(6)  The number of hours which an offender may be required to work under a community work order shall be specified in the order and shall not exceed the prescribed maximum hours of community work which the offender may be required to perform under that order.
(7)  A court may impose such conditions as it thinks fit when making a community work order.
(8)  Before making a community work order, the court shall explain to the offender in ordinary language —
(a)the purpose and effect of the order (and in particular the obligations of the offender as specified in section 345);
(b)the consequences which may follow if he fails to comply with any of those obligations, or any conditions imposed by the court under subsection (7); and
(c)that the court has the power, under section 351, to vary or revoke the order on the application of the community work officer.
(9)  Where a court makes community work orders in respect of 2 or more offences of which an offender has been convicted by or before the court, the court may direct that the hours of work specified in any of those orders shall be concurrent with or additional to the hours specified in any of those orders, but so that the total number of hours which are not concurrent shall not exceed the maximum hours of community work which the offender may be required to perform under any one of those orders.
(10)  Where any offence under any Act or subsidiary legislation is prescribed by a Minister under subsection (2), that Minister, or any public body under the charge of that Minister and with his approval, may appoint any person to be a community work officer for the purpose of supervising the performance of work which an offender may be required to perform under a community work order made in relation to the offence prescribed under that subsection.
(11)  Where any offence under any Act or subsidiary legislation is prescribed by a Minister under subsection (2), that Minister, or any public authority constituted by any written law under the charge of that Minister and with his approval, may —
(a)prescribe the minimum and maximum hours of community work which an offender may be required to work under a community work order made in relation to the offence prescribed under that subsection;
(b)make provisions to allow a court, in a case where the offence prescribed under subsection (2) is punishable with a sentence of fine, to make a community work order which shall be in addition to, or in lieu of, the sentence of fine for that offence; and
(c)make regulations, not inconsistent with the provisions of this Part, to make further provisions for the manner in which a community work order may be carried out by an offender who may be required to work under the order made in relation to the offence prescribed under that subsection (including the imposition of additional requirements and the service of any instructions or notice on an offender in respect of whom such an order has been made).
(12)  If, in respect of any offence —
(a)a court sentences the offender to a fine in addition to making a community work order; and
(b)the offender defaults on the payment of the whole or any part of the fine,
the offender shall serve the sentence under the community work order, unless it is earlier revoked, before serving any sentence of imprisonment in default of payment of the fine.