Mrs Cheryl Gillan (Shadow Minister, Home Affairs; Chesham & Amersham, Conservative)

I thank the Committee for bearing with me; I am getting tired of the sound of my own voice, but I have just a couple of questions about the clause.

Subsection (3) states:

''A person is guilty of an offence if without good cause . . . he fails to attend''.

The penalty is 51 weeks' imprisonment or a level 4 fine, which is quite serious. May I therefore ask what ambit is envisaged in the phrase ''good cause''? The provision is very open-ended, and I should like to know what would and would not constitute good cause. What thought and discussions have gone into the drafting?

Ms Caroline Flint (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (reducing organised and international crime, anti drugs co-ordination and international and European issues), Home Office; Don Valley, Labour)

It is quite difficult to include in a Bill all the circumstances that might arise. To return to our previous discussion, if someone was knocked down by a bus and did not manage to arrive at an appointment, that could be a good cause. There may be others as well. I think that the matters will partly be brought together by our experience so far of the voluntary situation. I will write to the hon. Lady, if that is okay with her. We would obviously want to give guidance as to how the good cause should be interpreted. As I said, we should be mindful that the definition is not so wide as to make a mockery of the process. That is key.

Mrs Cheryl Gillan (Shadow Minister, Home Affairs; Chesham & Amersham, Conservative)

That is my very point. The clause is framed so widely that I or people much cleverer than me could probably make a good cause to avoid the penalty and the benefits of the provision. For example, we are dealing with a clientele who may have a genuine fear of going to the assessment and of what might follow. That might be considered a good cause. The clause is drafted so widely that it would be pretty easy to get around.  

Ms Caroline Flint (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (reducing organised and international crime, anti drugs co-ordination and international and European issues), Home Office; Don Valley, Labour)

The hon. Lady makes a valid point. If somebody does not attend and that is made an offence under the Bill, the courts will have to determine the term ''without good cause''. The point is, however, that we should be giving guidance to the people implementing the measure so that if they go to court they do so on the basis that the prosecution will be successful. It would not be helpful if a number of cases were brought to the court and the court said that they were ridiculous, because they were obviously good causes. We do not want to create unnecessary use of court time. In some situations, it is inevitable that someone might not attend. I hope that we can cover that in the guidance, which we will base on working with drug addicts and on their attendance and participation in other drug treatments under other programmes. I hope that she is satisfied with that response.

Question put and agreed to.

Clause 14 ordered to stand part of the Bill.