Clause 14 - Attendance at follow-up assessment
Drugs Bill
11:00 am
Mrs Cheryl Gillan (Shadow Minister, Home Affairs; Chesham and 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?