Clause 14 - Attendance at follow-up assessment
Drugs Bill
11:00 am
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.