Part of Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 4:45 pm on 16 October 2007.
Christine Lawrie: I cannot honestly say that we have particularly looked at this provision. I am not aware of many cases where people fail to turn up at court. My colleagues would be able to give you figures in a way that I cannot. But I cannot honestly say that we have considered this and it does not figure at the forefront of our minds as a problem. Maybe I should not say this as a probation officer, but on the whole people who deliberately absent themselves from court are rather asking for some kind of penalty to be awarded against them. I do not think that it is an issue that we have particularly thought about.