Written question asked by Lord Pendry (Labour), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Davies of Oldham (Labour) on Thursday, 30 March 2006.

Sport: Anti-doping

Question: Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Davies of Oldham on 8 March (WA 144), whether they will change their policy on confidentiality of results for athletes tested for banned substances following any decision to comply with the UNESCO convention.

Answer: The UK’s national anti-doping organisation, UK Sport, has no plans to change its policy regarding public disclosure of anti-doping rule violations as a result of the Government’s intention to ratify the UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport. The Government, by becoming party to the UNESCO convention, will further demonstrate their commitment to the principles of the World Anti-Doping Code. In turn, the code forms the basis for the UK’s national anti-doping programme. In accordance with the code, disclosure of the identity of an athlete who has been found to have an adverse analytical finding, or is alleged to have committed an anti-doping rule violation, can occur after the review stage or no later than 20 days after it has been determined in a hearing that an anti-doping rule violation has not been timely challenged. With the code in mind, the policy is publicly to report the disciplinary outcome no later than 20 days after the final determination. UK Sport publishes recent findings in the Drug Results Database, which is made available to the public through its website. Furthermore, UK Sport publishes quarterly updates of the results from the drug-testing programme.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 4824; 680 c153-4WA
Session: 2005-06
Related items: Sport: Anti-doping
Wednesday, 8 March 2006
Written questions
House of Lords
Subjects: Disclosure of information Drugs Misuse Sports competitors Testing UK Sport International Convention against Doping in Sport
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk