Written question asked by Christopher Chope (Conservative) on Wednesday, 13 December 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 18 December 2006. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Thursday, 11 January 2007 on behalf of the Home Office.

Drug Intervention Programme

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the accuracy is in percentage terms of devices used to screen individuals under his Department’s Drug Intervention Programme.

Answer: [holding answer 18 December 2006]: The Drug Interventions Programme uses an oral fluid drug testing system capable of screening for opiates and crack/cocaine. The current equipment supplier is Cozart Bioscience Ltd.The Home Office monitors the performance of the equipment provided by Cozart Bioscience Ltd and this arrangement is part of the contractual requirement, two in every 100 samples are required to be sent to the independent confirmatory testing service for quality assurance. Management data over a six month period consistently demonstrates that more than 98 per cent. of samples analysed by the independent confirmatory testing service are confirmed as accurate.In addition to internal monitoring, scientific studies confirm the effectiveness of the oral fluid drug testing method (refs) and independent peer reviewed scientific papers have been published confirming the accuracy of the Cozart Rapiscan oral fluid drug testing system (refs).

Secondary information