Written question asked by Humfrey Malins (Conservative) on Monday, 15 January 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 17 January 2007. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Thursday, 25 January 2007 on behalf of the Home Office.

Trigger Offences

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will ensure that all people under 18 years of age arrested for a trigger offence undergo a compulsory drugs test.

Answer: There is no requirement for ail young people under-18 years who are arrested for a trigger offence to undergo a compulsory drugs test. There is no evidence to suggest that such tests alone would be effective in improving access to substance misuse and other services.Drug testing on charge is one of three interventions that the Drug Interventions Programme has been piloting for under-18s. These have been independently evaluated and the results will be published in due course.

Secondary information