Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Lord Brady of Altrincham (Conservative). It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Monday, 9 June 2008 on behalf of the Home Office.

Drugs Testing

Question: If she will review the list of offences which trigger tests for cocaine and opiates for those in police custody.

Answer: Offences that lead to a drug test of offenders in police custody are those which have been shown to have the clearest link with class A drug misuse. These are kept under regular review. In 2007-08, under the drug interventions programme, there were some 224,000 tests for specified class A drugs, heroin and cocaine, and 38 per cent. were positive—indicating that the right people are being targeted by the programme. Since the start of the DIP, acquisitive crime has fallen by 22 per cent.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 477 c5; 208941
Session: 2007-08
Oral question type: Lead
Chamber / Committee: House of Commons chamber
Subjects: Crime prevention Crime Drugs Police custody Misuse Testing Cocaine Opioids
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk