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Written question asked by Claire Curtis-Thomas (Labour) on Wednesday, 21 January 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 26 January 2009. It was answered by Alan Campbell (Labour) on Tuesday, 27 January 2009 on behalf of the Home Office.

Driving Under Influence

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what percentage of drivers who were breath-tested failed the test during January in each year since 2004.
Answer

The information requested on breath tests and the number and percentage positive/refused covering 2004 to 2006 (latest available) is provided in the following table.Data for 2007 are due to be published in April 2009.

Screening breath tests and number and percentage positive or refused in January of each year, England and Wales 2004-06¹
Total tests Positive/refused Percentage positive/refused
2004 46,256 8,405 18
2005 48,442 8,404 17
2006 50,165 8,788 18
¹ Following a comparison between the number of positive breath tests reported by each police force in 2006 and the number of court proceedings for drink/driving related offences, it became clear that there was under-reporting in a number of forces. As a result Essex, Humberside, Lancashire, Norfolk, Northumbria, Staffordshire, Dyfed-Powys, Gwent and South Wales court proceedings figures have been substituted for the positive breath test figures. Similar adjustments were also made to various forces data between 1998 and 2005.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
487 c286W; 251339
Session
2008-09
Subjects
Breathalysers Driving under influence
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk