Search Results

1-20 of 41 results for subject:Testing

Show detailed: On Off

Results: 10 20 50 100

Sort by: Newest first Oldest first

Statement on the present position the availability of information from the Prison Service mandatory drug testing programme.

Asked by

Olga Maitland (Conservative)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

For answer on

20 March 1997

Answered on

20 March 1997

Lady Olga Maitland: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the present position the availability of information from the Prison Service mandatory drug testing programme. [21670] Miss Widdecombe: As part of the programme of mandatory drug testing in prison establishments the Prison Service collects a range of statistical information, including information about the percentage of prisoners who test positive for drugs in the tests which are carried out at random. Since April 1996 the number of random tests that prove positive, expressed as a percentage of the total number of random tests carried out, has been one of the Prison Service's key performance indicators. As a result of internal checking, a number of errors have been found in the information held centrally. The main problems are thought to relate to the recording of results of confirmation tests--carried out where a prisoner pleads not guilty at adjudication in response to an initial positive result--and to cases where an initial positive result should subsequently have been discounted because the prisoner concerned was on a course of prescribed medication. The Prison Service has commissioned the national addiction centre to carry out an independent validation of a sample of the available statistical information on mandatory drug testing covering the period April 1996 to June 1996. This involves a detailed scrutiny of the information held in prison establishments and comparison with the information held centrally. The validation exercise, should provide a measure of the extent of the errors, the possible implications for performance against the key indicator and, more generally, of the reliability of data on mandatory drug testing held by the Prison Service. There is no reason to suppose, from the work completed so far, that the statistical information for the period from April 1996 is other than broadly accurate. Once the exercise is complete, the Prison Service expects to be in a position to provide reliable information on performance against the key indicator for the period April 1996. However, until such information is available, all previously published figures relating to the percentage of prisoners who test positive for drugs should be regarded as provisional. In addition, no firm conclusions, including conclusions on any apparent trends on the use of drugs in prison, should be drawn from data relating to the first phase of the mandatory drugs testing programme--February 1995 to March 1996--since not all establishments were involved and some differences in testing protocols were in place. We are not yet in a position to say whether the use of cannabis has declined since mandatory drug testing was introduced. It remains the case that there is no clear evidence of switching from cannabis to opiates or vice versa. This answer should be taken as correcting any inadvertently misleading statements which may have been made in relation to mandatory drug testing statistics.

Date

20 March 1997

Reference

21670; 292 c855-6W

House

House of Commons

Home Office;Prison Service

What proportion of the random drug tests carried out in prisons in England and Wales were positive in (a) April to June 1996, (b) July to September 1996 and (c) October to December 1996. - Includes text of letter from AJ Pearson of Prison Service Agency and no figures given....

Asked by

Ivan Lawrence (Conservative)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

12 March 1997

Reference

19037; 292 c207W

House

House of Commons

Home Office;Prison Service

What plans he has to incorporate random drug testing in the Prison Service Key Performance Indicator for Mandatory Drug Testing. - Including text of letter from Hugh Taylor of the Prison Service Agency.

Asked by

George Howarth (Labour)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

11 March 1997

Reference

18746; 292 c127W

House

House of Commons

Home Office;Prison Service

Pursuant to his Answer of 29th January, Official Report, column 211W, if he will list the prisons involved in the research project carried out by the University of Oxford Centre for Criminological Research; what type of (a) drug testing and (b) methodology this research project will employ; if it will...

Asked by

George Howarth (Labour)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

11 March 1997

Reference

18747; 292 c126-7W

House

House of Commons

Home Office;Prison Service

What is the average interval between a mandatory drug test being carried out and the prison authorities being informed of the test result; to list each organisation which carried out drug testing for the Prison Service before the contract to perform mandatory drug testing was awarded; what was average length...

Asked by

George Howarth (Labour)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

28 February 1997

Reference

291 c435W; 17491;17493

House

House of Commons

Home Office;Prison Service

If he will list each organisation short-listed for the contract to perform mandatory drug testing, indicating the interval each proposes between a mandatory drug test being carried out and the prison authorities being informed of the result, and the proposed cost per test; when is the next round of tendering...

Asked by

George Howarth (Labour)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

28 February 1997

Reference

291 c434W; 17492;17494

House

House of Commons

Home Office;Prison Service

In what circumstances video-recording occurs of prisoners giving urine samples for random drug tests; how many prisoners (a) have been fined (b) lost remission and (c) have been subject to other disciplinary sanction for refusing to co-operate with a random drug test before a video camera. - Text of letter...

Asked by

Kevin McNamara (Labour)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

27 February 1997

Reference

291 c288W; 16357;16358

House

House of Commons

Home Office

Pursuant to his Answer of 29th January, Official Report, V289 c211-2W, when he intends to write to the honourable Member in respect of mandatory drug testing. - I hope to write to the hon. Member shortly.

Asked by

George Howarth (Labour)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

26 February 1997

Reference

16983; 291 c213-4W

House

House of Commons

Home Office

Answered by

Ann Widdecombe (Conservative)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Oral answers to questions

Date

20 February 1997

Reference

290 c1038-9

House

House of Commons

Home Office

Answered by

Ann Widdecombe (Conservative)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Oral answers to questions

Date

20 February 1997

Reference

290 c1038-9

House

House of Commons

Home Office

What strategies the Prison Service has in place for combating drug abuse in prisons.

Asked by

Patrick Nicholls (Conservative)

Answering body

Home Office

Oral questions - Lead

Status

Answered

Date

20 February 1997

Reference

290 c1038-9; 15291

House

House of Commons

Home Office;Prison Service

How many mandatory drug tests were carried out on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays; and how many tests were performed in total in each month since weekend testing began. - Including text of letter from Richard Tilt of the Prison Service Agency and figures.

Asked by

George Howarth (Labour)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

18 February 1997

Reference

15975; 290 c522-3W

House

House of Commons

Home Office

If she will list (a) the number of prisoners (i) randomly tested for drugs, (ii) tested for drugs on suspicion, (iii) tested for drugs while on risk assessment, (iv) tested for drugs while on frequent testing, (v) tested for drugs on reception and (vi) voluntarily tested for drugs in each...

Asked by

George Howarth (Labour)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

29 January 1997

Reference

289 c211-2W; 12420;12381;12421

House

House of Commons

Home Office;Prison Service

What plans he has to commission independent research relating to the introduction of mandatory drug testing in all prisons. - Text of letter from A J Pearson of the Prison Service.

Asked by

George Howarth (Labour)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

29 January 1997

Reference

12210; 289 c211W

House

House of Commons

Home Office;Prison Service

If he will list the total number of extra days which will be served in prison due to positive drug tests which have been taken since September 1996; and the total number of extra days which will be served in prison due to positive drug tests which were taken before...

Asked by

George Howarth (Labour)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

29 January 1997

Reference

289 c210-1W; 12383;12382

House

House of Commons

Home Office

Answered by

Ann Widdecombe (Conservative)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Oral answers to questions

Date

23 January 1997

Reference

288 c1068

House

House of Commons

Home Office

Answered by

Ann Widdecombe (Conservative)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Oral answers to questions

Date

23 January 1997

Reference

288 c1067-8

House

House of Commons

Home Office

Answered by

Ann Widdecombe (Conservative)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Oral answers to questions

Date

23 January 1997

Reference

288 c1067-8

House

House of Commons

Home Office

What initiatives the Prison Service is taking to control prisoners' access to drugs.

Asked by

Warren Hawksley (Conservative)

Answering body

Home Office

Oral questions - Lead

Status

Answered

Date

23 January 1997

Reference

288 c1067-8; 10557

House

House of Commons

Home Office;Prison Service

What representations he has received concerning the accuracy of drug tests being carried out in the Prison Service. - Text of letter from R Tilt of Prison Service Agency.

Asked by

George Howarth (Labour)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

For answer on

10 December 1996

Answered on

10 December 1996

Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received concerning the accuracy of drug tests being carried out in the Prison Service. [6250] Miss Widdecombe: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given. Letter from Richard Tilt to Mr. George Howarth, dated 10 December 1996: The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about representations received concerning the accuracy of drug tests carried out by the Prison Service. Mandatory drug testing is a new procedure, and as such has been subject to several representations, including some about the accuracy of the drug tests carried out. Individual prisoners may also have raised concerns through the requests/complaints procedure, but these are not recorded centrally. Prisoners have a right to challenge the results of a test specifically by requesting an independent analysis of a portion of the sample they provided which is retained for this purpose. Release of this sample is authorised at Prison Service Headquarters. To date 15 requests have been received from solicitors acting on behalf of prisoners in challenging the result of a particular test. These requests include supply of the sample itself, for the purposes of independent analysis, or for the documentation which supports the initial test result. In addition, on 7 May the Head of Healthcare at HMP Wealstun noted that there were conflicting results on the same inmate on occasions when he had done a voluntary drug test, analysed at Harrogate District Hospital within a day or so of the Mandatory Drug Test. He was asked to furnish the data which led to his concerns so that investigation could take place and remedial action taken as necessary. These details have not been furnished and so the specific cases have not been followed up. There always will be differences in the results of tests used by medical officers for therapeutic purposes and those produced through the Mandatory Drug Testing programme since the purposes are different. The latter operates to agreed threshold levels, and prisoners are only found to have tested positive once this threshold is exceeded. This is to ensure that when a charge is laid on the basis of a positive confirmation test result it is beyond reasonable doubt that the prisoner took the drug in question. Some changes have been made to the method of testing for opiates since July which now ensure that opiate use is more likely to be picked up from a Mandatory Drug Test. On 15 July the Chairman of the Board of Visitors at Downview prison raised concerns about three prisoners who had screened positive for opiates and three who had screened positive for benzodiazepines in early June. All had been found negative through confirmation testing. The opiate results were attributed to the absence of an hydrolysis process from confirmation testing, which resulted in a number of samples that correctly screened positive for opiates confirmation testing negative. Hydrolysis was introduced on 2 July. In two of the cases involving benzodiazepines, the prisoners had been prescribed a combination of medications which cross-reacted with the reagent used in the screening test. Confirmation testing uses a different technology which avoids such cross-reactions. In the third case it is thought that the sample may have been positive for an uncommon type of benzodiazepine which is not recognised in confirmation testing. The Prison Service, in conjunction with the Laboratory of the Government Chemist, is considering ways of extending the range of drugs detected by confirmation testing. On 5 August the Kent Area Manager raised concerns about six samples from Blantyre House prison which had screened positive for cannabis, but were all found to be negative on confirmation. It was discovered that for a period of 1 1/2 hours on 5 July the screen testing machine had been mis-calibrated, producing 84 false positive results. all prisons affected were notified. The Laboratory of the Government Chemist has since introduced more rigorous quality control procedures, ensuring that results do not leave the laboratory until all checks have been made.

Date

10 December 1996

Reference

6250; 287 c146-7W

House

House of Commons

Librarians' tools

Type

House

Session

Year

Department

Member

Primary member

Answering member

Legislative stage

Legislation

Subject

Publisher