Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Offender management statistics quarterly: April to June 2020, published on 29th October 2020, what lessons have been learned on (a) the value of substance abuse testing in prisons, (b) the connection between substance abuse testing and adjudications, (c) the connection between substance abuse testing and drug treatment and (d) other issues within prisons from the period of suspension of the Mandatory Drug Testing programme.

In response to COVID-19, the Ministry of Justice and Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) took decisive action to protect staff and prisoners. The measures included restricting regimes, minimising inter-prison transfers and compartmentalising our prisons into different units to isolate the sick, shield the vulnerable and quarantine new arrivals. As part of our initial operational restrictions Mandatory Drug Testing Programme (MDT) was suspended between April to June 2020.

Since then, under our National Framework for Prison Regimes and Services, prisons at Stage Three (Restrict) may reintroduce MDT. Where this is done, the prison must take into account social distancing and cohorting measures, medical considerations and PPE requirements as well as security and safety considerations. It is too early to evaluate what the impact has been of the changes to MDT arrangements since the outbreak of COVID-19.

MDT in prisons and young offender institutions seeks to inform HMPPS on the prevalence of drug use. The key objective of MDT is to provide a means of identifying prisoners with ongoing drug problems and ensure they are offered the appropriate treatment, as well as providing evidence that can be used in adjudications. MDT is continually reviewed to determine its effectiveness.