Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether (a) the Government and (b) a local authority commissioned services from Trimega (i) before 10 July 2013 and (ii) after 11 April 2014.

Expert forensic toxicology evidence in family court cases is commissioned directly by a party or their legal adviser from a laboratory of their choice. This can include a commission from a local authority for the purpose of family court cases. Such tests may have been commissioned before 10 July 2013. It is understood that Trimega went into liquidation in April 2014.

The Department for Education has written to all local authorities in England asking them to review whether the commissioned forensic hair strand tests for drug and alcohol use by Trimega during the period January 2010 to April 2014.