Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 22 November 2017 to Question 114975 (a) which local authorities commissioned forensic hair strand tests for drug and alcohol use by Trimega Laboratories Limited during the period January 2010 to April 2014 and (b) how many such tests were conducted.

Department officials have written to all local councils in England asking them to review whether they commissioned forensic hair strand tests for drug and alcohol use by Trimega Laboratories Limited (Trimega) during the period January 2010 to April 2014, and whether any action is necessary to fulfil their safeguarding responsibilities. We are continuing to work with local councils to establish the extent to which they used Trimega during this period.