Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to page 32 of his Department's Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23, for what reason the mandatory drug testing panel wasn't updated in 2022-23.

The Mandatory Drug Testing (MDT) panel is updated when a new drug type is known to be prevalent within the prison estate, or where a new drug poses a significant threat to the safety and security of prison regimes.

For the panel to be updated, HMPPS’s contracted drug testing supplier must have the technical capability to accurately test urine samples to obtain results to an evidential standard. Whilst new additions to the MDT panel were identified during 2022/23, preparatory technical work to add these compounds to the panel was not completed within the 2022/23 financial year. These substances have now been added to the MDT panel.