Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many random mandatory drug tests were carried out by HM Prison and Probation Service from March 2022-2023 by institution.

Between March 2022 and March 2023, a total of 41,308 random mandatory drug tests were carried out by HM Prison and Probation Service in 122 prison establishments. Please see the accompanying table.

All random mandatory drug testing (rMDT) was paused in March 2020 following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Low levels of testing resumed from September 2020 in line with establishments’ position within the National Framework for managing COVID-19 before formal performance expectations around rMDT volumes were re-instated in April 2022. As set out in the HMPPS Annual Digest 2022-23 publication, rMDT levels did not return to the pre-pandemic levels in 2022-23. The levels of testing delivered varies across the estate from month to month and was impacted by the level of regime being operated by prisons, in line with staffing resource and other operational pressures.