§ Mr. Peter Bruinvelsasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the intitial tests carried out by his Department's laboratory staff on the Lion Intoximeter 3000 were on United States-made machines; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HurdI refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to a question from the hon. Member for Stoke on Trent, Central (Mr. Fisher) on 26 March, at column 14.
The instruments now in use in the this country are identical to those produced in the United States of America except for a few minor differences introduced to meet the requirements of the Department. Those differences do not affect either the analytical programme or the measuring process of the instrument.
§ Mr. Peter Bruinvelsasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish in the Official 447W Report all instructions, notes and correspondence sent by his Department to chief constables regarding the revised procedure for making available blood and urine tests where the Lion Intoximeter is also used, and any communications which have been sent to chief constables regarding the interim period.
§ Mr. HurdAdvice is being given to chief officers of police in the form of a Home Office circular, a copy of which will be placed in the Library along with a copy of a letter dealing with more detailed matters which is being sent to the secretary of the traffic committee of the Association of Chief Police Officers.
§ Mr. Fisherasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many complaints he has received from police forces since May 1983 about the reliability and accuracy of Lion Intoximeters; on what dates; and whether he will list the police forces.
§ Mr. Hurd[pursuant to his reply, 19 March 1984, c.327]: Requests for information or advice on particular instruments have been made from time to time to the forensic science service as part of the continuing relationship between that service and police forces. Separate records are not kept of these occasions. No complaints relating to Lion Intoximeters generally have been received by the headquarters division of the Home Office which is concerned with traffic matters; a letter relating to a particular machine was received from the Metropolitan police in February 1984 and another one from the Cumbria police in March 1984.