HC Deb 04 December 2002 vol 395 c878W
Lynne Jones

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the estimated number of women in prison who are drug users is. [82862]

Hilary Benn

The random mandatory drug testing (MDT) programme is the most up-to-date available measure of drug misuse in prisons in England and Wales. The annual average figures of positive tests in women's prisons for the last three years are reproduced in the table.

Year Random MDT percentage positive
2002–031 7.4
2001–02 8.7
2000–01 9.3
1 Denotes April 2002 to October 2002 figures