HC Deb 11 July 1983 vol 45 cc269-70W
Mr. Gareth Wardell

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will outline the progress the Government have made to establish a central data bank of toxicological information at national level, as recommended in section 5.1.3 of the report of a World Health Organisation ad hoc technical group "The Influence of Alcohol and Drugs on Driving".

Mr. John Patten

Information about the toxic effects of alcohol and drugs in respect of driving is needed by the Home Office, the Department of Transport and the Department of Health and Social Security. Each Department has, therefore, made arrangements for its own purposes.

The poisons information service was set up by the Minister of Health in 1961 to act as a national referral and inquiry service for the United Kingdom on drugs, including their toxic effects. The main laboratory and data bank is situated at the New Cross hospital, London SE14 5BH. The role of the national centre is supplemented in some districts by locally based information services in NHS pharmacy departments.

The Home Office central research establishment maintains its own Registry of Human Toxicology for forensic cases only. The registry includes information on drugs and driving.

The transport and road research laboratory (TRRL) of the Department of Transport collates information for national road traffic accidents statistics received via the police accident reporting system. A record of the results of breathalyser tests is maintained. In addition TRRL has access to information on blood alcohol levels obtained routinely by Her Majesty's coroners in fatal cases arising in road traffic accidents.

There is, as yet, no comprehensive central data bank of toxicological information about the effects of alcohol and drugs on driving and the establishment of such a unit would be for my right hon. Friends the Home Secretary and the Secretary of State for Transport. The poisons information service is however examining the possibility of obtaining information on the existing provisions in the field of toxicology with a view to setting up a central computerised information service.