Mr. Gareth R. ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport who represented her Department at the meeting of the first international drug testing seminar on Wednesday 4 July; and if she will make a statement. [3733]
§ Mr. CabornOnly 4 July, the Medicines Control Agency held a public seminar on the issue of sports supplements. The Director of the Anti-Doping Unit at UK Sport, and the Chair of the Nandrolone Review Group, which was set up by UK Sport, both attended that seminar. UK Sport is the non-departmental public body funded by the Department for Culture Media and Sport with responsibility for the drug testing programme in the UK.
The Nandrolone Review committee reported in January 2000 and gave a strong warning to sport about the potential dangers of using supplements which may be incorrectly or inadequately labelled. Since then, considerable research has been undertaken on supplements, both in the UK and abroad, to see whether they can be responsible for producing adverse findings among athletes. Doping remains a strict liability offence in sport in order to protect athletes from those who do seek to cheat by misusing drugs. This means that athletes must be confident that what they are putting into their bodies will not lead to an adverse finding. The Nandrolone Review Group will be considering research findings in further depth and are due to produce a follow up report shortly.
Mr. Gareth R. ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many full-time equivalent staff have been employed to test for drug usage per sport in Britain in each of the last five years. [3732]
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§ Mr. CabornDrug testing arrangements are organised on a UK rather than British basis to provide a consistent standard across all UK sportsmen and women subject to this type of testing. UK Sport is currently the agency with responsibility for the drug testing policy and programme and they employ 12 staff to oversee the testing operation, policy, education, information, research and international advocacy roles. UK Sport also contracts a team of 85 independent sampling officers to carry out sampling. This figure will rise and fall depending on need. For example, it will increase when international competitions are held in the UK, as next year when we host the Commonwealth Games.
Prior to the reorganisation of the GB Sports Council in UK Sport in 1997, five full-time officers, and a considerable number of part-time independent sampling officers were employed in the fight against doping in sport. It is also the case that a number of governing bodies of sport employ staff, on a full, or part-time or voluntary basis in the anti-doping field. To calculate the number of staff on a per sport basis would be extremely difficult as there are currently no centrally held statistics which would accurately reflect the individual arrangements of all governing bodies. Also, calculation on a per sport basis would not provide an accurate reflection of the complexity of anti-doping procedures in the UK.
Mr. Gareth R. ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many drugs tests were conducted per sport(a) in Britain and (b) outside Britain on British sportspeople in each of the last five years. [3731]
§ Mr. CabornDrug testing arrangements are organised on a UK rather than British basis to provide a consistent standard across all UK sportsmen and women subject to this type of testing. UK Sport is currently the agency with responsibility for the drug testing policy and programme. The complexities of the drug testing programme are such that it is not possible to break down figures in the way which my hon. Friend has requested. For example, footballers playing in the football league in England and Wales might not be British but may be subject to testing as they are participating in a domestic competition. Also, UK Sport does not have records of all UK athletes tested overseas unless they have commissioned the testing themselves. Where UK athletes are tested overseas at the request of the International Federation or as part of the host nation's testing programme, this information is relayed to individual governing bodies, not to the national anti-doping organisation of the athlete.
A summary of the UK drugs testing programme for each of the last five years is as follows:
Total number of samples Number of findings 1995–96 4,327 89 1996–97 4,469 90 1997–98 4,574 79 1998–99 5,147 76 1999–2000 6,141 119 A full breakdown by sport is available in UK Sport's Anti-Doping Programme Annual Reports. I will arrange 79W for copies of these for each of the past five years to be placed in both Libraries of the House, and for copies to he sent to my hon. Friend directly.