Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 15
15
Accepted
Paragraph: 85
Inadequate accessibility to testing and forensic capacity for spiking victims
Conclusion
Accessibility to testing is an issue for many victims and the lack of forensic testing capacity creates evidential difficulties for the police.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government already established an accredited rapid urine testing service in partnership with Eurofins in Autumn 2021 and will continue it throughout 2022, with plans to improve it in 2023.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
85
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted
As the Committee notes, law enforcement, in partnership with forensic provider Eurofins, established an accredited rapid urine testing service in response to the outbreak of needle spiking in Autumn 2021. This service will be in place throughout 2022, with the intention of developing a better service in 2023. This capability is both faster and less expensive than a full toxicology submission, enabling law enforcement to provide assurance and additional support to victims more quickly than they would usually be able to.4 Results from the rapid testing capability can be upgraded for evidential purposes. This capability, while initially open only to samples from reports of needle spiking, has been open to all spiking samples since January 2022.
Read the full response on Parliament ↗