Summary: Drug Testing on Arrest (DToA) programme
Updated 11 April 2024
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This page provides a summary of the data returns from the Drug Testing on Arrest (DToA) expansion programme since its launch in March 2022, with supplementary material to support the interpretation of the headline figures.
This data collection is still in development and the current returns do not present a complete picture of the national DToA activity, however the Home Office continues to work with police forces to expand the data collected and will report results on a quarterly basis.
Drug Testing on Arrest (DToA)
The aim of Drug Testing on Arrest (DToA) is to identify individuals whose criminal activity is believed to be caused, at least in part, by the use of Class A drugs who would benefit from treatment or support, and divert them to such service. There is evidence that treatment works to reduce drug use and drug-related offending[footnote 1].
DToA is a police power that can test for the presence of Class A drugs on arrest, for individuals aged 18 and over, and after charge, for individuals aged 14 and over following the committal of a trigger offence, or with Inspector or above authority following the committal of any offence. The test is completed from a saliva swab to test for the presence of Class A drugs, currently cocaine and certain opiates. ‘Trigger’ offences are defined in law[footnote 2] (typically acquisitive crimes), ‘non-trigger’ offences cover all other offences. Non-trigger offences can be tested for where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that specified Class A drug use has contributed to or caused the offence and an Inspector or higher has granted approval. Following a positive test, police can refer individuals to an assessment to identify any need for treatment or support such as counselling. During this assessment the decision to refer to treatment is undertaken by a qualified drug support worker to ensure those for whom treatment or other support would be beneficial are referred to the appropriate services.
DToA has been available as a tool of the Drug Intervention Programme (DIP) for police forces since 2003, with all forces being able to use DToA without additional authorisation from the Home Office since 1 April 2011. Prior to Home Office funding being made available in financial year 2021/22, DToA was not being used consistently across police forces, with less than half of forces across England and Wales reporting DToA data to the Home Office and the use of tests within these forces varying significantly.
In October 2021 it was announced that the government would invest millions of pounds of funding over next 3 and a half years to encourage forces to set up or expand DToA activities, along with wider plans for reducing demand for drugs as set out in From harm to hope: A 10-year drugs plan to cut crime and save lives, the government’s drug strategy. The expansion of DToA focuses on increasing the resources available to police forces so that they can either expand their current provision or start drug testing.
DToA programme monitoring data
In total, 36 police forces accepted the funding offer for DToA for the financial year 2022/23, and 37 forces accepted funding for the financial year 2023/24. Not all forces who accepted the offer have claimed the funding.
A total of 35 forces returned data (including nil returns) at some point to the Home Office during the period March 2022 to December 2023.
In the period of March 2022 to December 2023, a total of 98,461 tests were reported to the Home Office by police forces. The total number of tests reported to the Home Office has increased every quarter since March 2022, in part due to more police forces providing data on their use of DToA.
Of the 98,461 tests reported, 54,826 tests were positive for cocaine, opiates, or both. This is a positive test rate of 56%.
Data from a small sample of tests from police forces who were able to provide referrals data shows that over 90% of positive tests result in a referral to assessment, and that nearly half of these positive tests result in a referral to treatment. Due to being based on a small sample, this may not reflect the proportions of all tests which result in a referral to assessment or treatment.
Further details of the test data reported can be found in the supplementary tables on this page.