FOI 881/24 Blood Alcohol Tests
Dear Sir/Madam
Enquiry Reference: 881 - 24
I write in connection with regards to your Freedom of Information request. Below is your request and our response.
how many blood tests to assess blood alcohol levels has your force arranged or carried out?
- We submitted 116 Blood Alcohol cases (September 2023 – August 2024).
and what was the financial cost associated with this?
- Approximately £11,000
Every effort is made to ensure that the data provided by Cleveland Police is accurate and complete. However, Cleveland Police systems are designed primarily for the management of individual cases and not for the purposes of providing data to answer specific FOI enquiries. Please note although data can be extracted from several sources via database queries, the results may be subject to inaccuracies.
Unfortunately, we only have easily accessible data for submissions relating to Road Traffic Act (drink drive) submissions, so care should be taken to understand our return when considering the interpretation or further use of the data. Some of these cases have not yet been completed and therefore we have not been charged for them – so an average cost has been calculated, plus there are different types of assessments such as those samples taken from assessments at the station then traveling to the hospitals so it is difficult to cost.
Please note that all statistical data supplied in relation to Freedom of Information requests is a snapshot of data held at the time the request was received by the Freedom of Information office and is subject to constant change/updates.
The Cleveland Police response to your request is unique and it should be noted that Police Forces do not use generic systems or identical procedures to capture and record data therefore responses from Cleveland Police should not be used as a comparison with any other force response you receive.
If you are not satisfied with this response or any actions taken in dealing with your request, you have the right to request an independent internal review of your case under our review procedure. The Freedom of Information Code of Practice (see below link) states that a request for internal review should be made within 20 working days of the date on this response or 40 working days if extenuating circumstances to account for the delay can be evidenced. Public authorities are not obliged to accept internal reviews after this date.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/freedom-of-information-code-of-practice
Yours sincerely
Information Rights Decision Maker