MOD CIVIL SERVANTS TO FACE DRUG TESTS

CIVIL servants at the Defence Ministry are likely to become the first
Whitehall officials to face compulsory drug tests.

The move, which is being discussed with the unions, would affect all staff
in "safety-critical areas" and would be imposed under a zero-tolerance
regime. Anyone testing positive would face dismissal.

The recommendation to bring civil servants into line with the Services -
which already have compulsory drug tests - was made by the ministry's
career management department to Kevin Tebbit, the Permanent
Under-Secretary, who would probably have to subject himself to the tests if
the regime were approved.

Although there is no evidence of a drugs problem among MoD civil servants,
it was considered appropriate that officials who worked closely with the
military should face the same tests as their uniformed colleagues.

There are 76,000 civil servants in the various defence establishments, and
the proposal is that those who work with the military in areas such as
weapons programmes and research should face testing.

If the idea is approved, civil servants would be selected at random from a
computer list of names and ordered to give urine samples.

All the top military commanders at the MoD have been tested and even the
Duke of York, a Royal Navy officer, has undergone a compulsory test.

The military drug testing programme has so far produced a failure rate of
about 0.6 per cent, compared with about 6 per cent in private companies
that have introduced testing schemes.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski