A PLAN to trial random drug testing at Kent schools has been abandoned after it emerged that not a single secondary school was prepared to participate.

Kent was chosen 18 months ago by the Government to trial random drug testing among pupils in an initiative direct supportly by then Prime Minister Tony Blair, following the success of a similar programme piloted at Faversham's Abbey School.

However, the school, under a new headteacher, is also understood to have abandoned random drug tests.

Kent County Council said the Government was not prepared to give schools the money they needed to introduce tests, although it had agreed to pay for an evaluation of the results.

In a statement, KCC said: "This proved a barrier to recruiting schools to participate as they would have had to move funding from other areas of activity.

"Nationally, there was a failure to recruit the requisite number of schools, so the pilot did not go ahead and no evaluation took place, either nationally or locally."

The initiative's demise was described as disappointing by Peter Walker, the former headteacher of the Abbey School. Now retired, he was appointed to act as an adviser to the Government to oversee the pilot scheme and remains convinced that random testing works.

He said that while schools publicly blamed costs and legal concerns, they were privately worried about being seen as having a problem if they brought in testing.

"The reality is that every school has some kind of drug problem. National figures show that 40 per cent of children have tried drugs before they are 15.

"The problem is the Government spends a lot of money when people already have a problem but does not spend nearly enough on prevention, which is much more effective."

He added: "I can understand the reluctance of schools but what we need is a united front. Kent has a chance to be a leader in this field but the support is not there."

The Department for Children, Schools and Families, said it was reviewing the status of random drug testing in schools.

Read the full report in this week's Kentish Gazette.