Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government has taken to block mobile phone signals for contraband mobile phones held by prisoners across the prison estate.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

HM Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS) is committed to tackling the threat posed by illicit mobile telephones. It has a wide-ranging programme in place to prevent them from entering prisons, to detect and disrupt their use, and to investigate cases where a prisoner may have committed an offence.

HMPPS uses powers under the Prisons (Interference with Wireless Telegraphy) Act 2012 to enable prisons to use technology to suppress the use of wireless telegraphy such as mobile phones.

As part of their local security strategies, prisons are able to deploy a range of measures, but owing to security and operational sensitivities, it would not be appropriate to provide detailed information about the countermeasures that are in place.