Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Cabinet Office

Oral Answers to Questions

Jim Shannon Excerpts
Tuesday 9th November 2021

(3 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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Dominic Raab Portrait Dominic Raab
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The right hon. Lady is right to raise that issue. It is important to consider not just the technology that we have been talking about, which helps to keep prisons safe, but the men and women who—day in, day out, at considerable risk to themselves and under considerable pressure—do such an excellent job. She asked about the independent pay review body; this year we have accepted its recommendations, which is critically important and only right.

Jim Shannon Portrait Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
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In the past, and perhaps even in the present, a great many drugs and other items have been smuggled into prisons by means of drones. Can the Secretary of State give any indication of what has been done to stop that happening, and thereby stop prisoners’ access to those items?

Dominic Raab Portrait Dominic Raab
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I was up at Glen Parva recently to look at one of the new state-of-the-art prisons. There, and across the prison estate, we are introducing improved cell windows, netting and other physical upgrades, as well as technology, to counter the threat of drones.