Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many drug seizures took place in prisons from March (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23 in each institution.

In the 12 months to March 2023, the number of incidents where drugs were found in prisons decreased to 14,724 from 17,700 in the previous 12-month period, a decrease of 17%.

The accompanying table contains data on all drug finds in each prison across the 2021-22 and 2022-23 period.

This fall follows action by this Government. Our £100m Security Investment Programme to reduce crime and prevent drugs entering prisons completed in March 2022. This funded a range of security measures, including X-ray body scanners across the entire closed male estate. Since July 2020, these have resulted in over 10,000 positive scans, many finding multiple contraband items, preventing drugs and mobile phones and other illicit items from entering prisons. We are going further this year with £25m investment to restrict drug supply into prisons, including installing x-ray baggage scanners at 42 high priority sites, and enhancing our mobile blocking technology.

Alongside this, the Ministry of Justice is investing £120m over the next three years to get more offenders engaged in treatment, and support them towards abstinence. With this investment, we will enhance testing regimes in prison, expand the use of Drug Recovery Wings where prisoners commit to remain drug-free and undergo regular voluntary drug tests, support prisoners to engage with community treatment ahead of their release and increase the use of intensive drug rehabilitation requirements for those on community sentences.