Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an estimate of the proportion of prison officers who are searched upon entry to prison by an x-ray body scanner.

HM Prison and Probation Service does not currently have legal permission to use X-ray body scanners on staff working in prisons. As such, no prison officers are searched by an X-ray body scanner upon entry to prison.

All persons may be searched on entry to or within prisons, including prison staff. Arrangements for staff searching are set out in a prisons Local Security Strategy.

The vast majority of staff are hardworking and dedicated. A minority of staff engage in corrupt activity which is often as a result of conditioning and manipulation by prisoners.

Through the Government’s £100 million Security Investment Programme (SIP) we have bolstered prison security, such as physical measures to stop illicit items from entering prisons. These include extending X-ray body scanners to all closed male prisons, and installing Enhanced Gate Security at 42 high risk sites with archway metal detectors and the regular use of sniffer dogs. We have also since installed X-ray baggage scanners at 49 establishments. Additionally, through SIP investment, we have introduced mobile phone blocking and detection capabilities. We have also expanded HMPPS’ Counter Corruption Unit to effectively support the resilience of our hardworking prison officers to coercion by criminals. Furthermore, we have enhanced our partnership working through the development of a Multi-Agency Response to Serious Organised Crime.