Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to help prisons to increase levels of (a) drugs testing and (b) searches for mobile phones.

The number of mobile phones and SIM cards in prisons continues to be too high. We have purchased better quality detection equipment in larger quantities and equipped all prisons with additional portable detection devices to use across the prison. We are also working with mobile network operators to deliver ground-breaking technology to stop illicit phones working in prisons.

The illicit supply of drugs undermines the safety and security of prisons. The introduction of mandatory drug testing for psychoactive substances in prisons in September 2016 was also a significant step to support our prisons in tackling the supply and use of these lethal drugs. We are not aware of any other prison service in the world that has introduced these innovative new tests.

As part of our commitments in the Prison Safety and Reform White Paper, published in November 2016, we will invest to strengthen the frontline with 2,500 additional prison officers by 2018. These new prison officers will receive dedicated substance misuse training which explains the substantial impact of drug use, particularly psychoactive substances, implementation of the Psychoactive Substance Act 2016 in prisons and insight into what they can do to prevent further PS supply and use.