Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the total number of scanning machines in the prison estate in each year since 2010.

We have invested £100m to combat crime in prisons, including reducing the conveyance of illicit items such as drugs and mobile phones. This investment delivered 75 additional X-ray body scanners, taking the total number installed since 2010 to 98 and providing full coverage across the closed adult male estate. As of October 2022, we had recorded 28,626 positive indications, helping to tackle the supply of drugs into prisons.

Prior to 2022 there were multiple routes of procurement for baggage scanners across the prison estate, so we can provide only a partial answer. Since central procurement in 2022 we have installed 74 baggage scanners at 44 high-risk prisons.

A full evaluation of our security investments is underway and will be published in 2023.