Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the volume of illegal drugs found in prisons between (a) 2013 and 2017 and (b) 2018 and 2022.

The number of incidents where drugs are found in prisons in England and Wales is published in the HMPPS Annual Digest through the incidents data tool.

a) Between 2013 and 2017, there were 41,354 drug find incidents in prisons in England and Wales.

b) Between 2018 and 2022. There were 92,130 drug find incidents in prisons in England and Wales.

It is important to consider with incidents of drug finds in prisons, that an increase in numbers may be as a result of more items being found, rather than more items being present in prisons.

Delivery of the £100m Security Investment Programme was completed in March 2022 and included measures to prevent the smuggling of illicit items such as drugs into prisons. The Investment included deployment of Enhanced Gate Security at 42 high-risk sites and 75 additional X-ray body scanners, giving full coverage across the closed adult male prison estate.