Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to reduce levels of crime in prisons.

We are taking decisive action to reduce the level of crime in prisons which has a devastating impact on prison safety and undermines our ability to protect the public and rehabilitate offenders.

We are investing £100 million in prison security as part of a crackdown on crime behind bars. We are targeting those who bring contraband, such as drugs and mobile phones, into prisons through enhanced gate security for staff and visitors and x-ray body scanners for prisoners. We are also stepping up our counter corruption capability and strengthening (in scale and reach) intelligence-led operations and investigations with law enforcement partners against those that present the greatest threat of harm to prison security and the community.

In May, we published the new Crime in Prison Referral Agreement between Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, the police and the Crown Prosecution Service. This sets out how crimes committed within prison, such as serious assaults, will be referred to law enforcement, investigated and prosecuted. It provides a more consistent approach to dealing with these matters.