Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to prevent the smuggling of anabolic steroids and image and performance enhancing drugs into prisons.

Prisons in England and Wales have a range of specialist staff and equipment to tackle the smuggling of contraband into prisons, including drugs. We have invested over £40 million into new physical security measures to clamp down on the contraband that fuels violence behind bars – including £10 million on counter-drone measures. This includes X-ray body scanners, Enhanced Gate Security, detection dogs, drug trace detection equipment and improved netting and grilles. Dedicated search teams are resourced with specialist tools to detect and retrieve illicit mobile phones being used to facilitate drug conveyance. Prisoners are punished when caught smuggling contraband and can face additional time behind bars and the loss of privileges.

We recognise the harms caused by abuse of steroids and image and performance enhancing drugs (IPEDs). We work closely with health partners to ensure people misusing these drugs in prison can access timely and effective mental health care and recovery support which meets their individual needs. Alongside this we are strengthening guidance for prison staff on the threats presented by steroids.

The prison drug testing regime includes steroids. Testing data informs our understanding of changing threats in custody, as well as enabling action on individual instances of steroid or IPED detection. We are currently reviewing our drug testing regime in the round, to ensure it supports the best outcomes in understanding levels and types of drug use and supporting individuals through treatment and recovery pathways.

The latest figures for the number of incidents where drugs were found in prisons in England and Wales can be found in table 6.2 of the HMPPS Annual Digest (Chapter 6, Finds in Prison), and this includes finds of steroids. It is important to consider with incidents of finds in prisons, that an increase in numbers may be as a result of more items being found (although not necessarily attributable to any one particular security counter-measure), rather than more items being present in prisons.