Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to tackle drug dealing (a) in general and (b) of spice in prisons.

We take a zero tolerance approach to drugs in prison. We have rolled out tests for new psychoactive substances, and have trained our 300 dogs to detect these drugs. We have introduced tough new laws which will see those who smuggle packages over prison walls face up to two years in prison. The Psychoactive Substances Act introduced specific new offences for the supply and possession of a psychoactive substances in a prison.

The White Paper on prison reform, which the Secretary of State announced in November, outlined a major shake-up of the prison system with 2,500 extra prisons officers and new security measures to tackle drones, phones and drugs and help make prisons places of safety and reform. The Prison and Courts Bill, introduced earlier this month, follows up on that commitment with a range of measures to support Governors and to strengthen security, including improvements to drug testing and enabling closer working with mobile network operators to block illicit phone signals in prisons.

In line with the White Paper commitment, the new national intelligence command, supported by seven regional intelligence units is now in place. The National Intelligence Unit (NIU) ensures that intelligence is being gathered, interrogated and fully exploited across prisons and probation. The NIU have developed products specifically designed to combat the threat of psychoactive substances within prisons. All Units work with prisons, probation and law enforcement partners to develop intelligence on offenders who present the greatest threat to prison security – which includes those involved in the supply of drugs. The work within our regional units has already started to pay dividends as disruption activity resulting from intelligence provided has taken place.

This work is supported by a protocol with the National Police Chiefs Council for the mandatory referral of all potential cases of conveyance, supply, and possession with intent to supply a controlled drug.