Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Annual Report of the Independent Monitoring Board at HMP/YOI Bronzefield, published on 16 November 2021, whether he plans to implement enhanced gate security measures at any women’s prison in England.

There are no immediate plans to introduce Enhanced Gate Security (EGS) in the women’s estate. EGS measures provide technical and drug dog aided searching for all staff and visitors to a prison. These have been in place in the high security estate for some years and are now being introduced into 42 adult male prisons under the £100m Security Investment Programme. Sites were prioritised on the basis of conveyance risk associated with prison function, with further prioritisation on the basis of feasibility and value for money.