Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to tackle the problem of illegal deliveries of (a) phones, (b) drugs and (c) other contraband items into prisons via drones.

We are working hard to deter, detect and disrupt the illegal use of drones around prisons in England and Wales.

Whilst we cannot share our full range of countermeasures, our approach is multi-faceted and continually evolving. This includes strengthening physical security countermeasures, exploring technological developments, exploiting intelligence, bolstering legislation and working across Government and with international partners on this global issue.

HMPPS uses targeted countermeasures such as improvements to windows, specialist netting and grilles to stop drones successfully delivering contraband.

This year, we are investing over £40 million in physical security across 34 prisons. This includes £10 million on anti-drone measures including windows and secure netting across 15 prisons.