Question to the Ministry of Justice:

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

We are investing up to £120 million to get offenders off drugs and into recovery.

We are also cracking down on drug supply into prisons, and have installed 75 additional x-ray body scanners resulting in full coverage across the closed adult male estate. As of April 2022, we had recorded approximately 20,000 positive scans, preventing drugs from entering prisons.

Prisoners will have access to high-quality treatment with a focus on abstinence-based recovery to end their addiction. We are rolling out up to 18 new, abstinence-only Drug Recovery Wings, and increasing the number of Incentivised Substance Free Living units where prisoners commit to remaining drug-free to up to 100.