Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what power a court has to search a person for a device if that device has been seen to have been used or is thought to have been used to take a photograph or recording in court.

The Court Act of 2003, Part 4 (52) provides the court security officer acting in the execution of his duty with the powers to search any person who is in a court building, and any article in their possession. If a person is thought to have used a device to take a photograph or recording in court, and they refuse to surrender that device, the court security officer may search that person. If this takes place within a court/hearing room this will be upon the direction of the judge.