Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many drug overdoses took place in prisons from March (a) 2021-2022 and (b) 2022-2023 broken down by institution.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Between January 2021 and December 2021, a total of 2,273 incidents of self-harm were recorded that were linked to overdoses.
The total figure for January 2022 to December 2022 was 2,387 incidents linked to overdoses. Please see the accompanying table.
The data has been produced on a calendar basis to match published figures on method of self-harm. Information is reported for calendar rather than financial years to avoid the risk of identifying individuals in combination with published calendar year breakdowns of self-harm data.
We do not explicitly collect data on an “overdose” incident type. The data we have provided is based on the “self-harm” incident type. In particular, the data is based on self-harm categorised as “Self-Poisoning/Overdose/Substances/Swallowing” and subcategorised as “illegal drugs”, “own persons medicine” or “other persons medicine”.
The data provided is based on two main assumptions:
There will be other incidents involving the consumption of substances that are not included as they were not reported as self-harm by the prison and so would not have been captured in the provided data.
These figures have been drawn from the HMPPS Incident Reporting System and although care is taken when processing and analysing returns, the detail is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Although shown to the last case, the figures may not be accurate to that level.
The data only includes self-harm incidents collated centrally; identifying any wider incidents that lead to a hospitalisation and have a connection to drugs would exceed the cost threshold as it would require reading through the text of each incident.
We are committed to doing all we can to prevent deaths from drug overdoses in prison. We have outlined in both our Prisons Strategy White Paper and the Government’s 10-year drug strategy ‘From Harm to Hope’ (2021) how we will achieve this.
All prisons have a zero-tolerance approach to drugs. Our £100m Security Investment Programme, completed in March 2022, introduced measures such as 75 additional X-ray body scanners and airport-style gate security. To prevent the smuggling of illegal drugs such as psychoactive substances through the mail, we have deployed 95 next generation drug trace detection machines. We are aiming for full coverage of public sector prisons by March 2024.
We are also increasing the number of Incentivised Substance-Free Living units, where prisoners commit to remaining free of illicit drugs with regular drug testing and incentives. We have more than doubled the number of these from 25 last summer to 60 now and we are aiming to reach up to 100 by March 2025.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the target was for the number of random mandatory drug tests to be carried out by HM Prison and Probation Service staff in the year to March 2023.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Between start March 2022 and end March 2023, the national Key Performance Indicator target of expected random mandatory tests to be completed was 54,138 based on an overall prison population ranging from 79,698 in March 2022 to 83,918 in March 2023.
All random mandatory drug testing (rMDT) was paused in March 2020 following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Low levels of testing resumed from September 2020 in line with establishments’ position within the National Framework for managing COVID-19 before formal performance expectations around rMDT volumes were re-instated in April 2022. As set out in the HMPPS Annual Digest 2022-23 publication, rMDT levels did not return to the pre-pandemic levels in 2022-23. The levels of testing delivered varies across the estate from month to month and was impacted by the level of regime being operated by prisons, in line with staffing resource and other operational pressures.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many random mandatory drug tests were carried out by HM Prison and Probation Service from March 2022-2023 by institution.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Between March 2022 and March 2023, a total of 41,308 random mandatory drug tests were carried out by HM Prison and Probation Service in 122 prison establishments. Please see the accompanying table.
All random mandatory drug testing (rMDT) was paused in March 2020 following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Low levels of testing resumed from September 2020 in line with establishments’ position within the National Framework for managing COVID-19 before formal performance expectations around rMDT volumes were re-instated in April 2022. As set out in the HMPPS Annual Digest 2022-23 publication, rMDT levels did not return to the pre-pandemic levels in 2022-23. The levels of testing delivered varies across the estate from month to month and was impacted by the level of regime being operated by prisons, in line with staffing resource and other operational pressures.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many drug seizures took place in prisons from March (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23 in each institution.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
In the 12 months to March 2023, the number of incidents where drugs were found in prisons decreased to 14,724 from 17,700 in the previous 12-month period, a decrease of 17%.
The accompanying table contains data on all drug finds in each prison across the 2021-22 and 2022-23 period.
This fall follows action by this Government. Our £100m Security Investment Programme to reduce crime and prevent drugs entering prisons completed in March 2022. This funded a range of security measures, including X-ray body scanners across the entire closed male estate. Since July 2020, these have resulted in over 10,000 positive scans, many finding multiple contraband items, preventing drugs and mobile phones and other illicit items from entering prisons. We are going further this year with £25m investment to restrict drug supply into prisons, including installing x-ray baggage scanners at 42 high priority sites, and enhancing our mobile blocking technology.
Alongside this, the Ministry of Justice is investing £120m over the next three years to get more offenders engaged in treatment, and support them towards abstinence. With this investment, we will enhance testing regimes in prison, expand the use of Drug Recovery Wings where prisoners commit to remain drug-free and undergo regular voluntary drug tests, support prisoners to engage with community treatment ahead of their release and increase the use of intensive drug rehabilitation requirements for those on community sentences.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking through the criminal justice system to tackle alcohol and drug-related crime in (a) Stoke-on-Trent and (b) Staffordshire.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
We know that drug and alcohol related crime blights communities and drives reoffending, so it is essential the Criminal Justice System tackles substance misuse and supports offenders into treatment.
This is why MoJ have introduced the Alcohol Abstinence and Monitoring Requirement (AAMR) to tackle alcohol related offending. The AAMR imposes an alcohol ban for up to 120 days, with compliance electronically monitored using an alcohol tag. Published statistics show a compliance rate with the ban of 97.2% for days monitored, since introduction, Electronic Monitoring Statistics Published June 2023 - Gov.uk. We have also introduced alcohol monitoring for offenders leaving custody and during the license period where alcohol misuse is a factor for reoffending; license conditions may be imposed which ban or limit alcohol consumption.
Drug Treatment Requirements can also be imposed as part of a community sentence, which aims to address the underlying causes of drug-driven offending behaviours and improve health outcomes.
All prisoners will also have access to high-quality treatment so they can turn their back on addiction. We are increasing the number of Incentivised Substance Free Living units to up to 100 by March 2025, where prisoners commit to remaining free of illicit drugs with regular drug testing and incentives - there are currently 60 open across the estate, including several in the West Midlands region.
The ongoing recruitment of Drug Strategy Leads based in category C and women's prisons, also allows for the coordination of the strategy’s whole system approach to tackling drugs.
We are recruiting Health and Justice Partnership Coordinators across England and Wales, to improve offender access to substance misuse and health services. These roles work regionally across the West Midlands, covering both Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire.
We know that for prison leavers, continuity of care after release is important. We are rolling out a project that will make probation aware of all person leavers who were in treatment in prison and have been referred to community treatment- enabling them to support appointment attendance. Mobilisation in Stoke on Trent and Staffordshire is underway and due to complete by March 2024.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of security arrangements at Wandsworth Prison.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) carries out a programme of unannounced audits across the prison estate, to ensure adequate operational standards are being maintained within individual establishments.
The Annual Prison Performance Ratings published on gov.uk include the latest security audit score for each prison. The most recent security audit data is available here: Security audit - Justice Data.
We have invested £100 million since 2019 on measures such as enhanced gate security with x-ray body scanners which has driven up the finds of drugs, weapons and other contraband, including tools that could be used to aid an escape from prison. As of October 2022, we had recorded 28,626 positive indications through our X-ray scanners, helping to tackle the supply of illicit contraband.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many drug recovery wings have been opened in prisons since 22 July 2022.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
As part of the ambitious cross-Government Drug Strategy, we are rolling out a wide range of interventions to support prisoners off drugs and into recovery. This includes testing a new approach to help prisoners with an opiate dependency achieve abstinence, through abstinence-focused Drug Recovery Wings. Seven of these are now open across the estate. Alongside this, we are increasing the number of Incentivised Substance-Free Living units, where prisoners commit to remaining free of illicit drugs with regular drug testing and incentives. We have more than doubled the number of these from 25 last summer to 60 now, aiming to reach up to 100 by March 2025.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the total number of scanning machines in the prison estate in each year since 2010.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
We have invested £100m to combat crime in prisons, including reducing the conveyance of illicit items such as drugs and mobile phones. This investment delivered 75 additional X-ray body scanners, taking the total number installed since 2010 to 98 and providing full coverage across the closed adult male estate. As of October 2022, we had recorded 28,626 positive indications, helping to tackle the supply of drugs into prisons.
Prior to 2022 there were multiple routes of procurement for baggage scanners across the prison estate, so we can provide only a partial answer. Since central procurement in 2022 we have installed 74 baggage scanners at 44 high-risk prisons.
A full evaluation of our security investments is underway and will be published in 2023.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisons have an operational drug recovery wing.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
As part of the ambitious cross-Government Drug Strategy, we are rolling out a wide range of interventions to support prisoners off drugs and into recovery. This includes testing a new approach to help prisoners with an opiate dependency achieve abstinence, with 7 abstinence-focused Drug Recovery Wings in operation across the estate. Alongside this, we are increasing the number of Incentivised Substance-Free Living units, where prisoners commit to remaining free of illicit drugs with regular drug testing and incentives. We have already doubled the number from 25 last summer to over 50 now, aiming to reach up to 100 by March 2025.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of tackling substance misuse in prisons in each year since 2010.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The information requested is not separately identifiable due to the way services are commissioned across the secure and detained estate.