§ Dr. Lynne JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of methods for the detection of weapons, metal implements, drugs or explosives concealed within a person's clothing or body as an alternative to strip searching.
§ Mr. Charles WardleThe police scientific development branch, on behalf of the Home Office, has carried out extensive research into the effectiveness of metal detectors. A hand-held search tool exists which will locate metal objects which are concealed under clothing when run over the body of a fully clothed person. However, trials have shown that this machine is unable to detect syringe needles and the police scientific development branch has been commissioned to consider a design for a hand-held device which will be capable of detecting them.
There are methods to detect whether people have been in contact with explosives or drugs, but these do not establish whether an individual is still in possession of them.