HC Deb 16 June 1993 vol 226 cc572-3W
Dr. Lynne Jones

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the amount of drugs and explosives detected for each of the past five years as a result of(a) strip searching of convicted and remand prisoners and (b) strip searching of other people.

Mr. Peter Lloyd

The information requested in part(a) of the question was collected centrally only from mid November 1990. Information prior to that date could be gathered only by a manual search at disproportionate cost. Additionally it is not possible to give the quantity of drugs found, only the number of occasions when drugs were found on a prisoner's person.

The total numbers of such incidents are as follows:

Drug finds (incidents)
19901 59
1991 269
1992 289
19932 184
1 From mid November 1990.
2To end May 1993.

There are no recorded incidents of explosives being found as a result of the strip searching of convicted and remand prisoners.

I regret that the information requested in part (b) of the question is not collected centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.