§ Mr Raymond S. RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he has any plans to alter the status of prison officers in Scotland.
§ Mr. Lang[pursuant to his reply, 3 December 1993, c. 733]: I intend to table a clause for inclusion in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill which will give prison officers and governors in Scotland, and prisoner custody officers performing custodial duties, the power to detain in any place in the prison, on reasonable suspicion, any person suspected of bringing in prohibited artricles—for example, drugs or weapons—on to prison property, until police officers arrive and have the opportunity to question the person. The clause will permit searching of any person by prison officers and governors on reasonable suspicion that the person was bringing in a prohibited article. Searching will not include intimate searching and will be restricted to "rub-down" searching in relation to prohibited articles other than controlled drugs, firearms and ammunition. It will also permit any prohibited article so found to be seized and detained. These measures will assist prison officers in the fight against the smuggling of drugs into prisons, and will in substance give them the same powers as their counterparts in the rest of the United Kingdom.