§ Ms RuddockTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 6 July,Official Report, column 203, what action his Department will be taking to reduce (a) the demand for drugs and (b) the supply of drugs in prison.
§ Mr. Michael Forsyth[holding answer 20 July 1994]: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Derek Lewis to Ms Joan Ruddock dated 19 October:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question on the action the Prison Service will be taking to reduce the demand for drugs and the supply of drugs in prisons.Reducing levels of violence and drug misuse in prisons is one of the Prison Service's seven strategic priorities for 1994–1997. To achieve this we are adopting an integrated strategy which aims to reduce both the supply of and demand for drugs within prisons.Attempts to reduce the demand for drugs in prisons will centre around programmes for prisoners who misuse drugs. These programmes are available throughout the Prison Service, and are provided by healthcare staff, other Prison Service staff and outside agencies. They include detoxification, counselling, courses for groups of prisoners, access to Narcotics Anonymous, drug awareness training and a small number of more intensive treatment programmes. It is intended to expand the number of intensive programmes.The Prison Service is also sending a clear message that it is not prepared to tolerate the illicit use of drugs in prisons by measures to reduce their supply. Such measures include effective perimeter 244W security; more effective searches of prisoners and accommodation; use of sniffer dogs and intelligence gathering on the supply of drugs. The provisions of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill 1994 will allow these measures to be supplemented by the use of drug testing.