§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his Department's policy on reducing the level of illegal drug use in prisons in England and Wales. [62185]
§ Mr. George HowarthIn May this year, I launched the Prison Service Drug Strategy which set out a framework for improving the assessment and treatment of drug misusers in prison and for reducing the supply of drugs into prison. Since then, the Prison Service has been allocated an extra £76m over the next three financial years from the Comprehensive Spending Review to implement that strategy. Prison Service officials are currently working with the United Kingdom Anti Drugs Co-ordination Unit, probation services and external drugs 19W agencies to create specifications, services and outputs, and to identify the specific needs of individual prisons and groups of prisoners.