§ Lord Dholakiaasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many strip search procedures have been used on children and young people under 18 in the secure estate in the past five years; and how many required the use of physical restraint; and [HL3215]
145WAHow many times illicit drugs or weapons have been found in the past five years during strip searches on children and young people under 18. [HL3216]
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalIn England and Wales, there are no arrangements at present specifically for recording strip searches centrally. However, there are plans to introduce such monitoring within an improved electronic prisoner information management system. This project will initially undergo a pilot exercise, which is due to be completed in June 2005.
Information on the number of illicit drugs or weapons cannot be provided except at disproportionate cost. At present there are no central records of finds of weapons from strip searching and the central records of finds of drugs and drug user equipment do not provide separate data on juveniles.
The Northern Ireland Prison Service does not have a centralised database of search statistics and no separate search records are held for those under 18. Physical restraints to achieve searching are not used in Northern Ireland. Finds arising from searches are logged but again there is no central database. Drug finds are reported to the service's drugs adviser but these are not broken down by age. To obtain this information would be at disproportionate cost.
You should approach the Scottish Executive about Scottish prisons as this is a devolved matter.