The YPeople project in Lindsay House in East Kilbride in my constituency has had the police called out 700 times in two years in respect of antisocial behaviour, crime, weapons and drug misuse, and this has continued at a high rate even during lockdown. Local residents now tell me they are terrified and parents are saying that children are being offered drugs during their school lunch breaks. What more can be done to provide intensive offender and substance abuse rehabilitation prior to relocation to local communities so that residents are not put at such pervasive risk?

In green spaces across my constituency, litter picks used to result in us picking up cans, bottles and crisp packets, but now, more and more, we are finding numbers of nitrous oxide canisters. There is an

increasing number of youngsters putting their health and lives at risk using this psychoactive substance. Will my right hon. and learned Friend look at this with colleagues across Government so that we can get a grip of this growing and dangerous issue?

We are taking urgent action to tackle violence in prisons, alongside reforms to overhaul the system to focus on the rehabilitation of offenders. Investment in additional prison officers and the introduction of Keyworkers enables prison officers to mentor, challenge and support a small caseload of prisoners away from violence and reoffending. The Challenge, Support and Intervention Plan (CSIP) has, since November 2018, been mandated for use in all establishments. CSIP provides a case management model to help staff to manage violent prisoners and those identified as posing a raised risk of being violent. Violence against our staff is unacceptable. The Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act came into force on 13 November which has increased the penalty – from 6 to 12 months - for those who assault emergency workers including prison officers.

In order to improve support for prisoners with mental health needs, we have rolled out improved suicide and self-harm prevention training and over 25,000 new and existing prison staff have completed some of this training. We have also awarded the Samaritans a grant of £500,000 each year for the next three years, to continue to support the Listeners’ scheme. For those prisoners requiring transfer to secure hospitals for mental health treatment, we are working collaboratively with Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS), Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England (NHSE) to improve the transfer process. On 20^th June we also announced the development of a Health and Justice Plan which will bring together a coherent, holistic picture of the full offender health journey, from the point of arrest through to release.

Our Drugs Taskforce is working with law enforcement and health partners across government to restrict the supply of drugs, reduce demand and build recovery from substance misuse through the national Prison Drugs Strategy. We have invested £70 million to improve safety, security and decency, allowing us to fund new security scanners, improve searching techniques, and introduce phone-blocking technology. We have made it a criminal offence to possess psychoactive substances in prison and trained more than 300 sniffer dogs to detect these drugs. Additionally, our £9 million joint-funded Ministry of Justice, HMPPS, DHSC and NHSE Drug Recovery Prison pilot at HMP Holme House is testing and evaluating innovative approaches to tackle drugs in prison and help prisoners improve their chances of recovery.

I look forward to meeting the Prisons Minister next week to discuss HMP Nottingham. One of the major challenges at the jail is drugs. What is the latest update on the roll-out of body scanners at this prison and others?

We are in the process of selecting 10 additional establishments to expand and accelerate the programme. The 10 prisons already included in the programme are HMPs Hewell, Ranby, Dartmoor, Holme House, Channing’s Wood, Low Newton, Durham, The Mount, Wymott and Portland.

We are in the process of selecting 10 additional establishments to expand and accelerate the programme. The 10 prisons already included in the programme are HMPs Hewell, Ranby, Dartmoor, Holme House, Channing’s Wood, Low Newton, Durham, The Mount, Wymott and Portland.

The Government publishes an Annual Digest that provides a range of detailed statistics and measures for prisons and probation for the financial year, including data on drug tests and finds.

The latest publication covering the 17/18 financial year is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-hm-prison-and-probation-service-digest-2017-to-2018. Figures on the proportion of positive results for random mandatory drugs tests and the number of incidents where drugs were found for the 17/18 financial year are provided in the table below:

We do not publish monthly breakdowns, however, further information about the proportion of positive results for random mandatory drugs tests can be found by selecting table 7.4 in the ‘Chapter 7 tables – Random mandatory drug testing’ link’.

Further information about the number of incidents where drugs were found can be found by selecting table 9.2 in the ‘Chapter 9 tables – Finds in prison’ link.

These prisons are also part of the 10 Prisons Project which aims to reduce violence in 10 of our most challenging prisons by reducing the supply of drugs; restoring basic decency and providing the training and support for prison officers to challenge the behaviour that drives violence. The project received an initial £10 million funding to improve security and decency, and bolster leadership capability over a 12-month period.

The Government publishes an Annual Digest that provides a range of detailed statistics and measures for prisons and probation for the financial year, including data on drug tests and finds.

The latest publication covering the 17/18 financial year is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-hm-prison-and-probation-service-digest-2017-to-2018. Figures on the proportion of positive results for random mandatory drugs tests and the number of incidents where drugs were found for the 17/18 financial year are provided in the table below:

We do not publish monthly breakdowns, however, further information about the proportion of positive results for random mandatory drugs tests can be found by selecting table 7.4 in the ‘Chapter 7 tables – Random mandatory drug testing’ link’.

Further information about the number of incidents where drugs were found can be found by selecting table 9.2 in the ‘Chapter 9 tables – Finds in prison’ link.

These prisons are also part of the 10 Prisons Project which aims to reduce violence in 10 of our most challenging prisons by reducing the supply of drugs; restoring basic decency and providing the training and support for prison officers to challenge the behaviour that drives violence. The project received an initial £10 million funding to improve security and decency, and bolster leadership capability over a 12-month period.

The Government publishes an Annual Digest that provides a range of detailed statistics and measures for prisons and probation for the financial year, including data on drug tests and finds.

The latest publication covering the 17/18 financial year is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-hm-prison-and-probation-service-digest-2017-to-2018. Figures on the proportion of positive results for random mandatory drugs tests and the number of incidents where drugs were found for the 17/18 financial year are provided in the table below:

We do not publish monthly breakdowns, however, further information about the proportion of positive results for random mandatory drugs tests can be found by selecting table 7.4 in the ‘Chapter 7 tables – Random mandatory drug testing’ link’.

Further information about the number of incidents where drugs were found can be found by selecting table 9.2 in the ‘Chapter 9 tables – Finds in prison’ link.

These prisons are also part of the 10 Prisons Project which aims to reduce violence in 10 of our most challenging prisons by reducing the supply of drugs; restoring basic decency and providing the training and support for prison officers to challenge the behaviour that drives violence. The project received an initial £10 million funding to improve security and decency, and bolster leadership capability over a 12-month period.

The Government publishes an Annual Digest that provides a range of detailed statistics and measures for prisons and probation for the financial year, including data on drug tests and finds.

The latest publication covering the 17/18 financial year is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-hm-prison-and-probation-service-digest-2017-to-2018. Figures on the proportion of positive results for random mandatory drugs tests and the number of incidents where drugs were found for the 17/18 financial year are provided in the table below:

We do not publish monthly breakdowns, however, further information about the proportion of positive results for random mandatory drugs tests can be found by selecting table 7.4 in the ‘Chapter 7 tables – Random mandatory drug testing’ link’.

Further information about the number of incidents where drugs were found can be found by selecting table 9.2 in the ‘Chapter 9 tables – Finds in prison’ link.

These prisons are also part of the 10 Prisons Project which aims to reduce violence in 10 of our most challenging prisons by reducing the supply of drugs; restoring basic decency and providing the training and support for prison officers to challenge the behaviour that drives violence. The project received an initial £10 million funding to improve security and decency, and bolster leadership capability over a 12-month period.