Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Elfyn Llwyd (Plaid Cymru). It was answered on Wednesday, 2 July 2008 on behalf of the Wales Office.

Drugs (Prisons)

Question: I listened carefully to the Minister telling us the statistics on improvements, but that is not what the Prison Officers Association or the National Association of Probation Officers believe. A lifer recently asked to be taken from an open prison in Wales back into a closed prison because the temptation to go back on heroin was so great. There have been numerous similar examples in recent months of people requesting to go back into closed conditions because of the ready availability of heroin. I realise that it is a big problem, but, frankly, a bit more effort needs to be put in.

Answer: This is an important point. Constant attention, constant resourcing and focus is required to turn the situation around. The hon. Gentleman makes a valid point that we must keep up the effort and keep pushing harder. That is true, and hon. Members who have raised that point are pushing at a genuine issue, but we are going in the right direction. We will always have to do more, and when there are instances such as those the hon. Gentleman reports, we must work to address them, but we are pushing in the right direction—and, I must say, doing so for the first time in many years and after decades of underspending in prisons.

Secondary information