I want, if I may, to highlight my concerns about the importation and use of controlled drugs in the prison estate. Drugs must feature heavily in any discussion of prison policy, not only because they are responsible for bringing the majority of offenders into prison but because they present apparently intractable problems inside. They also prevent successful resettlement and rehabilitation after release.

As we understand it, the main cause of crime is drugs, followed closely by alcohol. The number of people beginning a prison sentence for drugs offences has more than doubled in the past 10 years from 3,483 to 7,153 each year. At the end of December 2005,17 per cent. of male sentenced prisoners and 35 per cent. of female sentenced prisoners had been convicted of drugs offences, by far the largest proportion convicted of any offence. Furthermore, the problem is getting worse. In 1995, drug offences accounted for only 10 per cent. of male sentenced prisoners and27 per cent. of the sentenced female prison population.

The figures are still misleadingly small: a much larger group of prisoners have committed an offence that is in some way drugs-related. Some 55 per cent. of prisoners report having committed offences connected to their drug taking, with the need for money to buy drugs being the most commonly cited factor. A study for the Home Office found that 73 per cent. of respondents had taken an illegal drug in the year before entering prison.

Of course, drug use does not stop on entry into prison. Little or nothing is done on the inside to cure addictions. There are things called drug-free wings on prison, a concept that I find extraordinary. The situation is regrettable and, in a speech provided as evidence to the all-party group for abuse investigations, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips, said:

“Drug treatment is an essential step to rehabilitation in the case of many offenders.”

Of course, efforts are being and have been made to improve the situation. Prisoners are subject to random mandatory drug tests and, in 2003-04, many morethan 53,000 people entered drug detoxification programmes—nearly double the target of 27,000 entrants by April 2004. Nevertheless, use among prisoners remains high and the situation unsatisfactory. A recent Home Office study found that 40 per cent. of prisoners had used drugs at least once while in their current prison, 25 per cent. in the past month and16 per cent. in the past week. The problem is particularly acute among women prisoners, of whom it is estimated that two thirds have a drug problem. Total eradication might be unrealistic, but we ought to be doing much better than we are.

If clause 17 and other parts relating to controlled drugs improve the situation, I will be happy to applaud them. However, I am concerned that the proposalis just another headline to be deployed by the Government to show that they are doing something about the use of illegal drugs in prison and that nothing more will happen. I would like to use this stand part debate to urge the Government to get a grip. I appreciate that they are doing something, but they need to do a lot more about the scourge of drug use in our prisons.

We face a terrible problem. As I pointed out a moment ago, drugs are the root cause of much of the crime that leads to people going to prison, but there are pressures on those outside to import drugs to those inside. Numerically, the numbers are small, but some prison officers, particularly those in big city prisons, are under tremendous pressure from drug gangs or barons to import drugs into prison. People will approach them, either in prison or outside, and tell them that their home address is known, as well as that of their children’s school and their wife’s, husband’s or partner’s work place, and that it would be a sensible idea if they delivered drugs to a customer inside prison.

We also know that prison officers—certainly the rank and file—are not terribly well paid and, therefore, must be very tempted by offers of large sums of money to import drugs into prison. We can tackle that in a number of ways. For instance, we could enhance the professionalism of prisoner officers’ careers, and give them better training and more self-esteem in order to prevent that very small number of officers from being tempted or pressured into bringing drugs into prison and to take a better course of action.

Clearly, most of clause 17 is common sense and brings up to date the criminal law relating to the conveyance of prohibited articles into or out of prison. I shall stop there and trust that the Government will do rather more than just pass a law and that they will provide greater support to the Prison Service, the police and prison officers so that the scourge of drug taking and dealing, and the resultant high reoffending rate, can be dealt with coherently and effectively.