Source · Select Committees · Justice Committee
Recommendation 166
166
Accepted
Take urgent steps to address the evolving threat of New Psychoactive Substances in prisons.
Conclusion
Given the extreme potency and low lethal dose of substances such as Nitazenes and Fentanyl, the circulation of these drugs in prisons leads to a high risk of drug-related deaths and overdoses, as tragically seen at HMP Parc. The MoJ and HMPPS must take urgent steps to address the evolving threat of NPS. (Conclusion, Paragraph 33)
Government Response Summary
The government is enhancing staff capability on drugs and recovery by introducing a new capabilities framework, broadening the 'Enable Programme' training, redesigning Foundation Training for new officers, and strengthening specialist roles. They will also undertake a training needs analysis in early 2026.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
We welcome the Committee’s focus on positive staff-prisoner relationships, which are vital to rehabilitation. To ensure prison officers can effectively support prisoners with a drug dependency, we must tackle stigma, and improve staff understanding of drug and alcohol use, dependency and recovery. HMPPS has already taken steps to improve workforce capability on drugs and recovery, including introducing the Adult Health, Care and Wellbeing Core Capabilities Framework in May 2025, with strengthened staff guidance. Building on this, MoJ, HMPPS and NHSE are working in partnership to broaden and accelerate training under the Enable Programme to embed specialist knowledge on drugs and alcohol, dependency and trauma- informed care. This includes integrating lived experience perspectives, reflective practice and coaching support to enable staff to respond effectively to complex challenges in custody. For new prison staff, a comprehensive redesign of Foundation Training is underway to strengthen confidence, competence and support recovery whilst addressing knowledge gaps. The refreshed 12-month programme will blend classroom, online and practical learning to deliver a structured and engaging learning journey. Crucially, specialised components on drug and alcohol misuse will be mandatory for all staff – and more widely, modules on gangs and human factors will help officers manage the risks associated with organised crime groups (OCGs), who often drive the supply and misuse of drugs in custody. This revised curriculum will provide a holistic approach that strengthens officers’ ability to disrupt drug markets, support recovery and create safer and more psychologically informed prisons. Alongside improving training for our workforce as a whole, we will ensure staff in specialist roles have the capability they need – in particular our 54 Drug Strategy Leads in key prisons. In addition to targeted support for these roles, in 2025 we recruited 17 new Group Drug and Alcohol Leads, who will support and assure work on drugs and alcohol across their prison groups, and establish links with community providers and local authority partnerships, such as Combatting Drugs partnerships. As these changes embed, we will keep evolving staff capability on drugs and alcohol under review. We will undertake a training needs analysis in early 2026 to identify key gaps which will inform ongoing work.