Select committee: Justice Committee
Conclusion 167
6th Report - Tackling the drugs crisis in our prisons
Published 31 Oct 2025
Addressed to Ministry of Justice
Justice Committee Tackling drugs in prisons All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The MoJ and HMPPS must consistently update prison drug testing methods to enable the detection of the constantly changing chemical makeup of these NPS, including synthetic cannabinoids and synthetic opioids. Robust data collection should be expanded to include drug purity/potency where feasible. (Recommendation, Paragraph 34)
From: Justice Committee, 6th Report - Tackling the drugs crisis in our prisons (HC 557), 31 October 2025
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 9 January 2026 (deadline 31 December 2025).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the report and says that "Most recommendations are accepted fully or partially", with a different approach and a stated rationale where it does not accept them.
- It accepts the recommendation on staff exposure to drugs and the recommendation on mandatory specialist training, saying it is broadening and accelerating training under the Enable Programme and will carry out a training needs analysis in early 2026.
- On drug testing it partially accepts the call to raise random mandatory testing rates, saying the Ministry of Justice "commit[s] to reviewing our drug testing regime, as a whole" rather than relying on one form of testing.
- It rejects the proposals for delegated Governor authority to repair security infrastructure within a mandatory timeframe, and for segregating individuals solely on the basis of organised crime group involvement, which it says "would not be allowed under current legislation".
- It commits to provide the Committee with an update on purposeful activity "by April 2026", and says the revised National Substance Misuse Service Specification will be published by the end of Summer 2026.