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<p>In my written statement of 22 October, I announced plans for roll out of a smoke
free estate.</p><br /><p>The introduction of voluntary smoke free areas in all closed
prisons mirrors the provision of drug free wings which exist in many establishments
across the estate. Staff and prisoners will be able to elect to work or reside in
a smoke free area and they will be supported within them. It is a short term measure
which provides a proportionate response to the impact of second hand smoke in communal
areas.</p><br /><p>In line with Public Health England (PHE) guidance, the importance
and significance placed upon the provision of smoking cessation services is critical
to our approach. Prisoners with drug problems are currently managed via a balance
of medicated maintenance and abstinence based treatment. We will adopt this approach
to smoke free. Vaping and the use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) as an alternative
to tobacco smoking are supported by PHE as a harm reduction tool. Research commissioned
by PHE concluded that e-cigarettes can help smokers to stop smoking. E -cigarettes
have been made available to prisoners and their use is allowed in designated areas.
In addition a range of nicotine replacement products and smoking cessation support
will be in place to support prisoners attempting to abstain.</p><br /><p>The Government
is committed to reducing the supply of drugs into prison. NOMS already deploys a comprehensive
range of robust searching and security measures to detect items of contraband both
at the point of entry to the prison and concealed within the prison. In addition,
each prison has a dynamic Local Searching Strategy which identifies and mitigates
known supply routes.</p><br /><p>The success of the strategy is illustrated by the
reduction of drug misuse in prisons, as measured by the random Mandatory Drug Testing
(MDT) programme, which has declined by 17.5 percentage points over the past 17 years.</p><br
/><p>This approach to enforcement and security will inform NOMS thinking where appropriate
as we move forward to smoke free prisons.</p>
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