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1 Feb 2008 : Column 726W—continued
Prisons
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average spending was per prisoner held in (a) all HM Prisons and (b) HM Prison Chelmsford in the last period for which figures are available. [183436]
Maria Eagle: The average cost per prisoner for all prisons in 2006-07 was £26,737. The average at HMP Chelmsford was £29,134.
Prisons: Drugs
Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many passive drug dogs are in operation in the Prison Service; where they are deployed; and what the strategic reason is for their deployment; [183866]
(2) what the (a) capital and (b) annual cost is of (i) training and (ii) operating passive drug detection dogs for use by the Prison Service; [183867]
(3) what the total cost to the Prison Service of the use of passive drug detection dogs has been. [183868]
Mr. Hanson: On 30 January there were a total of 228 passive drug dogs in operation in prisons in England and Wales. The following table shows where they are deployed.
Passive drug dogs are used to assist in the searching for drugs in establishments in accordance with drug strategies set by area managers and governing governors.
Costs are not collated centrally and gathering this information would incur disproportionate costs. However, a Passive Drug Dog team (handler and dog) costs approx £40,000 per annum including training. A dog purchase is around £1,000. Based on an approximate running cost of £40,000 per year, the total cost of 228 dogs is just over £9 million per annum.
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