15. To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent research he has evaluated or commissioned on the effectiveness of prisons in reducing reoffending. (114689)

We are delivering a wide range of interventions in prisons which are consistent with international evidence on what is effective in reducing reoffending. We have some evidence on these interventions in England and Wales which the Home Office has published. As part of the ongoing National Offender Management Service research strategy we will be developing our understanding of what works in prisons.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many visitors were arrested for possession of contraband at each prison establishment in each of the last 12 months for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. (113209)

[holding answer 11 January 2007]: Information on the number of visitors arrested for possession of contraband is not routinely collected. However an analysis of visitors arrested on suspicion of trying to smuggle drugs indicates that in 2005-06 there were around 400 such arrests.