To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what resources he has made available to each (a) prison establishment and (b) the Professional Standards Unit to reduce the level of trafficking of contraband in the financial year 2007-08; and if he will make a statement. (134709)

There are 13 Area Professional Standards Managers, 128 Local Professional Standards Managers, a central Professional Standards Unit of 13 staff. In addition, there are ongoing developments to the types of equipment and training available to staff to detect contraband or improve the use of intelligence.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the (a) competency and experience of staff and (b) adequacy of resources of security departments within prison establishments in the (i) prevention and (ii) detection of contraband; and if he will make a statement. (134841)

It is the responsibility of HM Prison Service (for public sector prisons) and individual providers (for contracted sector prisons) to ensure that security departments are appropriately staffed and operate effectively. It is the responsibility of the National Offender Management Service to monitor the performance of providers (both contracted and public sector) and to ensure that this is acceptable across all areas of work involving security.