Forensic Science Service

Written evidence submitted by Justin Scott (FSS 06)

I am contacting you in relation to the recent announcement that the Forensic Science Service (FSS) is to be 'wound up' within the next 12-15 months. I will try and keep this brief so please do spare a moment to read it.

I have been an employee of the FSS for 13 years. I have witnessed many significant advancements in forensic Science during this period, most pioneered by the FSS, alongside a genuine drive for continual improvement in service provision and setting of and adherence to the upmost quality standards in the industry.

The competitive market model simply doesn't allow for the provision of all aspects of forensic science and it never will, only a few simple to process, routine testing portions. No one will want the complex multi-discipline murder work or the enormous terrorist investigation work that the FSS has dealt with so, so often. The increase in the levels of bureaucracy and administrative waste due to contracts and tendering is really sickening.

The FSS has never been able to truly compete in the market as we are the backstop for everything. Saying 'we can deliver X amount a month to a specific turnaround and price' is easy for our private rivals. We have never enjoyed that luxury as the minute there is some large terrorist event, someone throws paint at a Royal vehicle or an angry mob smash their way into the Conservative Party HQ, everything is rightly focused on that work. This is obviously to the detriment of 'routine' service provision, against which we are being so ruthlessly judged. Just keep in mind that any fully private company will have the ability to simply say 'no, we're not doing it'. What then?

The collective expertise within the FSS is vast and one it's major strengths is our collective capacity to respond to and deal with anything.

The provision of forensic science at the highest level requires more than a few power-points and some well intentioned promises to deliver. The validation of processes and techniques, the training and constant up-skilling of the workforce, and the ability to regulate, monitor and maintain standards is vital. There are now so many small police force 'laboratories' trying to do a cheap approximation of our work, with no adherence to the same quality regulation or audit. Often they are just 'having a go' at things and re-learning lessons that the FSS have already overcome through many years of experience.

The FSS needed to change and it really has, beyond the expectations of most in the industry I would suggest. The recent transformation process that the FSS had been undergoing was more or less on target to the pre-agreed plan and really just on the verge of implementation. The transformed processes, particularly in DNA profiling, would have been ground breaking and once again served to up the standards of service provision in the industry and globally. After such a level of investment in this process to me it is utterly, utterly ludicrous not to give this the time to demonstrate it's massive efficiency gains.

We at the FSS have been treated appallingly by one disinterested minister after another. This decision is short sighted and reckless in the extreme, so obviously taken without any true understanding of the role the FSS serves or the reality of future service provision. I know that the country is mired in massive debt and radical cost cutting is essential. However, the FSS has already swallowed the money it needed to change - in the grand scheme of things it's closure will ultimately, over time, cost the country so much more. Of this I have no doubt.

Justin Scott

23 January 2011