Warning by spending watchdog over forensic science work. Forensic science standards risk slipping since work was transferred to in-house police labs and private firms, the spending watchdog has warned. The National Audit Office said there was too little data on forensic services used by forces and companies risked being pushed out of the market. Crime scene evidence was analysed by the Forensic Science Service in England and Wales until it was axed in 2012. The Home Office said it monitored the forensic science market closely. How can anyone be certain, given the confusion, as to what is going to happen to the integrity of our whole criminal justice system? Andrew Miller MP, Chairman, Commons Science and Technology Committee Police are commissioning more work from their own laboratories - with an estimated £122m being spent this year - but the NAO said many in-house labs did not meet accreditation standards. The NAO said the Forensic Science Regulator, which monitors the work, does not have complete data on which police labs are accredited and has no statutory powers to enforce them to comply with standards. Reflecting concerns from within the forensics community, the NAO paper said: If suppliers did pull out of the market this could present a risk of service interruption, and lack of capacity could hold up criminal cases or cause them to collapse. The report raised doubts about the effectiveness of Home Office oversight, pointing to what it describes as a lack of data on forensics spending by police forces. The Home Office collects figures on forensic services procured through a tendering system called the National Forensic Framework but this framework is not compulsory and the department lacks data on those procured outside the system. The Commons Science and Technology Committee has warned of risks to forensic provision in two previous reports. Committee chairman, Labour MP Andrew Miller, told BBC News: What the NAO have identified does not surprise me at all. Should it worry us? Yes. How can anyone be certain, given the confusion, as to what is going to happen to the integrity of our whole criminal justice system when you cant identify what the costs are - and therefore where benefits lie? There are concerns in the private sector that police labs are able to operate more cheaply, creating an unequal playing field. #rtsupdate #Forensic_Science m.bbc/news/science-environment-30909722
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 09:22:41 +0000
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