Updates

Budget

I (Fiona Douglas) and others member of the Forensic Services Senior Management Team have continued to hold meetings with the SPA Chief Executive, the SPA Chair, the Chair of the Forensic Services Committee, members of SPA and others since the Scottish Government finalised and announce its budget in December. While the exact budget details of the Forensic Services 2023-24 budget allocation have yet to be finalised, the funding is above the flat-cash settlement indicated previously.

We are now working through how to implement and deliver our New Operating Model given the changed budgetary position since we the Final Business Case was approved by the Authority in September 2021.

Project Weaver delivered

The transfer of Post Mortem Toxicology services to Forensic Services was delivered on 1 December 2022 with the staff transferring across to SPA Forensic Services from the University of Glasgow. Our new team have been busy setting up the laboratory to deliver this important service.

The success of this £6m project was helped by the flexible and pragmatic approach taken by all partners and stakeholders - including COPFS, University of Glasgow, Police Scotland, SPA Corporate, Scottish Government and trades unions – which also meant that the transfer has been achieved with no backlog of Post Mortem Toxicology cases.

We have held initial meetings to make sure we capture the lessons learnt from this project and these will continue. There will be a formal naming and opening of the new laboratory during the next few months – this is the fifth main Forensic Services laboratory and the latest since the opening of the Scottish Crime Campus nearly a decade ago.

Forensic Fire Investigations

Forensic Scientists specialised in fire investigation have been supporting Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service investigations into recent fatal fires at Jenner’s, in Edinburgh where firefighter Barry Martin tragically died and the hotel in Perth in January, where three people also died.

Forensic Scientists across several disciplines, co-ordinated by the Chemistry & Documents Team at the Scottish Crime Campus, have been supporting the Police Scotland and Scottish Fire & Rescue Services investigations.

SPA Toxicology Oversight Group

Following the completion of the work of the SPA Forensic Toxicology Oversight Group, SPA Forensic Services will continue to provide the SPA Forensic Services Committee with regular detailed updates on drug-driving and toxicology developments.

We await the outcome of the HMICS Assurance Review of the SPA Forensic Toxicology Provision which is expected to be issued in the coming weeks. The review, which considers the end-to-end process for obtaining, analysing and reporting drug driving blood sample results in order to support criminal proceedings, was requested by the Chair of SPA.

Mental health

There was media interest and considerable social media discussion about the pilot project to look at incorporating psychological supervision into professional practice. Forensic Services have commissioned this project to support members of our staff who are regularly exposed to traumatic scenes or images.

Organised by the SPA Forensic Services Leadership Development Programme Lead, and currently in procurement, this three-year project is part of our ongoing commitment to ensuring the wellbeing of all SPA Forensic Services staff so they are safe, supported and empowered to deliver world-class forensic services.

Forensic Science Value Steering Working Group

At the December meeting of the Forensic Science Value Working Group, which is chaired by a member of the SPA Forensic Services Committee, Professor Niamh Nic Daeid from the Leverhulme Research Centre at the University of Dundee proposed research which will support the outcomes of the group.

This research, which will be funded by Leverhulme Research Centre, and delivered in partnership with Forensic Services and other justice partners, will focus on Violence against Women and Girls and Acquisitive Crime, to enhance the map of the justice system to articulate the forensic evidence impact on particular scenarios and across different groups.

Committee Development Day

Members of the SPA Forensic Services Committee attended a development day at the Scottish Crime Campus on 19 January where they were given presentations about Firearms, Cold Case Review, Visual Reconstruction, and Acquisitive Crime.

There were also discussions around the 2023-2024 budget and updates on the implementation phase of the change programme, the Strategic Work Force Plan and the Performance Framework.

Women in Policing

The achievements of two SPA Forensic Services staff - Chief Operating Officer Dr Vicki Morton and Forensic Scene Examiner Fiona Alexander – have been recognised in the Scottish Women’s Development Forum project Women in Policing.

This project both celebrates and recognises the amazing diverse members of the Scottish Women’s Development Forum in a book which has been published to capture their inspiring personal and professional life stories.