Updates

Budget planning

We continue to work closely with colleagues in SPA Corporate to plan the budget for the next financial year 2025/26. At the end of Quarter 2, Forensic Services were forecasting a break-even revenue budget for the year ending 2024/25 and a £0.1m capital underspend.

Alongside the Chair and the Chief Executive of SPA, I gave evidence to the Criminal Justice Committee at the Scottish Parliament as part of their pre-budget scrutiny for the 2025-2026 budget. The committee members expressed particular interest in our plans for drug-driving which are beyond the current budget year.

Long-term sustainable plan for drug-driving

Forensic Services are currently developing the Initial Business Case (IBC) for a long-term sustainable model for criminal toxicology, including drug driving. This business case seeks to identify what future investment would be required for criminal toxicology to meet Police Scotland’s forecast demand for the service.

A working group has been established to progress the Initial Business Case with representation from several teams across Forensic Services, the Scottish Police Authority corporate team and Police Scotland, including colleagues from Digital Division, Procurement, and Finance. Implementation of a long-term sustainable model for criminal toxicology is anticipated to offer several benefits which ultimately support Scotland’s ‘zero tolerance’ approach to drug driving, including:

Improved turnaround time
Ability to meet fluctuations in demand
Improved level of staff wellbeing and job satisfaction
Supporting public safety
Improved trust and confidence

Four options have been identified and examined within the initial business case. Work to develop the costs associated with each of these options is currently under way. Once this is complete the Initial Business Case will be progressed through Forensic Services and Scottish Police Authority governance in the coming weeks.
 
Staff survey results will drive improvements

The results of the Forensic Services Your Voice Matters staff survey were shared with all members of staff earlier this week and we met with trade union colleagues last week to discuss the findings. The Headline results are attached in Appendix 1.

We are grateful for the two-thirds of Forensic Services staff who took time to engage with the survey. Of particular concern is the number of staff in the survey reporting that they had experienced some form of harassment, bullying or discrimination.

We will now be taking forward work with the trade unions and members of staff from across Forensic Services to drive improvements. This will involve a substantial amount of work, as it will require significant cultural change to make improvements, including with the poor senior leadership engagement highlighted.

Review of the Performance Framework

We are currently reviewing the Performance Framework which has now been in place for a year. The performance, as reported to the SPA Forensic Services Committee, remains strong with the Chair of the committee praising staff for delivering improvements at the most recent meeting.

As well as strong performance right across Forensic Services, there has been the sustainable reduction in sickness absences over the past year, particularly in long-term absence. The performance for Priority 2 cases has been raised regularly and the difficulties in being able to explain this underperformance in this area will be looked at as part of the review.

Home Secretary praises Scottish Crime Campus joint working

The Director of Forensic Services, along with members of the Police Scotland, the National Crime Agency, and COPFS based in the Scottish Crime Campus, at Gartcosh, met with Home Secretary Yvette Cooper last month during her visit to the site.

The Home Secretary praised the success of the joint working and highlighted the success in jailing of the Jamie Stevenson, who attempted to smuggle £100 million of drugs in boxes of bananas addressed to the Glasgow Fruit Market. Stevenson was jailed for 20 years for importing cocaine and supplying Etizolam.

Strategic Workforce Plan

Forensic Services are in the process of appointing professional services to support the development of a new Strategic Workforce Plan. Once complete, the strategic workforce plan will identify and anticipate workforce needs and challenges, allowing action to be taken to ensure the organisation remains resilient not only today, but into the future. To inform the Strategic Workforce Plan, an examination of our current organisational resource profile will be undertaken to identify any gaps or opportunities for capacity enhancement. This will take account of both existing and forecast demand.

It is anticipated that the successful supplier will start work early in 2025 and that the project will take approximately six months. A copy of the draft Strategic Workforce Plan will be shared with SPA members for consideration when available.

BDO audit highlights strengths and areas for improvement

A BDO audit into Forensic Services requested by the SPA has highlighted several strengths as well as areas for improvement in the management and reporting of performance. It said: “The Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) clearly define service delivery expectations and responsibilities, with effective monitoring against KPIs. Performance reporting is robust, with detailed weekly, monthly, and quarterly reports reviewed by various forums and performance groups.

“Governance and oversight are reinforced through the Performance Board and additional groups, ensuring regular communication and accountability. Processes are in place to minimise data manipulation, with streamlined methods for data consolidation and analysis. However, we identified gaps in the reporting of some performance information, which may hinder performance assessment.

“There is also a need for better data validation and scrutiny, as well as a formal demand forecasting process to manage operational issues. Lastly, challenges in performance reporting accuracy and effectiveness were noted, stemming from limited staff capacity and ownership over reports.”

Staff Excellence Awards

The second Forensic Services Excellence Awards were held in Stirling on the 20 September where 71 members of staff were recognised for their outstanding work. A total of 55 nominations for staff and teams from across Forensic Services were received, an increase on the previous year. All the winners and teams received a trophy and a certificate and there were also certificates for those who were highly commended.

Forensic Services are grateful for the support of the SPA Forensic Services Committee, Police Scotland, and the COPFS for judging the entries alongside the Forensic Services Director and Chief Operating Officer. We would also like to thank Scottish Biometrics Commissioner Dr Brian Plastow for being our guest speaker as well as the support of the Chair and Chief Executive of SPA at the event.

Forensic Services Annual Review 23/24

The Forensic Services Annual Review 23/24 – which is attached as a Appendix 2 to this paper – was published and distributed at excellence awards. The review reflects some of the key word delivered over the financial year and includes:

The Director’s summary of the year
Significant changes delivered, including new roles such as Forensic Operations Leads and Capability Team Managers
Creating the Scenes Tasking Unit and new ways of working
The Cabinet Secretary opening our new £5.9m laboratory
The use of Virtual Reality in fire investigation training
Marking a decade of success by the FS Cold Case Team
Looking forward to further planned benefits to our staff, partners, and the communities we serve