Background

The Forensic Services Strategy “Delivering excellence in forensic science for a safe and resilient Scotland” was published in September 2021 with one of the 4 key strategic outcomes focusing on our people:

We recognise that our highly trained and qualified people are our most important asset, and we are committed to ensuring that they have readily accessible support to empower them in their roles.

The health, safety and wellbeing of our people is a priority and we will ensure that the appropriate resources are available to offer support and guidance.

We recognise that leadership skills and development opportunities are important to our people. We will ensure we have fair and clear career pathways to support mobility throughout the organisation, and create enhanced professional support resources to invest in the development of our people.

The Forensic Services Change Programme as well as internal governance arrangements have been key in driving this work forward since the publication of our Forensic Services Strategy in 2021.

An update on key aspects are included in the main body of this report.