On Wednesday
7 January, the House of Lords Science and Technology
Committee will
conclude its follow-up inquiry into the state
of Forensic Science in the UK by questioning ministers in
the Home Office and Ministry of
Justice.
At 2:00pm the
Committee will hear from:
-
MP, Minister for
Policing and Crime, Home Office
-
Amanda-Jane
Balfour, Director of Forensic Services, Home
Office
-
KC, MP, Minister
for Courts and Legal Services, Ministry of Justice
The public evidence session
will take place from 2:00pm in Committee Room 2,
Palace of Westminster on Wednesday 7
January 2026 and can be viewed live
on parliamentlive.tv.
Topics likely to be covered
include:
-
Responsibility
for forensic science in the UK and cross-departmental
working between the Home Office and Ministry of
Justice
-
The plan
for forensic science within the Police Reform White
Paper.
-
“Equality of arms”
for forensic science in
courtrooms
-
Market resilience of forensic
services
-
In-house provision
of forensic science
services including oversight, quality, consistency,
transparency, independence/bias; evidence storage and removing
forensic science from police
supervision
-
Accreditation and regulation
of forensic science
