Report updates

Budget for 2025-26

Following the Authority meeting on 27th March 2025 the revenue budget for Forensic Services for 2025/26 was confirmed as £47.4M. This budget will allow Forensic Services to continue to provide scientific support services to Police Scotland, COPFS and PIRC for the year ahead and support the continued implementation of the new operating model and wider organisational change.

The capital budget provided (£2.7M) also allows for the first stage of the DNA robotic replacement at an estimated cost of £1.5M. This will ensure that DNA processing within the service continues to deliver efficiently and effectively and keep the organisation at the cutting edge of DNA technology.

The draft unaudited finance report for Forensic Services has now been finalised with Forensic Services having delivered a balanced budget for the full financial year 2024/25 against several challenging pressures.

Revised Forensic Strategy

The final draft version of the refreshed Forensic Strategy was presented to the Forensic Services Committee on 8 May 2025. Feedback from Committee Members has been incorporated into the draft, and the Committee has recommended the strategy for approval by the full Authority Board.

The strategy has been developed with input from a wide range of stakeholders, and I would like to thank everyone for their input.
In particular, many of the staff within Forensic Services have taken the opportunity to share their thoughts and ideas on the strategic direction of the organisation and this has helped to shape the strategic objectives and outcomes identified.

Forensic Strategy 2025-2030 supersedes the Forensic Strategy September 2021, which was approved by the Authority Board on 29th September 2021 and is published on the SPA website. Forensic Strategy 2025-2030 reflects the vital contribution forensic science makes to the delivery of justice throughout Scotland.

Drug Driving Full Business Case

Following approval of the Initial Business Case at the Resources Committee in December 2024 progress has been made to begin the development of the Full Business Case for the Long-Term Sustainable Model for Criminal Toxicology. This includes building sufficient analytical capacity to support Police Scotland to roll out roadside testing across the country, and is based on forecasted increases in demand over a ten-year period.

The newly established project board held the first meeting on 31st March 2025 with representation from Forensic Services and colleagues in Police Scotland Estates, Procurement, Digital Division and Transformation. A full timeline and risk profile is currently being finalised with all partners.

The current demand for Drug Driving toxicology analysis remains a concern as it continues to run above the agreed level set out in the Memorandum of Understanding by around 18%. This additional demand is being met through additional outsourcing. The budget for outsourcing will be monitored closely through the year and discussions will continue with Police Scotland to manage this further.

A medium-term position that could allow Police Scotland to access additional testing capacity is in discussion with colleagues in Police Scotland, Forensic Services and with our outsource provider. This requires a phased roll out plan to be developed with associated costs identified in Police Scotland and Forensic Services to enable any expansion of testing. Once this is further developed a request for further investment can be considered.

Final Phase of Implementation of the Operating Model

The fourth and final phase of implementation of the revised Operating Model for Forensic Services has been confirmed by the Senior Management Team in March. This phase contains several workstreams which will allow the remaining elements of the model to be implemented and optimised. Work continues to report on the realisation of the benefits of this significant change programme, which has delivered a more flexible organisational design which will allow Forensic Services to respond to the changing needs of Police Scotland, COPFS and PIRC.

Forensic Services Core Operating Solution (FS COS)

The Core Operating System project is progressing well towards completion of the Full Business Case. Work to consolidate both functional and non-functional requirements for inclusion in the Invitation to Tender (ITT) is nearing completion. The validation process for final approval of these requirements by relevant stakeholders has now been confirmed. Discussions are ongoing with colleagues in Police Scotland’s Digital Division, Legal, and Procurement teams to finalise the agreed procurement approach and contract template. The Invitation to Tender is expected to be issued to the market in the summer.

Strategic Workforce Planning

Forensic Services have commenced work to develop a Strategic Workforce Plan. Following a procurement process Skills for Justice have been appointed to support the development of this work. The Strategic Workforce Plan will support Forensic Services to deliver our strategic outcomes as set out in our refreshed Forensic Strategy 2025-2030.

Strategic workforce planning is a systematic process to ensure that an organisation has the employees, skills, and knowledge needed to meet current and future demand. The primary objective of strategic workforce planning is to ensure that the right people with the right skills are in the right roles at the right time.

A further session on Strategic Workforce Planning will be incorporated into the Forensic Services Committee Development Day in June.

Forensic Alliance Wales Visit to Gartcosh

In March three members of the Forensic Alliance Wales project visited the Scottish Crime Campus in Gartcosh to understand the learning from Scotland in relation our model of delivery for Forensic Science.

The team are considering how greater collaboration of police delivered forensic science can be delivered across some of the Police Forces in Wales and were keen to discuss our learning from a range of strategic and technical changes that Forensic Services in Scotland have experienced over the past decade and beyond.