Westminster Commission Report on Forensic Science in England and Wales

In June 2025 the Westminster Commission published a report Forensic Science in England and Wales: Pulling out of the Graveyard Spiral. The Commission was co-chaired by forensic experts Angela Gallop and Baroness Sue Black.

The report sets out its diagnosis of a deep crisis in forensic science in England and Wales describing the system as ‘in a graveyard spiral’. It attributes key failings to significant policy shifts since 2012 and the closure of the Forensic Science Service, reliance on in-house Police laboratories and the near monopoly created through the recent acquisition of Cellmark by Eurofins.

The report makes 34 recommendations, highlighting potential risks of bias in the commissioning and reporting of forensic science outcomes, alongside the potential of the collapse of some forensic disciplines. The report calls for halting police in-house forensic expansion, the establishment of an independent national forensic science institute, improving legal aid access for defence experts and reforming the Criminal Cases Review Commission’s scientific capacity.

The Commission visited Forensic Services in early 2025 prior to the publication of their report which highlighted our different model of forensic delivery in Scotland in comparison with the police/privatised market driven model in England and Wales. Our model of delivery is cited as publicly governed, multi-disciplinary and scientifically rigorous in comparison to the fragmentation and decline laid out in England and Wales.