Closing forensic service ‘hasty’ claim MPs

The Government has defended its decision to close the Forensic Science Service (FSS), saying that allowing it to go into administration would have seriously damaged the use of forensics evidence by police and the courts.

A critical report by MPs found that in winding up the FSS, causing the loss of more than 1,600 jobs – including 200 in Wetherby – the Government “hastily overlooked” the impact on research and development and the future of forensic work “in favour of the financial bottom line”.

But the Government denied this, saying closure was “the right choice, both financially and for the criminal justice system”.

In a statement it said the FSS was losing £2m a month and added: “Without funding from the Government, the FSS would have entered administration in early 2011.”