Forensic Science Regulator Act 2021

Policy background

2. The Regulator was created in July 2007. The Regulator is a non-statutory public appointee funded by the Home Office but operating independently of it. The role of the Regulator is to:

"advise Government and the Criminal Justice System on quality standards in the provision of forensic science. This will involve identifying the requirement for new or improved quality standards; leading on the development of new standards where necessary; providing advice and guidance so that providers will be able to demonstrate compliance with common standards, for example, in procurement and in courts; ensuring that satisfactory arrangements exist to provide assurance and monitoring of the standards and reporting on quality standards generally." 1

3. While the previous arrangement provided flexibility, there were limitations on the powers available to the Regulator. The Regulator had no statutory powers to investigate quality issues or take enforcement action. This posed a risk to both public confidence in, and the overall quality of, forensic evidence used in court proceedings.
4. In the Forensic Science Strategy published in 2016, the Home Office committed to "develop proposals to give the Forensic Science Regulator statutory powers, put the current remit and the associated Codes of Practice on a statutory basis and enable the Forensic Science Regulator to investigate non-compliance where necessary." 2 The Government committed to giving statutory powers to the Regulator as soon as a legislative opportunity arises. This was reiterated by the Government in the joint review of forensics provision 3 published on 23 April 2019.
5. There is broad support for the introduction of statutory powers. In its 2011 report The Forensic Science Service, the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee recommended that the Regulator have statutory powers to enforce compliance with quality standards. The Committee reiterated this recommendation in reports on forensic science in July 2013 and September 2016. Sir Brian Leveson’s Review into efficiency of criminal proceedings, published January 2015, repeated the call for statutory powers. The Lords Science & Technology Committee also called for this in its report Forensic science and the criminal justice system: a blueprint for change on 1 May 2019.