Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police forces have ongoing case work with Key Forensic Services.
Key Forensic Services (KFS) appointed administrators on 30 January 2018. At the time there were around 2,000 pending cases, and around 30 police forces affected. The administrators have issued a statement that the company is continuing to trade.
I welcome the National Police Chiefs’ Council and Association of Police and Crime Commissioners’ swift action to minimise the impact on the criminal justice system and protect the evidence for live cases. With Home Office support they are working on a plan to ensure that the evidence KFS holds continues to be properly and professionally managed in accordance with the standards set by the Forensic Science Regulator. It is estimated that work to complete current cases will take around two months. Work is also underway to assess short-term, capacity within the forensic science market.