Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what support his Department make available for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises in the forensic sciences sector.
All Government departments are required to plan activities to support the cross-Government target of 33% spend with SMEs by March 2022. The Home Office has increased spend with SMEs both directly and within our supply chains since reporting began.
The vast majority of contracts for the provision of forensic science in the Criminal Justice System are managed by the police. Police forces are operationally independent of the Home Office.