Will profit kill forensic science?

Privatisation would jeopardise the service's impartiality, says Bob Pugh

Forensic scientists have called their first strike, over a 1.1% pay offer, for Wednesday. It also comes amid growing dissatisfaction with government plans to privatise the Forensic Science Service (FSS).

They argue that privatising the prestigious Home Office agency, a world leader in the field of DNA analysis, would be detrimental to the quality and independence of the service.

Bob Pugh, an FSS quality leader and a member of trade union Prospect, explains why forensic scientists are taking industrial action for the first time.

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The action on Wednesday is specifically about the pay offer, which increased the general level of dissatisfaction amongst the staff with the organisation.

It comes after a long line of poor pay offers, most of which in the past we've felt that we had to accept.

ROLE OF FORENSIC SCIENTISTS Assist senior police officers at crime scenes Carry out lab analyses on samples collected at the scene Give evidence in court as expert witnesses

Striking is one of the few messages we've got to raise the profile of the problems we are under going. But this is the last of many straws on this particular camel of which privatisation is part.

At the moment we are funded out of the public purse, and we can't see that changing. We get our money from the police forces, mostly, and that money comes from the taxpayer, too.

We are able to return money back to the Treasury - some between £8-10m a year over the last three years.

So there's no problem with making surpluses provided it goes back into the public sector or into helping us develop our research and development.

But all we can see with a private investor is that they will want profit from their investments - and quite rightly so.

The idea that cost will constrain what we have to do is something foreign to most people working in forensic science.

Over years, forensic science... has attracted people who aren't in it for the money Bob Pugh, FSS quality leader

Most of us are totally unhappy with the possibility of investigations being curtailed were we to become private.

Also the police might be less happy if we move to the private sector. They currently regard us an impartial service providing impartial evidence - the best evidence we can in the circumstances - without any heed about whether it needs to make us money or not.

We have already gone through job redundancies, some of which were voluntary and a small number which were compulsory. This happened in the last 12 months, adding to the concerns about our future.

There was a target of 10%, some of that was achieved by what's called natural wastage - but there was an aim to cut the service by about 240-250 posts.

Over the years, forensic science has been seen as an important backdrop in support of the criminal justice system.

It has attracted people who aren't in it for the money - pay rates are not necessarily the best in the world, certainly not for people new to our service, who are expected to take high-profile cases and undergo the rigours of challenges in court.

They are in there because they want to support the system, and they don't see any place for a private interest - they just see it as a conflict of interest.

There are very strong ethical motives involved, and they are probably the backdrop to the whole concern about the future of the service outside the public sector.