To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent discussions he and officials of his Department have had with representatives of (a) the Home Office and (b) the Lord Chief Justice on the closure of the Council for the Registration of Forensic Practitioners; and if he will make a statement. (268593)

I have been asked to reply.

The independent forensic science regulator was appointed in February 2008 and given responsibility for regulating forensic science quality standards. Since then he has published his Manual of Regulation, his Review of the Options for the Accreditation of Forensic Practitioners, and Quality standards for the Providers of Forensic Sciences to the Criminal Justice System. The regulator proposes to move to a more robust model of standards regulation that moves the focus from just forensic practitioners to include standards for organisations, practitioners and the science methods used. The forensic science laboratories are already accredited to testing international standards, accreditation that now includes assessment by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) of practitioner competence.

Policy decisions regarding forensic science rest with the Home Office and policy decisions regarding the public funding for CRFP are the responsibility of the National Policing Improvement Agency. However, such decisions were agreed with Home Office Ministers. The Home Office Minister wrote to the Secretary of State for Justice and the Lord Chief Justice with advance copies of the regulator’s report on the Options for the Accreditation of Forensic Practitioners.