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Forensic Science

May I say, Mr. Pope, what a pleasure it is to stand before you in your new august guise? The Select Committee was stimulated in the first instance to look into forensic science by the Home Office proposals for partial privatisation. From the start, our investigation was truly fascinating because every time we turned over a stone any number of issues emerged. Many of them have been rehearsed this afternoon, and I will not repeat them all. I shall begin by making a point that I do not think any hon. Members disagree with. The FSS is, and has been, one of the jewels in the Home Office crown, and we should think very carefully before changing it drastically, in case we damage it or reduce its future potential. What is the imperative to go towards PPP? Like my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton, South-East (Dr. Iddon) I have a feeling of déjà vu, because I remember what happened to air traffic control. The case of National Air Traffic Services provides a closely comparable example. Here we had an excellent service of unquestionable quality and skills that was starved of finance—artificially in respect of NATS, because the Government were taking the money, but they were just not reinvesting properly, so they created an investment backlog. That PPP was not a signal success. I am sorry to say that in my wardrobe I have a rack of tee-shirts to do with various issues that say ““I told you so.”” Sometimes, I get them out and wave them about, and I think this is one such occasion. We do not want to repeat the PPP mistake with the Forensic Science Service, provided that it can succeed as a GovCo. It is vital that it is given a fair crack at doing that. It will need capital, but irrespective of whether that capital comes from a private partner or judicious borrowing, it will still have to be serviced. What is it to be serviced with? It will be serviced out of turnover. Either way, the actual impact on the revenue and on the cost of forensic science services will be little different, except that there is a strong possibility that the price will be higher if there is a private partner with the need to give profits to its shareholders. That is more likely to increase the costs to the users of forensic science than it is to diminish them. There is short-termism here; I must say that I have never been a fan of PPP in any of its guises, and that is a feature of all of them. This short-termism is extremely unfortunate because in the long term the cost to the whole country is likely to be greater. I feel slightly worried when Opposition Members say things that I actually agree with.