Cuts hit forensic services

A market which stood at £170m in 2009 and was expected to fall to £110m by 2015 is already worth only £70m, the Science and Technology Committee was told.

Leading figures in private companies said police were doing more work in-house.

Dr John Manlove, of Manlove Forensics Ltd, said: “The speed of contraction is due to the austerity measures, the cost-saving pressures that police are being placed under, so there’s a disincentive to outsource forensic services.

“It makes it difficult for commercial organisations to predict what the future may be.”