The role of the Home Office DNA expansion programme within the MPS forensic strategy

Report: 7
Date: 17 January 2002
By: Commissioner

Summary

This paper sets out the role of the Home Office DNA Expansion Programme within the MPS Forensic Strategy. It outlines the additional funding the MPS expects to receive over the three years of the programme. The current estimate for funding to the MPS in 2002-03 is £9.2million representing 15% of the overall allocation and £24m over the full three years.

A. Recommendation

1. The Committee is asked to note the contribution of the Home Office DNA Expansion Programme to the MPS Forensic Strategy and the estimated levels of funding over the three years of the Programme.

B. Supporting information

MPS Forensic Service Strategy

1. The MPS has developed and is implementing a Forensic Strategy that has the strategic aim to:

“Maximise the forensic sciences and fingerprint opportunities arising from those crimes which are designated as key objectives for the MPS. This will include continuous monitoring of processes and results in order to identify and promulgate those activities that demonstrate ‘best value’ and add to our understanding of criminal activity in London.”

2. With over 12,000 suspects of crime identified in the MPS through fingerprints and DNA the national forensic databases are making an important contribution to tackling crime on Boroughs.

3. The majority of suspects identified are in burglary and auto-crime but there is a significant impact in high profile homicide, rape and other crimes of violence. To support an increased contribution on Boroughs as part of the implementation of the MPS Policing Model, Forensic Services is;

• Building crime scene examination capacity to enable at least 75% intervention rate in burglary,
• Changing working pattern to deliver a 4hour response in burglary and 24hours availability to deal with the victims of crime,
• Delivering 24 hour turnaround time on fingerprint examination in the Fingerprint Bureau,
• Establishing a Borough Forensic Manager role to facilitate good practice, performance monitoring and problem solving,
• Expanding the role of the crime scene examiner to become the sole response to most burglary scenes, dealing with method recording and reporting,
• Developing the role of forensic intelligence to identify linked series of crime

4. DNA profiling is playing an increasing role in support of the implementation of the MPS Forensic Strategy. Nationally the Government have recognised the potential of DNA profiling and through the Home Office DNA Expansion Programme have made available £185m over three years from April 2001. This funding is available on the basis that it is additional to the funds already in police force budgets. The principle of additionality underpins the DNA Expansion Programme and through making funding available the Home Office wish to accelerate the growth in the size of the national DNA Database and increase the impact of DNA profiling on crime.

5. Under the DNA Expansion Programme the MPS was asked to bid for funds to cover;

• Support costs; crime scene examiners, support for administration and enhanced forensic intelligence from DNA,
• Increased DNA analysis; sampling of individuals (Criminal Justice (CJ) samples), recovery from crime scenes and evidential DNA analysis required to confirm DNA matches.

6. The Home Office DNA Expansion Programme is overseen by a Programme Board, chaired by the Home Office with representatives from Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the Forensic Science Service (FSS). The Board has set criteria against which business cases for support are evaluated. Wherever possible MPS staff and other costs are being set against the DNA Expansion Programme, but all bids receive close scrutiny and must have a direct link to the increased use of DNA profiling.

MPS bid and allocation for funding under the Home Office DNA Expansion Programme

7. The MPS prepared a comprehensive set of business cases for support costs and was successful in securing funding for the following projects;

• The recruitment of an additional 120 crime scene examiners,
• Training costs associated with the 120 crime scene examiners,
• Additional administrative staff for the DNA Unit,
• Forensic Intelligence Units,
• IT support for the Forensics Intelligence Units.

8. The MPS also bid but was unsuccessful in securing funding for additional fingerprint staff and a unit to monitor forensic submissions to external forensic science providers.

9. For DNA analysis services the Home Office have taken a baseline level of spend with forensic science providers to set a threshold above which additional funding will be provided. Securing provision of DNA analysis services that support the DNA Expansion Programme and achieve Best Value will be dealt with through the introduction of a more formal procurement process for forensic services in line with the findings of the effectiveness and efficiency review.

Overview of the predicted Home Office funding for the MPS

10. Table 1 sets out the overall position with respect to the overall Home Office funding and the estimated allocation for the MPS.

Table 1 - Home Office DNA expansion programme funding

11. In 2001-02 there is currently a significant underspend on the £63m and the Home Office have asked for further bids for in-year funding. In response the MPS have bid for further funding to cover the additional cost associated with the knock-on effect in other areas including photography and managing DNA submissions. This supplementary in-year bid amounts to £479k.

12. The MPS is using the DNA Expansion funding to develop and enhance its forensic capability and implement the ‘forensics’ strand of the MPS Policing Model. This will involve a more rapid response to priority crimes and crime scene examiners being the sole response in most burglaries and improved forensic intelligence to link crimes and increases judicial disposals. The long-term focus will be to ensure that the additional resources that are currently funded by the Home Office are used effectively and impact on crime in London.

C. Financial implications

A statement of the financial implications for the MPA budgetary position is set out in Appendix 1 (see Supporting material). The issues can be broken into the separate areas of Forensic Submissions including DNA Analysis and Support Costs. In considering both of these it is important to take account of the expenditure budget as well as the grant income.

For forensic submissions in 2001/02, there is an MPA budget of £22 million. This covers expenditure up to a threshold on DNA analysis that qualifies for grant and other non-DNA forensic work. In setting the budget no account was taken of any expenditure above the grant threshold on the basis that this would be cost neutral. The forecast outturn for the year is now £31.6 million for expenditure not attracting grant and £2.3 million for expenditure that will be covered by grant income. This represents a spend over budget of £9.6 million and has been included in the budget monitoring reports to this Committee.

In compiling the budget for 2002/03, account was taken of the anticipated outturn for 2001/02 and a growth in gross expenditure of £12.1 million for all forensic submissions included in the list of unavoidable commitments. This was offset by DNA grant of £2.5 million and adjusted the budget to reflect the £9.6 million additional expenditure in 2001/02. A saving of £3 million then reduced the budget back down so that expenditure in 2002/03 will need to reduced by £3 million from the current level in order to achieve the budget saving. No further increase in grant funded expenditure was included at that stage. The forecast of expenditure qualifying for grant in 2002/03 has now been revised from £2.5 to £4.7 million. This is fully funded by grant and is therefore cost neutral to the budget. The grant will only be received, however, if expenditure on those items is increased above the current budget assumption.

The forecast for 2003/04 shows a further increase in DNA grant funded expenditure of £1.4 million to £5.1 million. As in 2002/03, expenditure on the relevant items will have to be increased in order to claim the grant.

The budget for Support Costs was originally set in the 2001/02 budget at £4.5 million. This did not take account of any grant towards the costs involved. In the light of grant towards those projects awarded by the Home Office, £2.5 million was released towards the savings target in 2001/02 reducing the MPA funded budget to £2 million. The statement sets out the costs of projects in 2001/02 as £4.9 million offset by £2.9 million grant thereby keeping within the £2 million budget. The budget is part of the base and rolls forward to 2002/03.

As projects roll forward, total expenditure increases to £6.5 million but grant increases to £4.5 million so that the net budget contribution by the MPA remains at £2 million.

The overall impact of the increasing forecast of DNA grant is therefore neutral to the budget position over the three years. It is important to recognise, however, that no commitment has been given by the Home Office beyond the three-year period so that there is a potential increase in the funding requirement to maintain services once the funding has expired.

D. Background papers

None.

E. Contact details

Report author: Gary Pugh, MPS.

For information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

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