Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the transforming forensics programme in strengthening forensic services.

The Home Office has funded multiple programmes to strengthen forensic services. The programmes all undergo monthly assurance. The Transforming Forensics Programme, which concluded in March this year, has:

• Developed an end-to-end solution for the digitisation of fingerprinting, which will help forces to identify criminals more quickly
• Supported the rollout of a suite of technological solutions helping forces to support victims of rape more effectively
• Set up the Forensic Capability Network which provides ongoing support to over 4,000 forensics professionals by coordinating a wide range of national activities