12 th Meeting Forensic Science Technical Advisory Committee (FSTAC)

Transcription

1 12 th Meeting Forensic Science Technical Advisory Committee (FSTAC) UKAS Head Office 2 Pine Trees, Chertsey Lane, Staines-Upon-Thames, TW18 3HR Minutes Thursday 11 th May :00am 3.00pm Attendees (JF) Jim Fraser (KJM) Katherine Monnery (CL-H) Chanda Lowther-Harris (SG) Siobhan Green (GT) Gillian Tully (JT) Jo Taylor (PH) Peter Harper (PD) Paul Daniels (JB) John Beckwith (DC) David Compton (AB) Alison Brodie (MB) Marie Barrett University of Strathclyde (Chair) UKAS Metropolitan Police Service PSNI Forensic Science Regulator College of Policing Orchid Cellmark (AFSP representative) National Crime Agency Staffordshire Police UKAS UKAS Home Office In Attendance: (KB) Kimberley Brumpton Apologises: (KF) Kirsty Faulkner (VM) Victoria Morton (MVJ) Martyn Jones UKAS (Minutes) National DNA Delivery Unit (Home Office) Scottish Police Authority (Forensic Services) Independent FSTAC (17) 04 Page 1 of 7

2 1. Welcome and introductions J Fraser 2. Matters Arising J Fraser Minutes from the previous meetings were discussed and agreed for publication on the website. 3. Review of membership / attendees of the committee J Fraser (To ensure continuing suitability and representation / attendance) Round table introductions were made and new members of the group provided brief resumes. No new members were recommended at this meeting. 4. Forensic Science Regulator Update G Tully (Update and latest position) GT gave the following update:- In light of recent on-going investigations in the toxicology area, all forensic science providers (FSP s) have been asked to conduct a thorough internal audit encompassing review of raw data. It is recognised that the manipulation of data, in an accredited organisation would be difficult to detect during UKAS assessments. The Medical and Healthcare Regulatory Authority (MHRA) have published good guidance on data integrity and governance. Forensic Providers should have a governance policy and assess the risk, looking at their current processes and implementing new ones if required. KJM: UKAS are looking to increase the level of raw data audits at assessments, briefing Technical Assessors to specifically look at issues within their assessment strategies. UKAS will be checking that mechanisms are in place within organisations to make sure that they are addressing this risk. UKAS is considering whether some additional time will be required at assessments to look at the FSP s responses to the incident at their next surveillance visits; the committee supported this approach in the short-term. Codes of Practice and Conduct (CoPC) The CoPC FSR-Codes has been reviewed and additions made emphasising integrity and the need for individuals to keep up to date with new publications / developments within the forensic community. It was agreed that evidence of CPD would be required. FSTAC (17) 04 Page 2 of 7

3 FSR Update on Development Areas: The Casework Review Pilot UKAS has received expression of interest and is now looking to run a development project/pilot. The FSR is working with the Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences (CSFS) towards a more accessible route to accreditation for SME/Sole Practitioners. The Cell Site pilot is progressing, initial assessments have been completed and the findings are being reviewed. New areas where pilots are being planned include Fire Investigation and Collision Investigation. These are complex and analytical areas where uncertainty of measurement can be critical. Digital Forensics- Current progress towards accreditation within the digital area has been slower than anticipated. Two new subgroups within the digital standards group have been set up from members of the community to look at Open Source and Network Capture and analysis. 5. Committee Member Updates All Any updates relevant to the committee of meetings they have attended or activities they have participated in. SG: PSNI is currently focused on the accreditation of digital forensics and on a new building project. They have recently hosted the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes (ENFSI) meeting in Belfast. The focus was on Proficiency Testing (P/T) and collaborative focus. MB: Home Office Forensic Marketplace Team- An agreement has been obtained to secure a hand down bill to gain statutory powers for the Forensic Science Regulator. MB is currently working on the transition of work within the forensic marketplace. This is a figure which is still reducing a further 12 million being lost from this area. MB is also working on the Transforming Forensics Programme. In March five different models were outlined and a recommendation was made for preparation of a full business case for the full integration model due by December. This would be a national model applicable to England and Wales for those forces who sign up to it. It is voluntary. The Police Transformation fund is currently funding two projects Rapid DNA technologies and Digital Forensics. JT: College of Policing has ceased delivery of forensic learning packages in March They are producing licensed training packages for local training teams. It was noted that they need to ensure standards are maintained with these products. The Fire Scene College is continuing Fire Investigation training and the Faculty of Forensic Medicine will be taking over training of medical staff in custody suites and SARC s. CL-H: The Metropolitan Police Service has now assigned a managed services contract to deal with all subcontractors. The managed services will manage work being sent to subcontractors, but they will also look at providing training, equipment and some validation specifically in the digital area. ENFSI has published best practice manuals on their website. The practice manuals cover different countries, their practices and disciplines. The documents are now available publically. FSTAC (17) 04 Page 3 of 7

4 JB: JB provided an update on the position of Digital forensics nationally. It has entered its third phase. The third phase has five objectives.1) Front Line Tools (universal validation packages for kiosk technologies) 2) Expert evidence (evaluating the impact of digital evidence delivered in court) 3) Looking at infrequently used techniques. 4) Building capacity around validation and verification in the digital community and the 5) Embedding communications, running more workshops, greater provision of materials through POLKA A huge amount of work has being completed and progress should be seen within the next eight months. PD: The NCA is continuing its progress towards digital accreditation. The key challenges it faces are multi site issues and silo capabilities across the agency. There are still some debates on what sits within intelligence and what is within an accreditation environment. Work on and scoping and accrediting fingerprint comparison has commenced. KJM: Since the last FSTAC meeting UKAS has provided four specific forensic external courses; two Forensic Laboratory Internal Audit, one ISO/IEC Scene of Crime and one Forensic Laboratory Management. In addition, there has been one training course run for new Technical Assessors covering Digital and Fingerprint Comparison. There have also been three internal Technical Assessor workshops, one specifically focused on Digital. UKAS presented at three FSR Code of Practice Pre-assessment workshops, which were arranged and funded by the FSR. UKAS also presented at a Digital workshop coordinated by the NPCC to review lessons learnt from Digital Assessments and re-enforce expectations for accreditation. A joint workshop was run by EA (European Cooperation on Accreditation) and ENFSI (European Network of Forensic Science Institutes) on the use of ILAC G19 within forensic laboratories. The workshop was held in Sweden and was attended by 40 delegates from 20 countries, representing both Forensic Institutes and Accreditation Bodies. UKAS were heavily involved in the planning and presentation of this very well received workshop. PH: AFSP (Association of Forensic Science Providers) the majority of activities are centred around toxicology data review. This will be dominating activity within the new few months. 6. UKAS Update- Staff Changes and Resourcing K Monnery A presentation was given to the group on staff changes and resourcing within UKAS. 7. Resourcing and Planning within UKAS A Brodie The Forensic Project Manager (FPM) role was created to provide support for the Section Head and Forensic Accreditation Specialist with the preparation and planning required for UKAS to deliver the expected increase in work associated with the FSR 2020 vision. The Forensic team has undergone a period of rapid expansion and change both with internal staff - Assessment Managers and external -Technical assessors. This has required a large commitment of resources for training and mentoring. UKAS are expanding our TA capacity in FP comparison (6), digital (5), firearms (2) and Information Security (2), whilst also looking to expand our CSI assessor team (10). The FPM role also encompasses monitoring our progress, sharing learning so we can improve our delivery and help our customers and understand the resourcing requirements better. UKAS contributes to the National Quality Landscape meetings where progress is regularly reviewed. Main part of the role is the future planning; how we are going to deliver work in the future. Using the resources to the best of our ability and making sure it s fits the needs of our customers. FSTAC (17) 04 Page 4 of 7

5 8. Digital Updates & Updates on Development Projects D Compton DC gave presentations outlining the all the key updates within Digital forensic accreditation. DC had prepared some papers for discussion and these had been circulated to the group for consideration before the meeting. The papers were discussions about the reliability of mobile phone extractions accreditation requirements for Kiosk technologies and draft schedule wording for Fire Scene and Collision Investigation. Action -The group was asked to provide written feedback and comments on these papers to DC after the meeting Details were given in respect of the current digital demand, Technical Assessor resources and the on-going Cell Site Analysis pilot. DC discussed the accreditation status of forensic organisations applying for digital accreditation and the challenges faced in assessments. Most forces have applied for some aspect of digital forensics but the progress against the NPCC digital roadmap is behind predictions. Within the private sector the picture is not as clear; the number of digital forensic organisations is unknown. There are also challenges faced with new private sector applicants and the limited understanding of validation concepts. The basic concepts of chain of custody/traceability of records have also proven to be an issue. Approximately two thirds of assessments have required extra visits, which impacts on resources The BMTA (British Measurement and Testing Association) is undertaking a joint workshop looking to scope the areas of concern and see if they can assist in delivering training. Forensic Casework Review The Forensic Casework review pilot has seen an expression of interest from 13 organisations. The pilot scope has been agreed with the FSR and the objective of the pilot is to confirm that ISO is the correct standard, establish and confirm a robust assessment approach and proportionality of technical assessing. A meeting with interested parties has been arranged for the 22nd June Fire Scene and Collision Investigation The pilot is to be arranges and the scope of activities to be determined. There will also be collaboration with the relevant group for Road map. Witnessing the activities can be a potential challenge and alternative ways to witness activities to be looked at. 9. Update on Codes of Practice and Conduct Assessments. K Monnery KJM delivered a power point presentation on CoP updates. CoP Assessments started in October UKAS has requested that a Gap analysis be submitted 3 months before the visit and then re-submitted 1 month before the visit to demonstrate progress. A waiver has also been put in place to allow UKAS to share information with the FSR on the progress of applications and assessments. Progress of Visits: The information security aspect of the CoP assessment is a new aspect for consideration. UKAS have trained Information Security assessors who have undergone security clearance, which delayed progress initially, whilst waiting for this. Additional site time has also been assigned to the visit which allows for the forensic technical assessors to assess the codes aspects of the visit. Organisations are responsible for FSTAC (17) 04 Page 5 of 7

6 making sure that all relevant staff are available to help answer any technical questions asked by UKAS Information Security assessors, and understanding the location of servers, which may be off site. This has proved to be a challenge on assessments. A number of organisations have deferred their application or opted not to apply. A key piece of work is to evaluate the lessons learned from the CoP visits and looking at the value of the assessment. 10. Peer evaluation feedback- process and finding (impartiality) K Monnery KJM: KJM delivered a Powerpoint presentation on the latest Peer Evaluation. UKAS has had their peer evaluation in November The evaluation involved the review of the existing scope of the EA MLA with a view to maintaining signatory status. This scope covered Testing, Calibration & Medical Laboratories; Inspection Bodies; Management System Certification Bodies; Product / Process / Service Certification Bodies; Persons Certification Bodies; and Greenhouse Gas Verification Bodies. A combined evaluation by the Forum of Accreditation & Licensing Bodies (FALB) was also conducted alongside the EA peer evaluation. UKAS was pleased to be recommended for continued membership of the EA MLA, for continued membership of FALB (EMAS) and for inclusion in the new ISO/IEC MLA to be signed in May 2017 One key finding from the peer evaluation was on the topic of stand-alone sampling activities. An action was raised indicating that it should be ensured that any further testing after accredited sampling should always be undertaken at an accredited laboratory. However within the developing area of forensic sciences, there may be circumstances where no accredited laboratory exists. The FSTAC group agreed that it should be the preferred option to use an accredited laboratory, but acknowledged that in some areas this may not be possible. Forensics should be considered as a development area and this should be reviewed over time as more accredited testing laboratories and areas come on board. The accreditation of stand-alone sampling was agreed to be a very positive step forward and they would not want this discouraged due to the lack of onwards testing accredited laboratories. A second change to be noted from the Peer Evaluation findings is that UKAS are implementing a new Improvement Action Summary Form which will include the need for the laboratory to undertake root cause analysis, alongside details of the listed non-conformity. 11. AOB J Fraser i) Rapid DNA/Custody suites- an area where views will be sought from the group. A new and emerging area of development seen within forensic science has been the development of Rapid DNA technologies and the proposal that these can be located within areas such as custody suites. Moving technologies outside of laboratory environments presents many challenges.ukas would like to seek views from the group around the challenges this may present and in consideration about what can be accredited. It is recognised that there is a need to find a way to maintain quality and work with new innovations. There is an EU framework directive for mandatory accreditation of fingerprints and DNA which would need to be considered in these applications. FSTAC (17) 04 Page 6 of 7

7 12. Date of next meeting J Fraser It was the view of the group that the next meeting should be in 6 to 8 months time due to the level of activity in the forensic arena. JF thanked the group for its attendance and input into this meeting. FSTAC (17) 04 Page 7 of 7