HL Deb 17 March 1970 vol 308 cc994-5
LORD DERWENT

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any policy for strengthening the Forensic Pathology Service.]

LORD BESWICK

My Lords, although Her Majesty's Government have no statutory duty to provide such a service, the Home Secretary has for many years assumed responsibility for ensuring, so far as possible, that every police force is able to call upon the services of an experienced pathologist to assist in the investigation of murder and other serious crimes against the person. He does this by appointing part-time Home Office pathologists. Some difficulty has been found in recent years in obtaining re-placements; but in general the arrangements are working well. My right honourable friend hopes that the Report of the Departmental Committee on Death Certification and Coroners later this year, will provide guidance leading to improvements.

LORD DERWENT

My Lords, am I right in assuming that the Committee to which the noble Lord referred is the Brodrick Committee, which was set up six years ago and which, so far as the public is aware, has made no report so far? Also, has the noble Lord seen various articles and comments in the Press, by Dr. Camps and other pathologists, saying that there is a grave short-age of doctors who are trained in this kind of work and that it is quite likely that a good many murders nowadays go undetected because the pathologists who have to be brought in to help the police are not trained in this work?

LORD BESWICK

My Lords, the Committee to which I referred is the Brodrick Committee, which was appointed in 1965. It has, I agree, been sitting for some time. I hope that its report may be available within the next month or two. One would hope, too, that the thoroughness with which the Committee has gone into this problem will, in the end, mean that the delay has been worth while. I have seen some of the reports to which the noble Lord referred, particularly the interview with Professor Camps. If I may say so, I think that the language in which he couched his comments was in some respects rather more stimulating than helpful. But the difficulty ought not to be exaggerated. There is only one area of the country, the South-West of England, where there is a real difficulty; in other parts of the country the present system is working well.