PUBLIC SECTOR: Forensic service expands regional staff

The Forensic Science Service (FSS), the commercially operated branch of the Home Office handling techniques such as DNA finger-printing, is expanding its PR team. Communications head Rob Smith is to recruit his first press officer outside London into the Birmingham office in a bid to improve the strength of regional communications. The officer will support and raise the profile of the regional laboratory’s role in crime prevention and detection. Smith is also looking to bring in a new deputy after the departure of Tracy Wickham, who has left to become a full-time mother.