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It does not help that the Forensic Regulator's guidelines have encouraged private forensic science labs instructed by the prosecution to charge the defence a fee for access to evidence, copies of DNA profiling results etc.

See https://www.theguardian.com/law/2013/jul/17/defendants-forced-pay-forensic-evidence

This is condoned by the Legal Aid Agency, who are willing to pay more to the junior clerk employed in a prosecution lab to email DNA profiling results than they are prepared to pay to an DNA expert instructed by the defence to report on those results.

The practice has now even spread to the Metropolitan Police; the defence must pay to see the police scientific evidence.