Oral Answers to Questions

Karen Bradley Excerpts

Monday 7th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Chair of the Home Affairs Committee.

[Dame Karen Bradley (Staffordshire Moorlands) (Con)]

May I associate myself and my Committee with your words earlier, Mr Speaker, regarding the 20th anniversary that we are marking today?

Live facial recognition technology is an effective tool in community and neighbourhood policing. We know that is being used effectively by the Metropolitan police, but other police forces are nervous because they do not believe that the statutory underpinning is in place. Can the Home Secretary provide some reassurance about what the Government will do to make sure this technology can be used effectively?

[Yvette Cooper]

The Committee Chair is right that live facial recognition can play a role in keeping communities safe. As a result, the Minister for Policing has been meeting not just police forces but other organisations to ensure that we can draw up a new framework to give all police forces the confidence to use facial recognition in the best way in order to keep communities safe.