Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Crime, Policing and Fire during the Seventh sitting of the Public Bill Committee on the Criminal Justice Bill on Tuesday 16 January 2024, Official Report, column 214, which facial recognition database he would expect the police to use when checking a photograph of somebody committing a crime; and which databases the police have access to for facial recognition checks.

Facial recognition is a valuable tool that helps police forces identify murderers, rapists and other suspects quickly and accurately and keep the public safe.

Forces use the facial recognition facility on the Police National Database (PND) to search against images of previously arrested individuals. Further information is available at the following link: Police use of Facial Recognition Factsheet

Where it has not been possible to identify a suspect on PND, forces can submit requests to the Home Office for checks against the passport and immigration databases. The Home Office runs low-volume facial recognition searches against these databases, and the requests mostly relate to serious and national security cases.