Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what standards her Department sets for the ethical and technical assurance of AI systems used in law enforcement.

Although ethical decisions around AI are the responsibility of individual Chief Constables and heads of law enforcement agencies, the Home Office is taking steps to ensure these decisions are evidence-based and transparent.

The Covenant for Using Artificial Intelligence in Policing provides a high-level framework for AI adoption by police forces. It sets out clear principles for the development and deployment of AI in policing, including lawfulness, fairness, transparency, explainability, accountability and robustness. These principles operate alongside existing statutory obligations, including the Equality Act 2010 and data protection legislation, and are supported by published guidance from the College of Policing and local governance and ethics arrangements within forces. We expect all law enforcement agencies to work within the current laws.

In January 2026 the Police Reform White Paper set out plans to establish a new national centre for AI in policing which will be tasked with accelerating the rapid and responsible adoption of AI across forces. It will centralise the development, testing and evaluation of AI tools, support consistent application of assurance standards before deployment, and promote transparency through a public-facing registry of police AI use. It will move into the National Police Service.

In addition, the Home Office launched a public consultation last year on a new legal framework for law enforcement use of biometrics, facial recognition and similar technologies. The consultation sought views on when and how these technologies should be used and what safeguards and oversight are needed. The consultation has now closed, and the responses received will inform the scope and content of future legal changes.