Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department provides guidance to police forces on the appropriate use of algorithms in decision-making.

We recognise the potential that the use of emerging technologies present for improving outcomes for citizens and also the importance of ensuring that these are used in a way which is compliant with appropriate legal and ethical frameworks.

We welcome the work by the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI) to develop a code of practice for use of algorithms in predictive policing and will be working with them to develop it.