Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of current legislation regulating the use of CCTV cameras with facial recognition and biometric tracking capabilities.

There is no legislation regulating the use of CCTV cameras with facial recognition and biometric tracking capabilities. However, the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice requires any police use of facial recognition or other biometric characteristic recognition systems to be clearly justified and proportionate in meeting the stated purpose. The retention of facial images by the police is governed by data protection legislation and by Authorised Professional Practice produced by the College of Policing.