Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what independent scrutiny is being carried out on the use of the ten new live facial recognition systems provided to local police services by the Home Office, starting in November 2025, and when the conclusions of this scrutiny will be published.

The Government is committed to equipping police forces with the tools they need to tackle serious crimes, locate offenders and bring them to justice. As part of this commitment, the Home Office has funded the roll-out of ten live facial recognition (LFR) vans.

The National Audit Office reports on Home Office expenditure which is then independently scrutinised and reported on by the Public Accounts Committee.

Oversight of LFR is provided by a number of independent bodies including the Information Commissioner, Equality and Human Rights Commission and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire & Rescue Services.

However, oversight is fragmented and we want to improve it through the creation of a bespoke new legal framework. Subject to consultation, that framework will include specific oversight for the use of biometrics, facial recognition and similar technologies.

The Home Office does not hold data on the number of arrests made following the police’s use of facial recognition technology, including the use of LFR, as specific LFR deployment decisions rest with individual police forces. The department is however funding national evaluation work to understand better the impact of facial recognition on police and crime outcomes.

Where police forces are using LFR, the number of arrests made following each deployment are published on their respective websites. Further, the Met Police have published these in their recent Live Facial Recognition Annual Report September 2025