Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether passport photographs are being enrolled into biometric databases accessible for live facial recognition searches; and what assessment she has made of the privacy implications of this policy.

Passport photographs are not being enrolled into biometric databases accessible for live facial recognition searches. However, His Majesty’s Passport Office (HMPO) may conduct retrospective facial recognition searches against the passport database, on behalf of police forces, in relation to serious cases e.g. sexual offences, violent offences, serious and organised crime, or those that are of a national security interest. Guidance on this practice, and an Equality Impact Assessment has been published on the GOV.UK site.

When deploying facial recognition technology, police forces must comply with existing legislation including the Human Rights Act 1998, Equality Act 2010, Data Protection Act 2018, Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, as well as their own published policies. For live facial recognition, police forces must also follow the College of Policing’s Authorised Professional Practice (APP) on Live Facial Recognition. Forces also need to comply with the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice, which is supplemented by published policing policies.

On 4 December the Government launched a consultation on law enforcement use of biometrics, facial recognition and similar technologies. We are consulting on a new legal framework to create consistent, durable rules and appropriate safeguards for biometrics and facial recognition. This framework will aim to strike the right balance between public protection and privacy.