Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the statement by the Secretary of State for the Home Office on 26 January (HC Deb col 610), what steps they will take to ensure that data and information collected as a result of the increased use of facial recognition (1) remains in British jurisdiction, (2) is managed by the government, and (3) is not transferred to any third party entities or nations.

Custody images used for retrospective facial recognition searches are stored on the Police National Database. The data is held at a secure location in the UK.

Police use of facial recognition is governed by data protection legislation, which require that any processing of biometric data is lawful, fair, proportionate and subject to appropriate safeguards.

Police forces act as the data controllers for facial recognition use and must manage data, including any international transfers, in line with data protection law and established policing standards.

On 4 December last year, we launched a public consultation on when and how biometrics, facial recognition and similar technologies should be used, and what safeguards and oversight are needed. Following analysis of the responses, we will publish a formal government response in due course.