Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures they plan to take to maximise the efficiency of closed-circuit television and to ensure public safety.

The Government has issued a surveillance camera code of practice under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. This sets out 12 guiding principles to be considered by any organisation using overt CCTV in public places in England and Wales. Those guiding principles include encouraging CCTV system operators to: work to relevant operational, technical and occupational standards; to use their systems in the most effective way to support public safety and law enforcement with the aim of processing images and information of evidential value, and; to review the use of such a CCTV system on a regular basis. To encourage compliance with the code of practice, we have appointed the Surveillance Camera Commissioner who has published a self assessment tool for CCTV operators and is finalising advice on a suite of standards which can be followed as good practice.