Commissioner welcomes Annual Report for England and Wales and calls for end to UK Government indecisiveness

The Scottish Biometrics Commissioner Dr Brian Plastow has today welcomed the publication of the Annual Report of the Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner for England and Wales. The England and Wales Commissioner has a wider UK role where the police retain DNA and Fingerprints as part of a National Security Determination including in Scotland: Commissioner for the Retention and Use of Biometric Material Annual Report April 2023 – March 2024

As highlighted in the report, the former UK Government had planned to abolish the post in England and Wales under a Bill that failed to proceed due to the UK election.

Consequently, there was limited independent oversight activity in England and Wales during 2023/24 and since August, the Commissioner’s post has not been filled meaning that National Security Determinations (including in Scotland) are stacking up with no independent oversight being exercised.

At a time when the new UK Government is advocating greater use of surveillance technologies such as Live Facial Recognition, the Commissioner is now calling on the UK Government to end its paradigm of indecisiveness by appointing a Commissioner for England and Wales to restore the independent oversight that has been conducted so admirably since the introduction of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.