DPDI Bill withdrawn

Commissioner welcomes withdrawal of UK Data Protection and Digital Information (No 2) Bill

The Scottish Biometrics Commissioner Dr Brian Plastow has today welcomed the withdrawal of the UK DPDI (No 2) Bill because of the announcement of a general election.

In December 2021, the Commissioner and the then Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner for England and Wales wrote a joint letter to UK and Scottish Ministers highlighting serious concerns about this proposed legislation. Principal amongst those concerns was a clause in the Bill which sought to abolish the role of the Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner for England and Wales.
In May 2023, the Commissioner wrote a letter to Carol Monaghan MP, SNP Glasgow North East in her capacity as a member of the Westminster Committee considering the Bill. In that letter, the Commissioner reiterated his opinion that the case for abolishing the Commissioner in England and Wales seemed to centre on the erroneous proposition that the police use of DNA, fingerprints, and facial images are simply questions of data protection.

On 8 January 2024, the Commissioner published a New Year Opinion Piece which posed the question of whether Scotland was sleepwalking towards its place within a UK Surveillance State. In the article, the Commissioner highlighted a worrying pattern of disempowerment and decreasing democracy in the UK, including of independent oversight of the police use of biometric data and biometric enabled technologies.

Today the Commissioner has today said: ‘I am delighted to learn that the UK DPDI No2 Bill is now withdrawn because of the UK General Election. Since 2021, I have strongly opposed the aspects of the Bill which sought to abolish the Office of the Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner for England and Wales, which include specific wider UK responsibilities. I am therefore delighted that this ill-conceived legislation will not now proceed, and I look forward to ongoing joint working with Commissioner for England and Wales Tony Easthaugh, and the OBSCC team.'

The Commissioner (left) welcomes Tony Easthaugh on a recent visit to Scotland.