Commissioners Quarterly Newsletter No.5: June 2022

To learn more about who we are and what we do please visit our website https://biometricscommissioner.scot

 Our Facebook page

The Scottish Biometrics Commissioner Facebook page is now up and running with our latest news and links to articles written by the team.

In our last post we shared a blog written by our Operations Manager for Scotland’s AI Strategy website. In the blog Diego discusses our Code of Practice and explains our definition of biometrics.

Find us on Facebook  by searching ‘Scottish Biometrics Commissioner’

As my team is at full capacity, I thought it would be helpful to let each team member explain a little more about who they are and their role within the team.  Up first is our Operations Manager – Diego Quiroz.

Hi there, I recently joined the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner’s office after a decade with the Scottish Human Rights Commission where I led the policy and international areas. At SBC, I lead on operational matters, including external assurance activity. I am part of a small and enthusiastic group working for Brian. Since starting with the SBC, I have focused on four pieces that support our aim.

Firstly, a stakeholder strategy which fosters new and dynamic relations. I have met with government, civil society, academics and expert groups to understand better their views, amplify our voice and find common issues of interest. You can see the guest blog I wrote for the Scotland’s AI Strategy here.

Secondly, I conducted international horizon scanning to identify where we can contribute and learn in a manner that meets our resources and capacity. For this, we prepared an updated report about Scotland and biometric data, which is with the UN Human Rights Council now and will inform their next review of the UK Human Rights actions in November 2022. We have also prepared a report that builds on the survey we commissioned ScotCen to produce on the public attitudes to biometric data. This report is the first of its kind in Scotland and you can find more about it below.

Thirdly, to increase public awareness and understanding of what we do, we have commissioned an explainer animation for our website, thinking of different and easier ways to explain our purpose and engage with people.

Fourthly, we are working on our key piece, which is the Code of Practice for the use of biometric data and its procedure for individual complaints. We are running a public consultation on the code and would welcome any comments you may have. So, there is a lot happening and this is just the beginning, I am excited to develop this programme of work and very much look forward to working with you all.

In our previous newsletter I mentioned we conducted a public attitudes survey in association with ScotCen.  This has now been published on our website which shows our key findings alongside  the original report from ScotCen.

The results provided us with a baseline for future research and has helped us understand better the publics’  attitude towards biometrics within Policing and the Criminal Justice System. 

The draft Code of Practice has now been laid before the Scottish Parliament and the Commissioner will present it and take questions when it is considered by the Criminal Justice Committee on 15 June. We are currently holding a public consultation on our draft Code of Practice which is available on our website. To have you say please use the contact us form on our website.

In March 2022, FutureScot published an article on their website following an interview with the Commissioner a few months previously. FutureScot are dedicated to Scotland’s digital technologies and innovation sector. The article titled ‘My role is not one of curtailing the police’ was published in March and can read here.  

During 2021-22, the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner function including our physical office, staffing model and ICT infrastructure was stood up amidst the challenges of the global pandemic. Over the period we laid our first 4-year strategic plan, established our advisory groups, developed a national assessment framework and consulted widely on our draft Code of Practice.

By entering a shared-services arrangement and co-location model with other officeholders supported by the Parliament, we were able to do so at significantly less cost to the public purse that had originally been projected. Our draft first annual report and our accounts are currently being audited by Audit Scotland and once finalised will be laid before the Parliament in the autumn

For further reading please visit our website: https://www.biometricscommissioner.scot/

There are many other reference sources available to assist readers in engaging with debates on biometric data and technologies more generally. We do not endorse materials on other websites but simply signpost the following short selection as sources of additional information:

I hope that this short newsletter is of interest. You can subscribe to future newsletters and annual reports automatically by registering on our website: https://www.biometricscommissioner.scot/contact/