Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of compensation schemes for people wrongly identified by live facial recognition technology used by the police.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has not assessed the potential merits of a specific compensation scheme for people wrongly identified by live facial recognition used by police.
The Home Office has not set a threshold for an acceptable proportion of misidentifications arising from police use of live facial recognition. However, police use of live facial recognition is subject to safeguards that are designed to minimise the risk of misidentifications. These are set out in the Authorised Professional Practice guidance by the College of Policing found here: Live facial recognition | College of Policing]. They must also comply with data protection, equality, and human rights laws and are subject to the Information Commissioner’s and Equality and Human Rights Commission’s oversight.
Following a possible live facial recognition alert, it is always a police officer on the ground who will decide what action, if any, to take. Facial recognition technology is not automated decision making – police officers and trained operators will always make the decisions about whether and how to use any suggested matches.
In November we launched a 10 public consultation, ending on 12 February to help shape a new framework on biometrics, facial recognition and similar technologies. We want to hear views on when and how the technologies should be used, and what safeguards and oversight are needed. We are aware there have been concerns with the existing laws governing the use of facial recognition, and the consultation has been designed to explore these concerns by asking questions on additional safeguards around transparency, oversight and proportionality
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has set a threshold for an acceptable proportion of misidentifications arising from police use of live facial recognition.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has not assessed the potential merits of a specific compensation scheme for people wrongly identified by live facial recognition used by police.
The Home Office has not set a threshold for an acceptable proportion of misidentifications arising from police use of live facial recognition. However, police use of live facial recognition is subject to safeguards that are designed to minimise the risk of misidentifications. These are set out in the Authorised Professional Practice guidance by the College of Policing found here: Live facial recognition | College of Policing]. They must also comply with data protection, equality, and human rights laws and are subject to the Information Commissioner’s and Equality and Human Rights Commission’s oversight.
Following a possible live facial recognition alert, it is always a police officer on the ground who will decide what action, if any, to take. Facial recognition technology is not automated decision making – police officers and trained operators will always make the decisions about whether and how to use any suggested matches.
In November we launched a 10 public consultation, ending on 12 February to help shape a new framework on biometrics, facial recognition and similar technologies. We want to hear views on when and how the technologies should be used, and what safeguards and oversight are needed. We are aware there have been concerns with the existing laws governing the use of facial recognition, and the consultation has been designed to explore these concerns by asking questions on additional safeguards around transparency, oversight and proportionality
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS hospital trust chief executives are on multi-year contracts.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold information on the number of trust chief executives who hold multi-year contracts. National Health Service trust chief executives, like other NHS staff, will typically be employed on permanent contracts.