Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her Department’s policies of reports concerning revisions to electoral rolls in India which excluded Muslim voters from recent elections in Bengal.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Our High Commission in New Delhi, together with our network of Deputy High Commissions, is following the Special Intensive Revision process, including in West Bengal. We will continue to monitor the situation.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which UK police forces and law‑enforcement bodies have (a) procured and (b) used (i) surveillance, (ii) digital forensics and (iii) facial‑recognition technologies supplied by overseas companies since 2020.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not collect information on the nationality of companies supplying technology to UK police forces and law enforcement bodies. The procurement of technologies is a matter for individual organisations, having considered the legal, ethical and security requirements.
In doing so, procurement decisions by police forces and law enforcement bodies must comply with UK procurement law, including the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, Procurement Act 2023, and relevant National Cyber Security Centre guidance on supply chain risk. They are also expected to follow the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice issued under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. Additionally, the Live Facial Recognition Commercial Framework produced by BlueLight Commercial is available to support police forces making procurement decisions before they issue contracts.
To ensure national consistency and public confidence, the Police Reform White Paper set out our intention to have one national procurement system under the National Police Service.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether Israeli companies have supplied (a) surveillance, (b) digital forensics and (c) facial‑recognition technology to UK police forces since 2020.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not collect information on the nationality of companies supplying technology to UK police forces and law enforcement bodies. The procurement of technologies is a matter for individual organisations, having considered the legal, ethical and security requirements.
In doing so, procurement decisions by police forces and law enforcement bodies must comply with UK procurement law, including the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, Procurement Act 2023, and relevant National Cyber Security Centre guidance on supply chain risk. They are also expected to follow the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice issued under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. Additionally, the Live Facial Recognition Commercial Framework produced by BlueLight Commercial is available to support police forces making procurement decisions before they issue contracts.
To ensure national consistency and public confidence, the Police Reform White Paper set out our intention to have one national procurement system under the National Police Service.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what oversight mechanisms she has introduced to monitor compliance with (a) data protection, (b) equalities and (c) human rights obligations in the use of facial recognition technology.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government has not issued specific guidance on the ethical deployment of surveillance technologies, including facial recognition. However, when using these technologies, police forces must comply with data protection, equality, human rights and other relevant laws, meaning that all deployments must be for a policing purpose and be necessary, proportionate and fair.
For live facial recognition, forces must also comply with the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice, the College of Policing’s national guidance and their own published policies.
On 4 December last year, the Government launched a public consultation on when and how biometrics, facial recognition and similar technologies should be used, and what safeguards and oversight are needed. The consultation has now closed and a formal Government response will be published in due course, setting out the findings and next steps, including legislative measures.
The Police Reform Bill will introduce a new legal framework to underpin law enforcement use of these technologies, including the creation of a single expert body to provide independent advice and oversight.
Oversight of police use of facial recognition is currently provided by a number of bodies responsible for ensuring compliance with the law and safeguarding people’s rights. These include the Information Commissioner’s Office (data protection) and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (equalities and human rights), alongside His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, the Independent Office for Police Conduct, and the Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has issued UK‑wide guidance on the ethical deployment of surveillance technologies by police forces.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government has not issued specific guidance on the ethical deployment of surveillance technologies, including facial recognition. However, when using these technologies, police forces must comply with data protection, equality, human rights and other relevant laws, meaning that all deployments must be for a policing purpose and be necessary, proportionate and fair.
For live facial recognition, forces must also comply with the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice, the College of Policing’s national guidance and their own published policies.
On 4 December last year, the Government launched a public consultation on when and how biometrics, facial recognition and similar technologies should be used, and what safeguards and oversight are needed. The consultation has now closed and a formal Government response will be published in due course, setting out the findings and next steps, including legislative measures.
The Police Reform Bill will introduce a new legal framework to underpin law enforcement use of these technologies, including the creation of a single expert body to provide independent advice and oversight.
Oversight of police use of facial recognition is currently provided by a number of bodies responsible for ensuring compliance with the law and safeguarding people’s rights. These include the Information Commissioner’s Office (data protection) and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (equalities and human rights), alongside His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, the Independent Office for Police Conduct, and the Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what categories of personal and special category data have been ingested by or made available to Palantir in its Unified Data Platform trial with the Metropolitan police, and whether a summary can be placed in the Library.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Police Forces are operationally independent, and the Home Office does not review their Data Protection Impact Assessments and does not hold this information.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department has given to the Metropolitan Police on (a) governance, (b) retention and (c) oversight arrangements on continuous integrity screening in the Metropolitan Police's Unified Data Platform trial.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Police Forces are operationally independent, and the Home Office does not monitor whether ethical reviews have been conducted by Police Forces, nor has the department issued guidance on the Metropolitan Police’s governance, retention or oversight arrangements for continuous integrity screening in the trial.
However, the Home Office has provided support to the National Data and Analytics Office (NDAO) in the NPCC to issue guidance to forces on the procurement of data integration and exploitation tools, covering commercial best practice, technical requirements to support interoperability and data protection impact considerations.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on whether an ethical review of the Palantir Unified Data Platform trial with the Metropolitan police has been completed.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Police Forces are operationally independent, and the Home Office does not monitor whether ethical reviews have been conducted by Police Forces, nor has the department issued guidance on the Metropolitan Police’s governance, retention or oversight arrangements for continuous integrity screening in the trial.
However, the Home Office has provided support to the National Data and Analytics Office (NDAO) in the NPCC to issue guidance to forces on the procurement of data integration and exploitation tools, covering commercial best practice, technical requirements to support interoperability and data protection impact considerations.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what safeguards she has introduced to help ensure that digital forensic tools cannot be used for (a) remote access and (b) bulk data collection beyond lawful investigations.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
All digital forensic activity must comply with existing legislation, including the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Met’s Data Protection Impact Assessment of its Unified Data Platform trial with Palantir has been reviewed and, where necessary, updated and re‑approved by the Data protection Officr to reflect pilot extensions, scope changes and additional data ingestion .
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Police Forces are operationally independent, and the Home Office does not review their Data Protection Impact Assessments and does not hold this information.