Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what safeguards are in place to prevent biometric, photographic and identity data collected during Companies House verification processes from being used for other purposes.

Companies House applies strict safeguards to the collection and use of identity data as part of its identity verification processes. Companies House does not receive or store biometric data and only receives and stores photographic data in a small number of exceptional cases.

Any data processed and held is solely for the purposes set out in legislation and in accordance with data protection law. Access to data is restricted to authorised functions only. Robust governance, including compliance with ISO 27001 and alignment with relevant Government Functional Standards ensure the data is protected and not used for unrelated purposes.