Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will require banks and building societies to retain CCTV footage at their premises for a fixed period of time in order for it to be available for the investigation of bank and identity fraud.

The retention of CCTV footage is covered by data protection legislation and the Information Commissioner’s Data Protection Code of Practice for surveillance cameras, and by the Surveillance Camera Code, issued under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.

The latter is voluntary for banks and building societies but adherence to it is encouraged. Both of these codes do not prescribe specific minimum or maximum retention periods, but require a proportionate approach allowing images and other information to be retained for as long as is necessary to serve the purposes of the system in question but no longer.