Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the use of AI by police forces, including facial recognition and predictive systems; and what measures are in place to ensure that those systems are subject to appropriate oversight.

The Government has already begun to support police to make responsible use of AI, and since the election we have allocated £50 million to areas such as facial recognition, deepfake detection and the automation of force control room operations. This is beginning to free up officer from administrative tasks to be on the frontline and improve policing outcomes. The Police Reform White Paper announced plans for a further £115m over the next three years, including a new National Centre for AI in Policing which will be charged with rolling out AI across policing and ensuring it is used in a responsible manner with the appropriate oversight.

The Covenant for Using Artificial Intelligence in Policing provides a high-level framework for AI adoption by police forces. It sets out clear principles for the development and deployment of AI in policing and operates alongside existing statutory obligations. It is supported by published guidance from the College of Policing and local governance and ethics arrangements within forces. We expect all law enforcement agencies to work within the current laws.

The AI Centre will provide technical testing and assurance of tools, in order to ensure high levels of accuracy, and minimise potential bias. It will also develop clear guidance and best practice for police forces on the responsible adoption of AI, complementing the existing legal and professional standards.

In addition, the AI Centre will support greater transparency through the development of a public-facing registry of police uses of AI, setting out what tools are being used, the purpose for their deployment, and the mitigations and safeguards in place. These measures are designed to provide a greater level of oversight of police AI use, to deliver benefits while mainlining responsible adoption and building public confidence.

Building on this broader programme of work to ensure responsible and transparent AI adoption, facial recognition technology remains an important tool that is helping police to quickly locate suspects and bring offenders to justice. The Government intends to bring forward a new framework to ensure all police forces across the country can use facial recognition and similar technologies with greater confidence, and that their uses and limits are clear to the public. Last year, we 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 will inform the scope and content of legal changes before they are brought before Parliament.