UK Biometrics Commissioner’s report highlights vacancy in key regulatory role

The biometrics work of UK police continues, overseen by a vacant office which has published a formal report written by a departed commissioner.

The Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner’s annual report 2023 to 2024 was written by Tony Eastaugh, who was the Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner (BSCC) from December, 2023 to August of this year. He is now the interim chief executive officer of the UK’s Police Digital Service.

His departure was scheduled to coincide with the transfer of the role’s biometric casework functions to the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office, which fell by the wayside along with the Tory government and the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill.

Some damage to the oversight system had already been done, however. Much of Eastaugh’s work was dedicated to the handover, including closing down the Surveillance Camera Strategy and the certification schemes under the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice.

Eastaugh says that some of the information the BSCC needs to fulfil its transparency obligations remains “impossible to obtain,” and the system for reviewing National Security Determinations (NSDs) needs investment.

Who will perform such reviews, however, is a mystery.

“There is now a unique opportunity to rethink, redesign and reshape how the governance, scrutiny and accountability of biometrics and surveillance cameras is conducted in England and Wales,” the most recent Commissioner writes. “Through tapping into the diversity of thinking and approach held by all the key stakeholders, there is the possibility for ministers to obtain the best, most robust and properly tested advice that is currently available.”

Greater clarity and guidance are needed, according to Eastaugh, but he says, “I have confidence that future structures of the office are being considered thoughtfully and with foresight.”

Disappointment and risk

Former BSCC Fraser Sampson tells Biometric Update in an email that the possibility of the DPDI’s failure was not planned for during his time in the position.

“Having spent a huge amount of time and effort clearing the COVID backlog in National Security Determinations, the office now has another backlog and I’m not sure who, if anyone, is signing these off in the absence of a commissioner,” he writes, expressing disappointment in the situation. “The same is true of s.63 G authorities for retaining DNA of suspected violent or sexual offenders.”

“Terrorism and hostile state activity feature prominently in recent reports from the government,” Sampson notes. “The effective and accountable use of National Security Determinations (NSD) — whereby the biometrics of people considered to represent a substantial risk to the nation’s security are retained — should also be high on the agenda. Without a biometrics commissioner, the NSDs made by chief police officers are unscrutinized and open to challenge.”

Article Topics

biometrics  |  Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner  |  facial recognition  |  Fraser Sampson  |  police  |  UK  |  video surveillance