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The Scottish Biometrics Commissioner has renewed calls for legislation to govern the use of live facial recognition (LFR) technology in Scotland, warning that existing arrangements leave a gap in independent oversight.
Launching his Annual Report and Accounts for 2025-26, Scottish Biometrics Commissioner Dr Brian Plastow said LFR could have an important role in tackling serious and violent crime, but argued that its future use in Scotland should be governed by primary legislation passed by the Scottish Parliament.
Police Scotland does not currently use LFR technology, but other UK policing bodies operating in Scotland, including the British Transport Police, already have access to it. Dr Plastow said these organisations do not fall within the remit of the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner under the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner Act 2020, meaning they would not be subject to his oversight if they deployed the technology in Scotland.
“LFR technology is highly intrusive and constitutes mass public surveillance, so it is my view that primary legislation is the best route to deliver safeguards capable of ensuring both public acceptance and legitimacy.”
Dr Brian Plastow, Scottish Biometrics Commissioner.
The call comes as the UK Home Office moves towards introducing specific legislation and regulation covering the use of LFR by police and the private sector in England and Wales. The Home Office is also investing millions of pounds to make the technology available to police forces across England and Wales.
Dr Plastow said Scottish policing should have proportionate access to LFR in the future, particularly in response to serious and organised crime, counterterrorism, county lines drug dealing and violence against women and girls.
While Scottish Government Ministers have previously said that any future deployment of LFR would be an operational matter for the Chief Constable, Dr Plastow said legislation was needed to establish appropriate safeguards.
“My advice to the Scottish Parliament continues to be that Police Scotland should have proportionate and equitable access to such technologies in the future. This will be important in responding to the threats posed by serious and organised crime groups, for counterterrorism purposes, to address the UK-wide challenge of county lines drug dealing, and as part of a strategic policing response to the national emergency of male violence towards women and girls in Scotland.”
The Commissioner also used the annual report to highlight wider limitations on his office’s remit. His current statutory oversight covers the use of biometrics by Police Scotland, the Scottish Police Authority and the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner.
Biometric data can include fingerprints, DNA, voice recordings and photographs, as well as facial recognition data. Dr Plastow said his office’s remit could be extended to provide oversight across the wider criminal justice system, where biometric data is increasingly shared between agencies.
He pointed to the growing use of AI-enabled public space surveillance and initiatives such as the Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC), arguing that the increasing connectivity of biometric data makes a broader oversight framework necessary.
“There is an opportunity for low-cost expansion of remit given that biometric data is shared extensively by criminal justice partners throughout the entire criminal justice ecosystem in Scotland, including in prisons.”
Under the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner Act, Scottish Ministers must lay a report before Parliament by 30 November 2026 setting out whether the Commissioner’s functions remain appropriate and whether the bodies covered by his remit should be changed.
The annual report also sets out work undertaken by the Commissioner’s office during 2025-26, including a joint assurance review of the acquisition, retention, use and destruction of fingerprints for criminal justice and policing purposes in Scotland, the first statutory review of the Commissioner’s Code of Practice and the launch of a new four-year strategic plan.
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