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Written question asked by Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative) on Friday, 10 October 2025, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 14 October 2025. It was answered by Sarah Jones (Labour) on Monday, 20 October 2025 on behalf of the Home Office.


Police: Biometrics

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the news story entitled Live Facial Recognition technology to catch high-harm offenders, published on 13 August 2025, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the use of this capability from Bedfordshire to the tri-force area that includes Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire.

Answer

The Home Office has funded the roll-out of ten live facial recognition (LFR) vans to seven host police forces, with Bedfordshire Police being one of those forces. Access to the LFR vans is available to all forces including Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, subject to operational need and local decision-making.

No formal assessment is therefore needed by the government as the capability is already available to those forces should they choose to deploy it.


Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
79380
Session
2024-26
Subjects
Biometrics Bedfordshire Police Hertfordshire Cambridgeshire
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk