Report Summary
This report provides members of the Policing Performance Committee with an overview of Biometrics Commissioner’s review of children & young people & vulnerable adults .
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Meeting
The publication discussed was referenced in the meeting below
Policing Performance Committee - 15 June 2023
Date : 15 June 2023
Location : online
Further Detail on the Report Topic
The joint assurance reviews involved broad engagement with Police Scotland and Forensic Services officers and staff, quantitative analysis of Police Scotland data as well as identifying examples of international practice. The reviews were also informed by engagement with children and young people and Appropriate Adult providers.
Of the 98,295 police custody episodes last year, available Police Scotland management information suggests 4,150 related to children and 1,880 to vulnerable people who were supported in custody by an appropriate adult. While the number of children who came into contact with the police was small, a significant amount of biometric data was taken and held in the criminal justice system. The review considered the human rights of children and whether it was lawful, proportionate and necessary to obtain children’s biometric data and record it on policing databases.
The reviews concluded that there are strong generic arrangements in place to safeguard children and vulnerable adults in custody, but that those safeguards did not extend to the information rights of data subjects (as per two recommendations).
The reviews identified several improvement recommendations. In a recommendation for Police Scotland, Dr Plastow advocated there should be distinct policies, procedures and practices about the capture of biometric data from children which should only be taken when authorised by a senior officer balancing both the interests of the child and the gravity of the offence.
A similar recommendation was raised in 2018 by now Lord John Scott while chairing the ‘Independent Advisory Group on the Use of Biometric data in Scotland’. Specifically recommendation four of this report stated that ‘Distinct policies should be formulated for the acquisition, retention, use and disposal of the biometric data of children aged between 12 and 17’.
Three further recommendations common to both reports stated that Police Scotland should improve the information provided to anyone who has their biometric data taken in police custody to comply with the data subjects right to be informed under UK GDPR and with the Commissioner’s statutory Code of Practice, approved by the Scottish Parliament in November 2022, and the associated complaints mechanism available to data subjects. The Commissioner also recommended Police Scotland improve its management information around biometric data to better inform strategic decision making and enhance transparency.
Police Scotland is required to set out how it proposes to respond to the recommendations by 30th June 2023.
