Meeting of the Parliament 04 December 2018
If the member does not mind, I want to make progress—if only because he said that he would vote against the LCM regardless of what I say.
In response to the recommendations of the independent advisory group on the use of biometric data in Scotland, which we convened, we will introduce a bill to enhance oversight of biometric data. That bill will, rightly, be scrutinised by this Parliament.
It is important to acknowledge that today we are considering the impact on devolved competence of the narrow circumstances under which specific biometric data can be retained. The provisions in the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Bill change the existing maximum retention period from two to five years; it is important to note that there are no proposed changes to oversight or safeguards in relation to the retention of data, which will still be subject to review by the Commissioner for the Retention and Use of Biometric Material. Indeed, the proposed change was recommended by the commissioner in the annual report that he published in April.
On John Finnie’s concern about databases, I reiterate that the data in question is that which is defined in the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 and does not include images. Biometric data that is subject to national security determination is stored in a number of national databases, none of which is the police national database.
I share Mr Finnie’s concerns about the issues that have been raised, not least in the recent court judgment that was critical of the governance arrangements for images.