Quarterly Newsletter No12. June 2025
Welcome to the June 2025 newsletter for the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner
Since our last newsletter I have laid two assurance reports this year. The subject of the reports are DNA and Retrospective Facial Search.
Dr Brian Plastow
Scottish Biometrics Commissioner
Ross Macdonald who was seconded to SBC as Director returned to Police Scotland to resume his role as a Detective Chief Inspector. The Commissioner thanked Ross for his contribution and wishes Ross good luck in his new role.
Our Corporate Services Manager Cheryl Glen has taken on the role of Director along side her current CSM responsibilities.
The Commissioner attended the SPCB Support Bodies Landscape Review Committee where he answered 
questions following an earlier submission of evidence. A copy of the evidence submission and the video of the session can be found here. In May, the committee attended Bridgeside House to discuss the current shared services with colleagues.
The outcome of the report can be found here.
In May, the Commissioner attended the Justice Committee at the NI Assembly at Stormont. The Commissioner explained the set-up of the SBC and the importance of getting the legislation right.
The full evidence session can be found here
On 16 May the Commissioner and Director attended an event in Edinburgh as part of the National Conversation on the use of Live Facial Recognition technology.
National Conversation on use of Live Facial Recognition technology | Scottish Police Authority
The Commissioner was amongst the speakers at the event alongside colleagues from Stirling University and the Met Police.
Following the publication of our assurance review on retrospective image search our Operations Manager submitted the following article to the 1919 magazine.
The role of facial recognition in modern policing | Scottish Biometrics Commissioner
In May our Director & CSM successfully facilitated the migration of to our new ICT provider Microsys. They would like to thank everyone involved in the migration.
In January the CSM submitted our Progress Update Review to the National Records of Scotland.
The original Keeper’s assessment can be found here. The updated report will be available on our website shortly.
Earlier this year the Commissioner laid two assurance reviews. These were the fourth and fifth
assurance reviews to be published by the Commissioner.
The fourth assurance review on DNA was laid on The fifth assurance review on retrospective
26 February and was produced in conjunction facial search was laid on 26 March and was
with the Leverhulme Research Centre for produce in conjunction with HM Inspectorate
Forensic Science and the SPA of Constabulary in Scotland
During February and March, we held sessions with Martha from Evaluation Support Scotland, to help identify how best we evidence outcomes and the impact of our work going forward.
In the first session we were asked to come up with challenges to be solved. Our second session drilled down into these challenges, and we were asked to highlight activities which would make a difference to the challenges. The activities we identified were split into short / medium / long term.
The final session included taking the activities identified in session two and deciding on outcomes which helped pull together our Logic Model and Outcomes Framework which we have published on our website.
The Commissioner was invited to speak at this year’s Association of Scottish Police Superintendents (ASPS) Jack Urquhart Memorial Lecture. The theme of this year’s lecture was ‘Leading Beyond Reform: Policing Smarter, Not Harder?’
The Commissioner spoke alongside the Chief Constable Jo Farrell and Cabinet Secretary for Justice Angela Constance.
A link to the Commissioners speaker notes and slide pack can be found below.
In October the Commissioner wrote to Police Scotland, the SPA and the PIRC asking for a short letter of assurance confirming ongoing adherence with the Code of Practice. The responses were by exception reporting only.
Responses from the three bodies were received in January. The executive summary from the Commissioner can be found below and the previous years can be found on our website.
In April the team attended the SBC strategic away day at the Castlebrae police treatment centre.
During the away day we discussed the following:
- contents of our up-and-coming Annual Report and Accounts
- our plan for the year ahead including the subject of our next assurance review on fingerprints
- our budget for 2025/26
- the outcome of the staff survey conducted by HR Staple earlier in the year including a review of job descriptions
- the new team structure following the departure of our Director back to Police Scotland
- the potential of seconding a colleague from the SPA FSS to help with the increased workload for 2025/26
Out and About
Since our last newsletter the Commissioner has attended a variety of meetings and delivered a range of presentations - some are listed below:
- 23 January: Attended the retiral dinner for SPA Chair Matin Evans
- 27 February: Provided evidence at the NI Assembly Justice Committee
- 8 May: Forensics Services Committee
- 16 May: Invited speaker at the Life Facial Recognition (LFR) conference in Edinburgh
- 21 May: Spoke at the ASPS Conference Jack Urquhart Memorial Lecture.
The Director & CSM has been busy since starting in her new role and has attended several meetings and events – as listed below:
- 21 January: The CSM and Commissioner attended the Metropolitan Police Forensic HQ to get a demonstration of Rapid DNA
- 16 May: Attended the LFR conference in Edinburgh
- 18 June: Attended the FINDS meeting
Our Operations Manager has also been busy over the past few months:
- 28 April: Attended the focus group on LFR
- 16 June and 18 June: Attended workshops with Scottish Youth Parliament and COSLA partners to garner views on the CoP and our next Strategic Plan
- 24 June: Panel speaker at the Policing, Justice and Law Enforcement in a digital age conference
We hope that this short newsletter is of interest. You can subscribe to future newsletters and annual reports automatically by registering on our website.