AQW 35451/22-27

Ms Paula Bradshaw
Alliance Party
South Belfast

Tabled Date: 13/11/2025
Answered On Date: 03/12/2025
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Finance to detail any steps being taken to ensure that departmental digital procurement standards regulate the use of facial recognition technology in public buildings and services.

Answer:

Procurement policy does not itself set the standards for products or regulate their use. I have no plans to amend procurement policy to seek to regulate the use of these technologies.

The usage of facial-recognition technologies is governed by data protection legislation, which is reserved to Westminster.