Written question asked by Barry Gardiner (Labour) on Thursday, 6 May 1999, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 13 May 1999. It was answered by Lord Boateng (Labour) on Thursday, 13 May 1999 on behalf of the Home Office.

Home Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will assess the benefits of compulsory registration of privately operated CCTV systems with the local police. - Inc ref to Data Protection Act 1998.

Answer: Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will assess the benefits of compulsory registration of privately operated CCTV systems with the local police. [83886] Mr. Boateng: There is no requirement for owners of privately operated Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) systems to register with the local police, nor are there any plans to assess the benefits of requiring them to do so. The Data Protection Act 1998 provides a framework for the statutory regulation of CCTV systems. Their controllers will be required to notify details of their processing of personal data to the Data Protection Commissioner who will make them publicly available in a register. They will also have to comply with a set of enforceable principles of good data handling practice. Our recently published White Paper on the statutory regulation of the private security industry would require those operating CCTV systems to be licensed.

Secondary information