Vehicle Number Plates: Legal Opinion

Mr. Watson
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what advice he has received on the legality of automatic number plate recognition systems.

Mr. McNulty
All data gathered by the police using automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) are covered by existing legislation. Home Office officials have been working closely with the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) to ensure that information collected by ANPR technologies and retained by the police is cognisant of the relevant data protection legislation. The ACPO guidance is designed to ensure that the principles detailed in Part 1 of Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000 are followed by all police forces.