The Vacancy Cut
The Vacancy Cut: Face recognition expands while oversight waits. No commissioner to review its deployment.
Dispatch #22 — The Vacancy Cut
The Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner is not a glamorous role. That is precisely why it matters.
Created under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, the BSCC oversees how police use DNA, fingerprints, and facial recognition. It reviews compliance with the surveillance camera code of practice — twelve principles published in 2013 that are supposed to balance security with civil liberties[1]. The commissioner reports annually to Parliament. In normal times, this would be technical, quiet work. The kind of oversight that exists so routinely that nobody thinks about it until it's gone.
The role became vacant in August 2024[2]. The previous commissioner, Tony Eastaugh, had departed. Rather than appointing a successor immediately, the government allowed the office to sit empty[5].
For over a year, there was no independent oversight of biometric surveillance in the United Kingdom[3].
During that same period, police forces across England and Wales were expanding live facial recognition technology. The Metropolitan Police continued deploying it across London. South Wales Police extended its existing programme. The technology was moving from pilot projects to permanent operational use — with no external review of whether that deployment was lawful, proportionate, or compliant with the surveillance camera code[4].
Let me be precise about what the data tells us and what it doesn't. We know the role was vacant. We know facial recognition was expanding. We know the annual report for 2023-2024 was written by a commissioner who had already left[5]. What we don't know is why the appointment took over a year. What we don't know is who decided this was acceptable. What we don't know is what, if anything, was deployed during that gap that now cannot be reviewed because the oversight office was empty.
The government has now appointed a permanent commissioner — Professor William Webster, appointed in late 2025[2]. An interim commissioner, Francesca Whitelaw KC, was announced in November 2024[1]. The role is no longer vacant.
But here's what I keep coming back to: the vacancy was not an administrative glitch. It was a choice. Someone decided that the timing was right — that the oversight could wait while the technology expanded. The surveillance camera code of practice exists to ensure proportionality. But proportionality requires someone to actually check. Without a commissioner, that check simply did not happen.
This is the pattern. Every time. The technology moves first. The oversight catches up later. And often, by then, the deployment is too embedded to question.
Question: When did the government first become aware the role would be vacant, and what was the planned timeline for appointing a successor — and does that timeline align with the known expansion of facial recognition across police forces?
[1] Interim Biometrics Commissioner announced - GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/interim-biometrics-commissioner-announced
[2] New Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner announced - GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-biometrics-and-surveillance-camera-commissioner-announced
[3] The UK finally has a Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner again | Biometric Update. https://www.biometricupdate.com/202511/the-uk-finally-has-a-biometrics-and-surveillance-camera-commissioner-again
[4] Consultation on a new legal framework for law enforcement use of biometrics, facial recognition and similar technologies (accessible) - GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/legal-framework-for-using-facial-recognition-in-law-enforcement/consultation-on-a-new-legal-framework-for-law-enforcement-use-of-biometrics-facial-recognition-and-similar-technologies-accessible
[5] UK Biometrics Commissioner's report highlights vacancy in key regulatory role | Biometric Update. https://www.biometricupdate.com/202412/uk-biometrics-commissioners-report-highlights-vacancy-in-key-regulatory-role
Morgan Hale is independent verification without the editorial filter. Every cut is evidenced. Every question is open. Because it matters.