FOI release

BSCC-FOI-0524-HD: budget and responsibilities

Updated 10 July 2024

From:

Tony Eastaugh CBE
Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF

14 June 2024

To: [redacted]

Ref: BSCC-FOI-0524-HD

Letter by email

Dear [redacted]

I write in response to an email received by my office on 11 June 2024, in which you asked:

“Please supply the following information for your Agency ONLY, (do not including any data on other agencies or public bodies that may report to you) for the period of 2023:

  1. Year of Creation/Launch/Establishment?
  2. Your Annual Budget?
  3. Other Revenue received but not from government?
  4. Fiscal Powers: Yes/No
  5. Regulatory Powers: Yes/No
  6. Do you sponsor other Public Bodies: Yes/No, if yes who?
  7. Number of permanent staff?
  8. Number of temporary staff (including part timers)?
  9. Number of contractors employed?”

Your request has been handled as a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. You may find the answers to your questions below.

1. Year of Creation/Launch/Establishment?

A: The Office of the Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner was established in 2021. Originally it was comprised of two separate offices (the Office of the Biometrics Commissioner, and the Office of the Surveillance Camera Commissioner) established under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, but were merged when Professor Fraser Sampson was appointed to both roles in March 2021.

2.Your Annual Budget?

A: As we budget on a financial year basis, the budget for 2023/24 was £599,201.

3. Other Revenue received but not from government?

A: None

4. Fiscal Powers:

A: None

5. Regulatory Powers:

A: None

6. Do you sponsor other Public Bodies:

A: No

7. Number of permanent staff?

A: Currently seven permanent staff. The staffing complement is nine.

8. Number of temporary staff (including part timers)?

A: None

9. Number of contractors employed?

A: One ad hoc contractor.

If you are dissatisfied with this response, you may request an independent internal review of our handling of your request by submitting a complaint within two months to the address below, quoting reference BSCC-FOI-0524-HD. If you ask for an internal review, it would be helpful if you could say why you are dissatisfied with the response.

Mark Greenhorn
14th Floor Lunar House Building
40 Wellesley Road, Croydon
CR9 2BY

e-mail: Sciencesupportfoi@homeoffice.gov.uk

As part of any internal review, our handling of your information request will be reassessed by staff who were not involved in providing you with this response. If you remain dissatisfied after this internal review, you would have a right of complaint to the Information Commissioner as established by section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act.

Kind regards

Tony Eastaugh CBE
Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner

Email: enquiries@obscc.org.uk