Biometric Consent for Scottish children in schools

The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012,  Chapter 2 Protection of biometric information of children in schools etc. deals with consent required when schools process children's biometric data.  Unfortunately this part of the Act only applies to schools in England and Wales.  A Freedom of Information request sent to the Home Office clarifies this.

In order to help extend this consensual right to children in Scotland and Northern Ireland Freedom of Information requests were sent, in August 2018, to all 32 Local Government authorities in Scotland to ascertain how many schools were using biometric technology. 

Here are the results of the Freedoms of Information Request as of Early 2019:

There are plans in Scotland to introduce a Biometrics Commissioner 2019/2020 whose remit will only cover the justice sector in the country in the collection and processing of biometrics - Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority.

With the widening use of biometrics, especially the historic and current use in schools, concerns about the limiting scope of the forthcoming Scottish Biometrics Commissioner's role may be aired in the Scottish Parliament.

Any developments concerning this will be posted here.