The Scottish Parliament Justice Committee has given the thumbs up to the general principles of a Bill that will create a Scottish Biometrics Commissioner and establish a Code of Practice for police.

But it believes the postholder should be given further powers to keep personal data safe and protect privacy.

MSPs on the Committee concluded that a Commissioner to look after biometric personal information, including physical, biological or behavioural identifiers, was both timely and necessary. Biometric policing techniques incorporate traditional methods such as fingerprinting and rapidly developing, new technology, such as voice pattern analysis and facial recognition.

The Committee voiced support for the Commissioner’s role to be flexible, to allow them to adapt to new forms of biometric data that are not yet considered or used by the police.

However, it is calling for the provisions of the Bill to be strengthened and for the Commissioner to have oversight of biometric data used and held by other policing bodies operating in Scotland – such as the British Transport Police and the National Crime Agency.

As things stand, the Commissioner would only have oversight of Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority.

The proposed Commissioner should also be granted stronger enforcement powers to ensure compliance with the Code of Practice, the Committee advised.

Committee convener, Margaret Mitchell MSP, said: “Identifying criminals and keeping society safe is at the core of what the police do. Biometric data can be a great help achieving both these objectives. However, its collection and use must be proportionate, and properly checked.

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“As technology advances at lightning pace and ever more information becomes available to the police, the need for this Commissioner to ensure that public and human rights concerns are kept to the fore becomes ever more pressing.

“While Members welcome the creation of a Biometrics Commissioner, the Committee has identified some important areas where the legislation needs to be strengthened.

“To ensure the Commissioner has the necessary teeth and oversight to protect privacy effectively, the Committee wants to see stronger enforcement powers and other policing bodies added to Commissioner’s remit before their office is created.

“The committee also wants the principles of protecting human rights, privacy, and delivering community safety to be enshrined in the Bill, and to underpin any use of biometric data by police.”