Government commits to removing Chinese surveillance cameras from sensitive sites

Cameras by Hikvision and Dahua are already banned in the US

A Cabinet Office statement released on Tuesday describes proposed amendments to the Procurement Bill, which is currently proceeding through Parliament.

It outlines several measures designed to "protect national security in government contracts." These measures will be debated in Parliament when the Bill reaches report stage next week.

Among the amendments tabled are new powers to ban suppliers from specific sectors, such as areas related to defence and national security, while allowing them to continue to win procurements in non-sensitive areas.

The government also says it is "committing to publish a timeline" for the removal of Chinese surveillance equipment from "sensitive central government sites".

The directive does not mention specific companies but is likely to be aimed at China's largest manufacturers of surveillance cameras Hikvision and Dahua. These companies are part-owned by the Chinese government and have been linked to human rights abuses in Xinhua, as well as causing concerns over national security.

It is not known how many Hikvision and Dahua cameras there are in the UK, but open source data used by campaign group Big Brother Watch suggests they number hundreds of thousands of internet-connected devices, a figure that excludes those that are not online.

Big Brother Watch estimates that cameras by the two vendors are in use in 60% of public bodies.

Since last November, new installations of Hikvision and Dahua cameras in or around government buildings have been banned in the UK and some cameras have already been removed from sensitive areas. But campaigners and many MPs have pushed to see that ban extended, and for existing cameras by these vendors to be removed wherever they are installed.

Cameras made by these vendors are widely installed in schools and police stations across the UK.

In a recent report, Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner, Fraser Sampson, concluded that UK policing is "shot through" with Chinese surveillance technology.

Many cameras made by Hikvision and Dahua have facial recognition capabilities, although these are not switched on by default.

The two companies have been blacklisted by the US since 2019, and their cameras have been removed from European Parliament buildings. The Scottish and Welsh governments have also committed to removing Chinese cameras from public buildings. The UK government has now followed suit, albeit in a limited fashion: only those cameras in "sensitive central government sites" are currently in scope.

In a statement sent to Reuters , a Hikvision spokesperson blamed the measure on political tensions between the UK and China: "We believe that the possible action by the UK government is a further step up of the mounting geopolitical tensions being expressed through technology bans, which by no means relates to the security of Hikvision's products."

The Procurement Bill aims to simplify and introduce transparency into the UK procurement framework, post Brexit. It is expected to come into force in 2024.