FOI release

BSCC-FOI-0126-HD: organisational spending

Updated 10 March 2026

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Office of the Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF

09 March 2026

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/biometrics-and-surveillance-camera-commissioner

To: [redacted]

Reference: BSCC-FOI-0126-HD

Letter by email

Dear [redacted],

I write in response to an email received by my office on Wednesday 11 February 2026 in which you asked:

“…please disclose the following. Total departmental spend with the following companies:

  • Palantir Technologies
  • Anduril
  • X / Twitter
  • Xai
  • Oracle
  • SpaceX
  • Tesla
  • Neuralink

I’d like this information to cover the longest timeframe possible, ideally for ten years, but 5 at a minimum.

Ideally, I’d like actual spend and predicted for contracts please, as I’m aware that, for example, the some contracts would not all necessarily be one payment, and also that not all contracts actually appear on Contracts Finder for a number of reasons, so I would be looking at historic spend, plus the rough predicted value of the contracts.

I do not need copies of the contracts, unless they are easily retrievable, or any further information than total departmental spend, dated over time year on year, as I believe this will be easier to achieve within the cost limit. The spend would include contracts, extensions, payments over initial values of contracts etc.

In terms of things like Twitter / X, this could include things like paid staff verified badges on the platform, for example.”

Your request has been handled as a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

I am a regulator independent of, but appointed by, government. My office is an arm’s length body of the Home Office, formally established in 2022 after the Biometrics Commissioner’s Office and the Surveillance Camera Commissioner’s Office were merged. Therefore, financial information can only be retrieved from 2022 onwards. In response to your request, no payments or contracts have been identified with any of the companies listed.

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-0126-HD. If you ask for an internal review, it would be helpful if you could say why you are dissatisfied with the response.

[redacted]
5th Floor, 2 Ruskin Square
Broad Green
Croydon
CR0 2WF

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

Professor William Webster
Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner

Email: enquiries@obscc.org.uk

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