FOI release

Chinese CCTV cameras

Case reference FOI2026/00826

Received 28 July 2026

Published 25 August 2026

Request

I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information. Please can you tell me how many CCTV cameras the council operates and how many of these are produced by Chinese companies. Please can you show this as two figures. Please also provide the total number of the council’s CCTV cameras that use either live or retrospective facial recognition and how many of these are produced by Chinese companies. If it is not possible to provide the information requested due to the information exceeding the cost of compliance limits identified in Section 12, please provide advice and assistance, under the Section 16 obligations of the Act, as to how I can refine my request.

Response

In accordance with section 1(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), Oxford City Council (OCC) confirms that it holds information falling within the scope of your request.

Please can you tell me how many CCTV cameras the council operates and how many of these are produced by Chinese companies. Please can you show this as two figures.

OCC operates 7 deployable CCTV units and 180 Public Space CCTV and housing estate CCTV cameras.

0 cameras are produced by Chinese companies.

Please also provide the total number of the council’s CCTV cameras that use either live or retrospective facial recognition and how many of these are produced by Chinese companies.

0 cameras use live or retrospective facial recognition technology.

Accordingly, 0 cameras produced by Chinese companies use live or retrospective facial recognition technology.

For clarity, the Public Space CCTV system is not operated by OCC and is operated by Thames Valley Police. The figures above nevertheless include the 180 Public Space CCTV and housing estate CCTV cameras

In accordance with section 16 of the FOIA, which relates to the duty to provide reasonable advice and assistance, OCC advises that enquiries relating specifically to the Public Space CCTV system should be directed to Thames Valley Police..

If you disagree with any part of the response to your request, you are entitled to ask the Council for an internal review of the decision(s) made. You may do this by writing to the Monitoring Officer, by either email monitoringofficer@oxford.gov.uk – or by post to Monitoring Officer, Oxford City Council, Town Hall, St Aldate’s, Oxford, OX1 1BX. After the result of the internal review, if you remain dissatisfied, you may ask the Information Commissioner to intervene on your behalf. You may do this by writing to the Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely,

Freedom of Information Officer

Documents

There are no documents for this release.

This is Oxford City Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.

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