While both roles involve oversight of lawful data processing, including the retention and sharing of some highly sensitive personal data, both of their discrete functions go far beyond data protection, he said. In his official response to the consultation, Sampson said that to even propose the absorption of these functions by the ICO “is to misunderstand the realities of those functions”. Sampson has also criticised the lack of transparency around the consultation, claiming he was never made aware of it through official channels, and that it was only brought to his attention in private conversations. The idea to further amalgamate the roles under the purview of the ICO is contained in a consultation opened by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) into the direction of data protection governance in Britain, which was launched in September 2021. Sampson was appointed to the dual position in March 2021, after the Home Office announced in July 2020 that it would be amalgamating the roles to make the discrete statutory functions of each office the responsibility of a single individual.
As biometrics commissioner, Sampson is responsible for oversight of how police collect, retain and use a range of biometric material (including digital facial images), while as surveillance camera commissioner he is tasked with encouraging police compliance with the surveillance camera code of practice.