June 6, 2017

The ICO has launched a new Information Rights Strategic Plan covering the period 2017 to 2012. The four-year plan sets out the ICO’s mission, vision and strategic goals. The ICO says it is for those organisations, groups and individuals who need to know how the regulator is planning to meet its obligations to the UK public. It is also for those who want to work with the ICO to achieve its goals.

The Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, said in a blog post that the plan is about how the regulator makes the work it does “make a difference to the trust people have in what happens to their personal data.” Trust in data flows is “fundamental to people engaging in the digital economy, she said, and trust in both privacy and freedom of information regulation is “fundamental to democracy.” “Open government, freedom of information and data innovation are all dependent on a transparent approach to information management.”

This plan sets out the Commissioner’s mission to increase the confidence that the public has in government, public bodies and the private sector. It commits the ICO to leading implementation and effective oversight of the General Data Protection Regulation and other data protection reforms.

It also commits the regulator to exploring innovative and technologically agile ways of protecting privacy and to strengthening transparency and accountability and promoting good information governance. It also commits the ICO to protecting the public in a digital world.

It is designed to be a practical document and a guide to how the ICO will evolve to make sure that it is staying relevant, and making a difference to the trust people have in what happens to their personal data. To read Ms Denham’s blog piece in full and for a link to the plan, click here.