tfpl blog

Where is data protection going?

This week, TFPL hosted the latest CiG seminar Data Protection - is it really possible or just a pipe-dream?  There were presentations from Jonathan Holbrook, the Head of Data Protection Practice Private Sector at the Information Commissioner's Office and Sunny Bath, the Data Protection Officer at Euromoney Institutional Investor (EII).   Martin Sanderson, from our Records Management Team, attended and reports below:

"When attending a Data Protection meeting in Europe in 2007 I was surprised to hear that the UK was reported as the weakest European member in implementing DP with Spain the strongest.  Perhaps Jonathan provided the answer to this position in explaining the lack of ICO’s enforcement powers or indeed the lack of interest by the press (for their own reasons) to push this as a key public issue.

However I was encouraged on hearing how seriously EII has taken Data Protection, and the level of effort and investment they have put into this over the years.  Their starting point was to carry out a thorough audit of the personal information they were holding across the organisation.  I wonder how many other organisations have even taken this first step in bringing their management of personal information under control. Recent events in the UK suggest there is a long way to go but until we witness a stronger enforcement regime in the UK I cannot see this happening".

See more about this event on Fenton Research blog 'But why do you need to know?'

TFPL Recruitment is on the market

Message from the Chairman

“The new trading year has started positively both in terms of orders and revenues.

There are further opportunities in all three divisions at IDOX; Software, Information Solutions and Recruitment  for growth and improvement in trading performance. The markets for all three divisions will show long term growth. The improvements made in all three divisions is expected to show through during the new trading year.

In 2007 management will concentrate further on strengthening operations, product delivery and profitability while looking for opportunities in the software and related government market place allowing for both organic growth and acquisition.

The Recruitment division and related assets, while excellent in their respective markets and capable of further organic growth, will be better supported within another organisation which has these activities as its primary focus. We have therefore instructed our advisors to pursue strategic options in order to optimise the value of these assets to our shareholders.

We have recognised the need for a clearly focused strategy emphasising and building upon our local authority relationships. Consistent with this we are actively pursuing consolidation opportunities in this core business activity.”

Changing age

I would like to remind everyone that our age discrimination laws came into play as of October the 1st 2006. For more information and the entire coverage please visit the Age Positive website. In terms of how this may affect you if you are a jobseeker, it means that skills, relevant experience and ability is what is important, so ideally take off  your date of birth from your CV and make sure it is skills based, testifying to what you have achieved in a role rather than how long you have been doing it.

World Wide Weblog Dominance

Just in case you were in any doubt about the future of blogging, Jupiter research has found that nearly 70% of all site operators will have implemented corporate blogs by the end of 2006.

Blog tracker Technorati says a new blog is created every second with the total number doubling on average every six months. For any doubters out there, weblogs are the fastest-growing medium in the history of communication!  So get on the bandwagon or move out of the way, either way it is going to affect your business!

Just remember, once you're over the hill you begin to pick up speed! (C.M.Schultz)

On Monday we had some training on The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006. It appears that in the UK we have been playing catch-up with most of Europe, many of whom already have laws and guidelines in place and have done so for some time. However we are finally getting there with our own laws coming into play later in the year.

Age discrimination is an important and complex issue, the stereotypical attitude that has for a long time been completely unacceptable with regards to race and sex is still regularly applied to age. Let us hope that the act of age discrimination becomes as taboo as other forms of discrimination now are and does not simply become more subtle!

Key facts:

• The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 come into force on 1 October 2006.
• The regulations cover people of all ages, both old and young
• The regulation will ban age discrimination in terms of recruitment, promotion and training, ban unjustified retirement ages of below 65 and remove the current age limit for unfair dismissal and redundancy rights. 
• They will also introduce a right for employees to request working beyond retirement age and a duty on employers to consider that request and a new requirement for employers to give at least six months notice to employees about their intended retirement date so that individuals can plan better for retirement, and be confident that "retirement" is not being used as cover for unfair dismissal.

For more information go to:

• Age Positive (Part of the Department for Work and Pensions)
• The Employers Forum on Age
• ACAS

Enron rolls on

Enron has been in the news over the last few weeks as the trial draws to a (temporary?) close.  A comment on the case in this week's IT Week  quoted the words of New York state attorney general Eliot Spitzer who said: “Never write when you can talk. Never talk when you can nod. And never put anything in an email.”

Sage advice, perhaps, if you want to avoid litigation but it does run counter to our growing desire for corporations and governments to be transparent and accountable.