Civil servants handling personal information will have to undergo annual training as part of a range of measures to prevent a repeat of data loss scandal that hit HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) last year. Cabinet secretary Gus O'Donnell publis  More...
26 June 2008 09:24

One-third of workers have sneaked a preview of sensitive company information on laptops or confidential work documents while travelling on trains, a survey has revealed. A survey by flexible working provider Regus out this week also found that more t  More...
20 June 2008 10:00

HR news and analysis including: Imelda Walsh talks exclusively to Personnel Today on the flexible working review to extend the right to request flexbile working to parents of children aged 16 and under HR directors from Topps Tiles and   More...
16 May 2008 16:58

Lancaster University reprimanded its head of economics professor Geraint Johnes for breaching data protection rules by telling a concerned mother about her son's performance. According to a report in the Times Higher Education Supplement , the s  More...
16 May 2008 10:57

A country-wide database of 'workplace offenders' will be launched later this month to combat the annual loss of half-a-billion pounds through staff theft and fraud. The National Staff Dismissal Register will allow employers to share and access detai  More...
08 May 2008 14:58

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has suspended its main board after an external review highlighted leadership failings in the wake of its loss of two CDs containing the child benefit data on 25 million people. An interim panel of advisers from the  More...
16 April 2008 12:05

The recent media spotlight on the expenses claims of MPs should be a reminder to employers to keep an eye on the expenses claims of their own staff. In fact, recent surveys suggest that 5% to 20% of all expenses claims are either inflated or simply fic  More...
17 March 2008 16:00

Plans to publish employment tribunal judgments on the internet have been delayed, according to the government. Tribunals minister Bridget Prentice said the Employment Tribunals Service had decided to shelve plans to make decisions available online  More...
14 March 2008 08:29

With all the hype today regarding data protection, I feel I have to write about what happened to me. A pensioned off member of staff of a well known bank has given a witness statement on behalf of the applicant in a tribunal hearing.  T  More...
20 February 2008 15:08

HR directors have dismissed the use of technology to monitor workers' stress levels as "bonkers". Technology giant Microsoft announced last month that it had applied for a patent to use wireless infra-red sensors to monitor changes in workers' hea  More...
15 February 2008 08:36

Given the recent press speculation about the 'Spyware' software favoured by Microsoft in the US , what are the implications of 'Big Brother' technology in the workplace? And how far can HR practitioners go when it comes to monitoring employees?   More...
28 January 2008 16:24

Laptops containing sensitive information may no longer be reomoved from any public sector offices. Sir Gus O'Donnell, cabinet secretary, e-mailed civil servants to declare the ban. The move follows the theft of a laptop last week from the car of   More...
22 January 2008 11:30

For procedures that are supposed to be concerned with confidentiality and privacy, how organisations manage the security of their large databases has been the subject of an uncomfortably high number of headlines over the past few months . By far the   More...
14 January 2008 12:19

Employers that flout data protection laws face the prospect of raids and hefty fines in the wake of the child benefit fiasco. Information commissioner Richard Thomas is pushing for the government to increase his office's ability to enforce the Da  More...
26 November 2007 08:00

Human resources news and analysis including: the winners of the Personnel Today Awards 2007 why the FA should use psychometric testing, and following the HM Revenue & Customs' "datagate", what possible new powers for the informati  More...
23 November 2007 16:36

The main Civil Service union has said the loss of millions of child benefit records by officials at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is due to lack of resources and job cuts. Yesterday (20 November) chancellor Alistair Darling revealed that two comput  More...
21 November 2007 09:52

The government agency charged with handing out work visas has been forced to produce a four-point plan to improve security after a damming report by the Information Commissioner. UK Visas signed the undertaking with the Information Commissioner's Off  More...
15 November 2007 08:08

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has issued revised guidance on the meaning of 'personal data' . This directly affects the information employees can legitimately request about themselves in a subject access request. In recent years,  More...
24 September 2007 13:04

More than 34,000 Pfizer employees in the UK are at risk of identity theft after a security breach exposed their personal data. The pharmaceutical giant said that a former employee downloaded confidential information from a Pfizer computer system wit  More...
11 September 2007 11:37

A total ban on employees accessing Facebook, MySpace or Bebo at work is an "over-reaction", the TUC has warned. Instead, employers should trust staff to spend a few minutes of their lunchbreak 'poking' their friends or making plans for activities out  More...
30 August 2007 12:37

PennWell Publishing (UK) Limited v Isles Who owns a contacts list maintained by an employee in Outlook on the employer's computer system? In PennWell Publishing (UK) Limited v Isles , the High Court decided that the list belonged to the employer  More...
17 July 2007 00:00

A call by the information commissioner for greater powers to check on how companies protect personnel data has been met with a mixed response from business groups. Richard Thomas wants a new right to inspect and audit a company's systems without pri  More...
16 July 2007 00:00

Almost half of UK employees would take information and data with them to their next job, new research has found. A survey conducted by internet security firm Check Point Software Technologies , questioning 200 senior IT professionals,   More...
12 June 2007 11:59

A recruitment firm for nannies and nursery staff has been forced by the Information Commissioner's Office  to disclose confidential reference information on a job applicant. However, child carers will not have an automatic right to ga  More...
09 May 2007 08:00

The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB)   has come under renewed attack after it emerged that teachers and carers were working with children and vulnerable adults before checks on them had been completed. John Dunn, chairman of the Recruitment and Em  More...
24 April 2007 08:04

Bailiffs and other enforcement agents will be regulated more strictly under new laws announced this week. The Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill creates a national framework to regulate all enforcement agents, including bailiffs, who are   More...
23 February 2007 08:06

Parliamentary standards commissioner Sir Phillip Mawer has been urged to investigate “huge discrepancies” in the travel expenses of MPs.   Under the Freedom of Information Act, MPs are required to reveal details of their car, taxi, air and rail travel  More...
16 February 2007 08:10

A row between the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and a recruitment agency about confidential job references could have serious implications for businesses that employ people working with children. The Information Commissioner's Office has   More...
29 January 2007 13:11

The Information  Commissioner has backed the use of file markers to highlight the danger posed by certain individuals to employees. Advice has been published to help those working with the public to manage the use of violent warning m  More...
24 January 2007 11:00

The government risked being sued by members of the public after a sacked Jobcentre worker was given confidential details of benefit claimants. Colin Blair was given notebooks containing personal information including National Insurance numbers when   More...
28 November 2006 09:03

Laptop computers containing the payroll details of half of the Metropolitan Police staff have been stolen. Scotland Yard has confirmed the computers were taken in a raid last on the offices of Logica CMG in Southwark, south-east London  More...
22 November 2006 16:12

Almost a quarter of employees in Britain feel their employers do not care about their privacy, with 10% of employees admitting to distrusting the people who have access to their personal data, research has revealed. The survey, commissioned by data m  More...
15 September 2006 10:00

Imprisonment and unlimited fines added to arsenal of weapons available in data protection cases.  More...
28 July 2006 08:03

Sue Nickson, international head of employment at Hammonds, offers advice on how to draft a data protection policy  More...
22 June 2006 00:00

The UK's data protection watchdog is to step up enforcement action on companies that flout the Data Protection Act.  More...
06 February 2006 09:30

The UK’s Information Commissioner has allowed the transfer of personal data outside the EU, authorising General Electric to pass employee information within the group to its offices overseas under “binding corporate rules”  More...
06 January 2006 12:45

The Information Commissioner’s Office has produced a guide to help employers understand how the Data Protection Act applies to employee references  More...
06 January 2006 09:28

Employers have been urged to guard against corporate data theft as companies wind down their operations over the Christmas holidays.  More...
14 December 2005 08:02

Catherine Taylor, partner, Olswang, answers this week's legal dilemma on subject access requests  More...
13 December 2005 00:00

More than half of UK companies surveyed have been victims of economic crime in the last two years, according to new research  More...
29 November 2005 11:00

Renfrewshire Council is the latest employer to hit the headlines over computer misuse, with the dismissal of nine employees for inappropriate e-mail use   More...
22 November 2005 07:05

Nikki Duncan, partner at Bond Pearce Solicitors, outlines the legislation relating to monitoring employees  More...
21 September 2005 11:00

Ross Wigham reports on the latest legislation to divide the HR profession  More...
05 July 2005 11:29

A blob of ketchup followed by an exchange of e-mails has provided a host of problems for one City law firm. James Elwes looks at what the law says about employers clamping down on e-mail abuse.  More...
28 June 2005 00:00

Data Protection for the HR Manager Author: Mandy Webster Publisher: Gower Publishing Pages: 160 Price: £49.95 ISBN: 0566085968 Reviewed by: Linda Hollingworth Buy this book from Amazon This useful book offers explanations of the principle  More...
28 June 2005 00:00

HR professionals are still confused about their obligations under the Data Protection Act (DPA), according to the assistant information commissioner. Speaking to Personnel Today ahead of last week’s launch of a good practice guide on employment issues  More...
21 June 2005 00:00

Gaela Bailey and Jonathan Fitzgibbons outline the key steps to understanding privacy laws and protecting employee data   More...
24 May 2005 00:00

Are you a data protection know-it-all? Check the answers to our data protection quiz   More...
24 May 2005 00:00

Technology providers can help HR stay on top of data protection legislation. Simon Kent reports   More...
24 May 2005 00:00

How well do you know data protection issues? Think you're fully informed? Try our quiz and find out  More...
24 May 2005 00:00

Personal information for 600,000 current and former Time Warner employees has been lost, the company has said. The media giant said the mishap occurred on 22 March, when data storage company Iron Mountain was transporting its backup tapes to a separa  More...
05 May 2005 08:00

Organised crime gangs are developing sophisticated 'phishing' - fake e-mail - attacks against businesses to try to steal passwords and sensitive information, experts have warned.  More...
22 April 2005 13:00

Social attitudes have changed considerably since the European Court imposed the first employment protection for transsexual people, which came into effect in UK law in 1999. Yet many 'trans' people continue to experience problems in their places of work, writes Stephen Whittle.  More...
06 April 2005 10:00

UK businesses are facing direct losses of at least £2.4bn a year to computer criminals, according to research from the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit.  More...
05 April 2005 12:19

Corporate data has never been so insecure and the ease with which it can now be removed from your office is frightening. Magnus Ahlberg , managing director at security experts Pointsec, looks at how you can minimise the risk. The rise of the mobile d  More...
29 March 2005 16:15

Sensitive corporate data on laptops and mobile phones is regularly being left in the back of London taxis, according to research.  More...
25 January 2005 11:25

Sarah-Marie Williams, solicitor at Clyde & Co, answers questions about keeping sickness absence records  More...
25 January 2005 00:00

A public sector user group has produced guidance for complying with the Freedom of Information Act.  More...
14 January 2005 12:40

Failing to ensure that temporary staff sign IT policy and procedure statements could cost organisations dear.  More...
10 January 2005 14:35

Beverley Whittaker, commercial lawyer at law firm Stevens & Bolton, explains what the Freedom of Information Act will mean for employers  More...
04 January 2005 08:00

Guidance on obtaining and handling information about workers' health has been published by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). The fourth and final part of the Employment Practices Data Protection Code, Information about Workers Health , is  More...
16 December 2004 10:00

Research into security threats from the CBI and security technology company QinetiQ rated danger to IT infrastructure as the biggest fear of UK managers. Using technology to protect company information is clearly important, but what role does HR have to play? Daniel Thomas investigates  More...
16 November 2004 08:00

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has published a guide to data protection for small businesses, in a bid to make compliance easier and to warn companies of the ongoing scam involving bogus government agencies. The guide, Getting it Right  More...
19 October 2004 09:15

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published a guide to data protection for small businesses in a bid to make compliance easier and to warn companies of an ongoing scam involving bogus government agencies. The guide, Getting it R  More...
15 October 2004 09:18

It pays to know the difference between data protection and the protection of data.  More...
22 June 2004 09:22

Sherlock Holmes and a whole pack of sniffer dogs would be little use in the fight against 'cyber-crime'. But fortunately, computer forensics is beginning to come into its own. DeeDee Doke reports Tim Allen, a businessman from Ashford  More...
11 May 2004 15:33

Company e-mails are increasingly turning up in court as evidence in litigation cases. To help employers protect themselves, HR must ensure that company e-mail policies are watertight.   More...
23 March 2004 14:23