Businesses need to put privacy and data protection back on the agenda as a priority 

2 years ago

For immediate release  

The latest Data Protection Index results, out today, reveal that Data Protection Officers’ (DPOs) confidence in their organisation’s data protection compliance has fallen again for the third quarter in a row.  Those scoring 10 or “extremely confident” decreased from 5 per cent in Q4 2021 to just one per cent this quarter.

Respondents were asked whether their organisations were giving greater precedence to data protection compared with other organisational priorities. Only 35 per cent of data protection officers gave this a rating of 8 or above (10 being the highest precedence).

DPOs identified data retention as the biggest GDPR compliance challenge for the next 12 months (up 4 percentage points compared with last quarter). The second biggest concern was identified as international data transfers. Breach management and reporting also doubled as a concern since the last quarter, along with Vendor risk management.

Rob Masson, CEO, The DPO Centre, “There are new data protection laws being implemented around the world, including the UK, so the future of what we want data protection to achieve in this country is a moving feast. It is encouraging to see that belief in the UK maintaining its adequate status from the EU continues to grow, with 63 per cent of respondents saying they now think this will remain the case.”

Whilst views on adequacy are becoming firmer, thoughts on the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s recent consultation on data policies are still evolving.

Finally, when asked what was the process that has most consumed DPOs' attention over the last 30 days, the biggest response from nearly one in five DPOs (17%) was Data Protection Impact Assessments. A DPIA is a process designed to help companies systematically analyse, identify and minimise data protection risk. This suggests many organisations are still grappling to understand what their data and privacy risks are.

The full report of the latest UK Data Protection Index survey is available at 

https://www.dpocentre.com/resources/uk-data-protection-index/

Notes to Editors

The DPO Centre is the UK’s leading independent data protection officer resource centre, offering expert advice and ensuring organisations have access to the level of knowledge and expertise they require to comply with the highest standards of privacy and data protection.    
 Follow The DPO Centre on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/dpo-centre/  
 For an interview with CEO, Rob Masson contact Louise Ahuja la@dpocentre.com 
  

Survey details 
This quarter we asked our panel of 497 DPOs about a range of issues.
Data protection officer panel was interviewed in March 2022.  

Attached Media

About The DPO Centre

Founded in 2017 by Rob Masson, The DPO Centre is the UK’s leading independent data protection resource centre, offering expert advice and ensuring organisations have access to the level of knowledge and expertise they require to comply with the highest standards of privacy and data protection.  Follow the DPO Centre on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/dpo-centre/ The DPO Centre’s services include: • Providing outsourced Data Protection Officers on a ‘fractional’ basis (so 1 to 8 days per month) that become integral and trusted members of the client’s team • Interim and overflow resources to support and extend existing compliance teams • EU and UK representation as required by Article 27 of the GDPR • and a full range of privacy and data protection consultancy and training services to companies across all sectors in the UK.