Wolverhampton City Council has provided data protection training to all staff following censure from the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The ICO announced yesterday that the council has met requirements it outlined in an enforcement notice it served in May. https://www.publictechnology.net/articles/news/ico-slams-wolverhampton-over-data-security.

The notice was served following a series of breaches of data security and lack of compliance with recommended action by the ICO.
Information Commissioner Christopher Graham, said: “We are pleased that Wolverhampton City Council have now provided adequate data protection training to all of their staff.

“It is important that the council maintains these practices going forward to make sure residents’ information is handled correctly and kept secure.”

The council had faced the prospect of contempt of court proceedings if it had not complied with the May notice.

The notice was issued following a number of failures on behalf of the council to ensure proper data protection.

In December 2011, the ICO completed an audit of the council recommending the council introduced a data protection policy and mandatory staff training.

The following month, a social worker, who had not received data protection training, sent a report to a former service user detailing their time in care.

The worker failed to remove “highly sensitive” information about the recipient’s sister that should not have been included, the ICO said.

A policy was introduced in May 2013 with mandatory training for all staff scheduled to be completed by the end of February this year.

However, the ICO said that the council has failed to meet this deadline with two thirds of the council’s staff (68%) still having not undertaken the training.