Blog posts

New guidance on good industry practice for directors issued by the Institute of Directors obliges directors and boards to identify and mitigate information and cyber security risks, and to prioritise business resilience, bringing a renewed focus to cyber resilience and supply chain security.    

Handley Gill’s specialist ESG consultants consider the implications for company directors of the Institute of Directors’ recommendations for corporate governance best practice as set out in its voluntary Code of Conduct for Directors, and identify practical measures executive and non-executive directors can take to meet good industry practice in complying with the responsible business principle. Download our free primer on directors’ statutory duties under the Companies Act 2006 and best practice principles of the Institute of Directors’ Code of Conduct for Directors.

The new Labour government has today (23 October 2024) introduced the Data (Use and Access) Bill in the House of Lords, in the latest attempt to reform the UK’s data protection laws as set out in the UK GDPR, Data Protection Act 2018, Data Protection Act 1998 and Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations.

While the sale of marketing lists is generally prohibited, as retail insolvencies increase Handley Gill’s specialist data protection consultants analyse the Information Commissioner’s laissez-faire approach to the purchase and use of the CRM databases of companies in administration and consider the opportunity this offers to administrators and potential purchasers of distressed businesses by reference to the recent case studies of Tesco’s purchase of Paperchase’s assets and the sale of The Body Shop’s assets.  

Unlike the Chemical Brothers, Prime Minister Keir Starmer called on regulators to hold back in order to galvanise economic growth in his speech to the International Investment Summit on 14 October 2024. We consider the implications for UK regulation of artificial intelligence (AI), digital markets and data protection by the ICO, CMA and Regulatory Innovation Office, and forthcoming legislation.

With employers having a matter of weeks to implement reasonable measures to prevent sexual harassment at work to comply with the requirements of the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023, Handley Gill's consultants identify the steps employers should take to establish a sexual harassment prevention programme and associated data protection compliance measures. As Labour's Employment Rights Bill would expand the scope of the employer's duty to take all reasonable measures and to address threats posed by third parties, employers should consider voluntarily expanding the scope of their programme now.

If you couldn’t make it to the Information Commissioner's Office's (ICO's) Data Protection Practitioners' Conference 2024 (DPPC24), missed a session, were double-booked, couldn’t choose or want to delve deeper into the issues raised by any of the following sessions, Handley Gill's specialist data protection consultants highlight our related content.

Handley Gill's specialist data protection consultants consider the status of CJEU judgments in UK law after the Labour government intervened to prevent section 6 Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 from coming into force and amending the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, and consider several CJEU judgments addressing the processing of special category personal data, the interaction between data protection and competition law, the conduct and balancing of legitimate interests assessments, data minimisation and the status of supervisory authority decisions.

This Cyber Security Awareness Month, Handley Gill’s specialist consultants identify steps you can take to improve your organisation’s cyber resilience and highlight relevant content and free resources to support you to make Cyber Month 2024 your most secure yet.

As Meta announces the introduction of Instagram Teen Accounts for users in the UK, USA, Canada and Australia, Handley Gill’s specialist data protection and online trust and safety consultants consider the global laws and regulations that have spurred this change, and the role of the Information Commissioner’s Children’s Code aka the Age Appropriate Design Code, the UK Online Safety Act 2023, the US’ Kids Online Safety Act (‘KOSA’) and the Children and Teen’s Online Privacy Protection Act (‘COPPA 2.0’).

The UK government has today (05 September 2024) joined the US, EU and other countries in signing the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law. Handley Gill’s specialist artificial intelligence (AI) consultants consider the implications of this statement of intent for the UK’s current and proposed legislation as announced in the King’s Speech 2024, and what new laws and amendments will be necessary to enable the UK to meet the AI Treaty’s obligations.

As Iceland boss Richard Walker decried data protection and human rights laws for allegedly preventing him and his staff from sharing information with other retailers in order tackle the scourge of shoplifting, Handley Gill’s specialist data protection consultants consider how these and other laws apply to retailers and shopping centre operators and identify the steps retailers can take to lawfully share personal data for the purposes of preventing or detecting crime.

August 2024 edition of Handley Gill’s monthly digital newsletter, On Hand, with all the latest developments in data protection (UK, EU and global), cyber security, AI and machine learning, content regulation, online safety, open justice, access to information, reputation management, digital markets regulation, human rights & ESG. Presented in a readily digestible digital format, those who prefer the traditional newsletter format can export the newsletter to pdf.

With the summer holiday season in full swing, Handley Gill Limited’s specialist data protection and cyber resilience consultants consider the data protection and information security risks of staff taking data and devices used for business purposes overseas and the practical measures that organisations can take to safeguard data subject to border control powers.

Handley Gill Limited calls on the Institute of Directors to amend its proposed voluntary Code of Conduct for Directors of UK companies to reflect risk management as a core tenet of responsible business and to promote business resilience across supply chains, to help UK plc win the war on cyber crime and safeguard the UK’s people, property and prosperity.

July 2024 edition of Handley Gill’s monthly digital newsletter, On Hand, with all the latest developments in data protection (UK, EU and global), cyber security, AI and machine learning, content regulation, online safety, open justice, access to information, reputation management and free speech, digital markets regulation, human rights & ESG. Presented in a readily digestible digital format, those who prefer the traditional newsletter format can export the newsletter to pdf.

Handley Gill’s consultants consider the implications of the Labour Party’s immediate legislative priorities as set out in the King’s Speech 2024 for data protection, privacy, reputation management, freedom of expression, online safety, cyber security, digital markets regulation, artificial intelligence (AI), content regulation, human rights and ESG, and identify the manifesto commitments that will be delayed.

Handley Gill’s specialist consultants consider what a Labour Party AI Bill, announced in the King’s Speech on 17 July 2024, will regulate, considering its manifesto commitments and the TUC’s proposed Artificial Intelligence (Employment and Regulation) Bill, and contrasting with Lord Holmes’ Artificial Intelligence (Regulation) Bill which fell at the dissolution of the last Parliament and the EU’s AI Act.

Handley Gill Limited’s specialist data protection and ESG consultants consider the results of the Information Commissioner’s Office’s Cyber Security Incident Trends Report for Q1 2024 and the implications for Sir Keir Starmer’s new Labour government, calling for a greater understanding of and focus on cyber and information risk management by directors and trustees.

As the UK’s 58th Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, enters 10 Downing Street following the Labour Party’s landslide victory in the 2024 General Election, Handley Gill’s consultants consider what we can expect for cyber security, data protection, online safety, artificial intelligence (AI), digital markets, content regulation, reputation management, open justice, access to information, human rights and ESG.

Handley Gill Limited’s specialist consultants unpack the recent High Court decision in Harrison v (1) Cameron & (2) Alasdair Cameron Limited [2024] EWHC 1377 (KB), in which the High Court determined that data controllers responding to data subject access requests (DSARs) are obliged to disclose the specific identities of recipients of personal data, and are not permitted to merely disclose categories of recipient unless exceptions or exemptions apply.

Following the announcement of the snap General Election to take place on 04 July 2024, and the launch of the major parties’ manifesto pledges during London Tech Week 2024, Handley Gill analyses the manifesto pledges of the major UK-wide political parties and their implications for cyber security, data protection, online safety, artificial intelligence (AI), digital markets, content regulation, reputation management, open justice, access to information, human rights and ESG.

To coincide with London Tech Week 2024, one of the key themes of which is ‘The Future of Security and Data’, and following the revelation in the DSIT Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2024 that few organisations are conducting supply chain risk assessments, Handley Gill’s specialist consultants have published their Helping Hand checklist on conducting data processor / supply chain information security risk assessments which is informed by NCSC guidance.

As the Information Commissioner’s Office conducts the fourth part of its consultation on generative AI and data protection focusing on data subject rights, ‘engineering individual rights into generative AI models’, Handley Gill’s specialist data protection and artificial intelligence (AI) consultants comment on the issues arising and share their consultation response, as well as highlighting areas not currently addressed in the draft guidance.

Following the announcement on 22 May 2024 of the snap General Election to take place on 04 July 2024, Parliament has been prorogued with effect from 24 May 2024 (meaning Parliamentary business is suspended thereafter) and will be dissolved with effect from 30 May 2024. The brief period between the announcement of the election and prorogation is known as wash up, when political parties must negotiate to pass outstanding Bills, or parts of them, or Bills fall. Prorogation also bring an end to the work of the various Parliamentary Committees. Handley Gill’s consultants consider which Bills have been washed up and which have fallen in the context of cyber security, data protection, online safety, artificial intelligence (AI), digital markets, content regulation, reputation management, open justice, access to information, human rights and ESG, as well as the work of Parliamentary Committees which were either rushed out or dropped.

The May 2024 edition of Handley Gill’s monthly digital newsletter, On Hand, with all the latest developments in data protection (UK, EU and global), cyber security, AI and machine learning, content regulation, open justice, access to information, reputation management, digital markets regulation, human rights & ESG. Presented in a readily digestible digital format, those who prefer the traditional newsletter format can export the newsletter to pdf.

The Information Commissioner’s fourth call for evidence in its Generative AI consultation series on ‘engineering individual rights into generative AI models’ suggests that generative AI model developers should regenerate their privacy policies to ensure that they provide individuals with sufficient information to ascertain whether they have been affected by the web scraping of their personal data.

The snap General Election announced by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for 04 July 2024, and the consequent curtailment of the Parliamentary session, will mean that there will be insufficient time for the remaining Parliamentary stages of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, including the House of Lords Report stage which was due to commence from 10 June, to be undertaken prior to the prorogation and dissolution of Parliament.

Has a cyber incident got you in an awful mess and you don’t mean maybe? What if a data breach leaves you in trouble deep? From the hacker they warned you all about? You need some good advice… and an incident response plan!

As police forces are encouraged by the government to expand their use of live facial recognition technologies, with the Prime Minister announcing additional funding, Handley Gill Limited’s specialist consultants consider the legal issues that arise and the actions that Chief Constables and forces must take prior to deploying or even procuring LFR for law enforcement purposes.