Management shakeup at the ICO

David Smith is responsible for data protection policy and has long approached problems in a sensible and pragmatic way. He will be missed.

However, in light of their upcoming departures the Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham, has opted for a change of approach.

Explaining the change, he said: “From next month, I will be assisted by a Senior Management Team of 12 colleagues. This replaces the smaller Executive Team, currently two Deputy Commissioners and a Deputy Chief Executive, with which I have been working over the past six years. The change marks a move towards a more collective model of leadership at the ICO which is now a significantly bigger and more complex operation than the one I joined in 2009.”

The ICO’s Triennial Review is ongoing but during that process Lord Justice Leveson recommended making use of greater shared decision making at the top of the ICO. This means that the different departments will be joined up at a senior level, leading to a more coordinated and joined up approach to running the organisation. It is with this in mind that Christopher Graham took the decision to devolve power to a larger senior management team. Simon Entwisle, currently deputy chief executive officer, has been promoted to, deputy commissioner and deputy CEO from 1 November 2015.

This reorganisation will not be the last, as the Data Protection Regulation will bring with it a whole host of new obligations for the ICO. However, the ICO can’t act now as the final content of the regulation is not yet known.

Looking to next year, in June 2016 Christopher Graham will leave his post as Information Commissioner. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) who sponsor the ICO will soon begin looking for a replacement. Whoever gets the role will have to be ready to hit the ground running and get the ICO geared up for implementing the Data Protection Regulation.