As we come to the end of another year, the Act Now team would like to thank all our delegates for their continued support and our associates for their hard work. It has been a challenging year but we have all taken the opportunity to learn and grow.
Much happened in 2021 in the privacy arena. We had the first GDPR fine Issued to a charity as well as the Cabinet Office finally being fined for the 2020 New Year’s Honours List data breach. In September, the Government launched a consultation entitled “Data: A new direction” intended “to create an ambitious, pro-growth and innovation-friendly data protection regime that underpins the trustworthy use of data.” Cynics will say that it is an attempt to water down the UK GDPR just a few months after the UK received adequacy status from the European Union. Time will tell! We predict that 2022 is going to be the year of AI and Data Ethics. We are planning some workshops to help you navigate through the thorny issues.
It wasn’t all about GDPR. At the end of the year, it seemed like the Government was ready to launch another attack on freedom of information. At present they are distracted by other troubles (unauthorised Christmas parties) but it will be interesting to see if the threat of FOI reform rears its head in 2022.
In 2021 Act Now has been at the forefront of helping the IG/DP community stay abreast of developments and rise to the challenges of working from home and continuing to learn. We have delivered over 250 online workshops and launched some great new courses and products including our Advanced Certificate in GDPR Practice.
We intended to run 3 of these certificate courses in 2021. Such was the demand that we ran a total of 8, all of which were fully booked. With some great reviews, we will continue to improve this course. Watch this space for some exciting and challenging new courses in 2022. Alongside our usual training programme, we ran a number of free webinars on a range of topics including cyber security, risk management and the CCPA.
Act Now has also continued to raise the media profile of Information Governance in 2021. Ibrahim Hasan was interviewed twice by the BBC on a variety of topics including footballers’ data, data breaches and vaccine passports. He was also on RT News talking about FOI.
Data Protection is going global. With laws being passed in the Middle East, Africa and North America, we are now looking to spread the information privacy message further afield by promoting our US CCPA and Dubaiprivacy programmes. We have exciting announcements planned in 2022.
2021 ended with some great news. Act Now Training won the Information and Records Management Society (IRMS) Supplier of the year award at the IRMS conference in Birmingham. We were also delighted to welcome solicitor and information law expert, Kate Grimley Evans, to our team of associates. Kate is a Fee Paid Member of the Upper Tribunal.
These are exciting times for information governance professionals. Act Now is committed to raising awareness and the importance of Information Rights. We want to continue to support IG professionals with their professional development by developing training that helps them to navigate this often complex but interesting area.
The Act Now office will be closed for the holiday season from Thursday the 23rd December. We will be back in the office from the 5th January 2021.
Wishing you all a safe and enjoyable Christmas and a successful new year.
