Information Commissioner's Office to focus on health and criminal justice

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has identified health and criminal justice as areas on which it intends to focus its data protection work. According to the ICO's information rights strategy , the watchdog is not able to address all the risks to information rights equally, but has to make choices while fulfilling its legal obligations. It has particular concerns about data protection in the NHS and the criminal justice sector. A spokeswoman for the ICO told GGC: "We are focusing on health because we have seen a lot of data breaches in that sector. This is one of the areas that is causing us most concern. "Criminal justice is [causing us concern] because of all the changes in that sector that might have privacy implications, such as crime mapping and opening up data sets." The other areas which the ICO will focus on are credit and finance, internet and mobile services, and security. Action plans for each area are promised in the strategy document. The spokeswoman said these are still being developed and there is no set timescale. The strategy emphasises the importance of the ICO's independence and says this is essential if it is to be an effective regulator and to build trust in its decisions. Christopher Graham, the information commissioner, said: "Our strategy reflects the increasingly integrated nature of the work of the ICO, responsible as we are for both the Freedom of Information Act and the Data Protection Act. "For the first time we describe the information rights outcomes we are seeking and explain our approach to securing compliance." The ICO has repeatedly said that it wants to take a firmer stance on data protection and has asked the government for more powers, which would allow it to issue custodial sentences for breaches of the Data Protection Act. This article is published by Guardian Professional. For updates on public sector IT, join the Government Computing Network here.