Data protection officer training scheme launches

Henley Business School is aiming to steal a march on rivals by launching an online executive education programme to train the next generation of data protection officers (DPO) required under the new EU laws.
Estimates vary as to how many companies and public sector organisations will have to recruit a DPO, with the wording of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) still open to debate.
According to recruitment firm GO DPO, which specialises in the area, around 33,000 companies will require a DPO. Meanwhile, a study by the International Association of Privacy Professionals predicted it would be 28,000 across the EU.
But whatever the figure, Professor John Board, Dean of Henley Business School, maintains they will be a new breed of senior manager.
He added: “Whether in-house or independent, they will be responsible to the board for ensuring compliance with the GDPR as well as implementing changes that reach into the deep tissue of an organisation where personal data is vital for creating growth and sustaining profitability.”
Henley’s DPO Programme has been developed by a team of subject experts in legal, risk management, communication, HR and technology skills that have looked at the new EU Regulation through the lens of protecting business continuity.
It combines immersive online learning with face-to-face interaction at residential introductory and integration workshops that will be facilitated by a Supreme Court judge from Canada.
The DPO Programme includes what a DPO can expect to tackle in the first 100 days in office, risk management, principles of GDPR, substantive differences between the new EU Regulation and Data Protection Act 1998 as well as new data and security obligations and processing and cloud computing and the impact of the GDPR on the Internet of Things.
The business school reckons the course will take up to seven months to complete.