The Directors Roundtable
on Information Governance

24 November 2008
16.00 - 18.00
 

Introduction

EURIM’s Information Governance Group held a Directors’ Roundtable event on November 24th with the objective of identifying whether there was the will on the part of large organisations and their legal advisors and auditors, to take a lead in rebuilding confidence that their information governance is fit for purpose in a world where data loss can destroy competitive advantage.

Business risks being driven overseas by the cost of regulation that is not only irrelevant to good business practice but opens up more vulnerabilities than it addresses.

Legislation mandating or forbidding the retention or disclosure of information that is no longer needed for business purposes is set to get worse at a time when confidence has collapsed in the ability of large organisations, including government and regulators, to keep it secure.

The recent crisis in the banking industry brings into sharp focus some of the critical challenges posed to companies to maintain an appropriate information governance regime:

• It is clear senior management were either unaware or did not recognise the significance of the risk being run within some of the financial products they were distributing.
• The prevailing regulatory regime has been found overly reliant on a tick box methodology which failed to reveal underlying risks.
• As companies cut costs to survive, much personal and other information may be placed at risk from disgruntled employees made redundant and/or companies going into administration.
• Similarly companies struggling to survive may focus less on maintaining appropriate control of information in order to do the bare minimum to comply and meet regulatory standards which may facilitate regulatory arbitrage.

Such pressures suggest the increasingly vital importance of establishing information governance regimes across both public and private sectors which not only command professional and public support but also encourage and reinforce good (including efficient and profitable) business practice.

Demos and The Centre for Policy Studies participated in the event, offering perspectives from centre left and right and stimulating the debate.

Sir James Crosby gave the keynote speech which was followed by four short introductory contributions from Professor Jim Norton (Institute of Directors); Dr Louise Bennett (Chair of The Security Forum Strategic Panel); John Suffolk (Government Chief Information Officer) and Carlos Solari (VP for Security, Strategy and Solutions, Alcatel-Lucent).

Stephen Darvill (Logica, Industry Chair of EURIM’s Information Governance Group) then chaired an off-the-record discussion open to all participants and provided a concluding summary. Philip Dunne MP (Parliamentary Chair of EURIM’s Information Governance Group) spoke of the need to take this work forward under the auspices of EURIM's Information Governance group and and Margaret Moran MP (EURIM Chair) closed the event.

Participants

Dr Louise Bennett; Jeremy Boss (Chief Information Officer, Audit Commission); Nick Coleman (Independent Advisor, Cabinet Office); Sir James Crosby; Andrew Cooke (Director of Intelligence and Homeland Security, Atkins); Bob Darby (Director of Information Services, Barnardo's); Stephen Darvill; Philip Dunne MP; Louise Fluker (Company Secretary and General Counsel, DeLaRue); David Griffiths (Partner, London, Clifford Chance); Dr Gordon Head (Secure Government Manager, EDS); John Higgins (Director General, Intellect); Anne Joseph (Director EU Governmental Affairs, Reed Elsevier); Jill Kirby (Director, Centre for Policy Studies); Ian Manocha (Managing Director, SAS); Jeremy Monroe (Lead Partner National Security and Identity, IBM); Peter Montagnon (Director of Investment Affairs, ABI); Professor Jim Norton; Richard Reeves (Director, Demos); Carlos Solari; Malcolm Stirling (Director for Public Sector, CSC); John Suffolk; Clare Wardle (IP and Commercial Director, Royal Mail).

Amongst the observers who attended were officials from: ABI, BERR, BSI, Cabinet Office, CitiBank, KPMG, Metanoya and Tesco. James Brokenshire MP, The Earl of Erroll, Lord Toby Harris, Lord Renwick, The Rt Hon Alun Michael MP, Margaret Moran MP and Malcolm Harbour MEP were the parliamentarians present.

Sponsors & Supporters

The Directors' Round Table was generously sponsored by:

The Round Table was also supported by:

Contact

For more information please contact Ed Phelps: phelpse@parliament.uk

Advanced Discussion Papers Received

Date Posted	Author	Title
27 Nov 08	ISACA	Board Briefing on IT Governance
27 Nov 08	ISACA	Information Security Governance: Guidance for Boards of Directors and Executives
11 Nov 08	Global Trust Center & Metanoya	A Proposal for Rights and Responsibilities for Citizens in the Digital World
06 Nov 08	Andrew Cooke - Atkins	Would you rather lose your business from too little or too much Information Governance?
04 Nov 08	Metanoya	Time for a fundamental change of thinking and behaviour
04 Nov 08	Bob Darby & Pat Ellison - Barnardo's	Information Governance – Barnardo’s Perspective
04 Nov 08	Kalypton Limited	Briefing Note: Effective supervision before more regulation
03 Nov 08	Kalypton Limited	Briefing Note: Record retention and information governance
03 Nov 08	Andrew Hardie	Sharing is dead! Long live sharing!  What can we learn from the post-9/11 US Intelligence Community experience?
03 Nov 08	David Fatscher - BSI	The Importance of Standards
03 Nov 08	Adrian Norman	Goldfish come round again
31 Oct 08	SAS	Information Governance White Paper
30 Oct 08	John Bullard - IdenTrust	Regulated Financial Institutions- In the Eye of the Storm: The role of banks in Information Governance Information Security Supplement: The Financial -iGuide to Information Security
30 Oct 08	IAAC	IAAC Paper on Information Governance
24 Oct 08	Colin Beveridge	Measures for preserving stakeholder confidence
21 Oct 08	Louise Bennett - BCS	Information Governance - Responsibilities for personal data holdings
20 Oct 08	Leonard Anderson - SOCITM	Information Governance for Sharing Personal Data
14 Oct 08	Tim Boswell MP & others	Motion for a Resolution to the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly: Identity Documents & Databases
14 Oct 08	Paul Wilson -  De La Rue	The Information Agenda
14 Oct 08	Carlos Solari - Alcatel Lucent	The Will to Regain the Confidence - Trust of Our Customers & Citizens
14 Oct 08	CSC	Secure Data - A Government Challenge
08 Oct 08	Andrew Hardie	Information Governance – Just Say No