International Data Protection Day is celebrated on 28 January each year.
For 2023, Serco has designated the week commencing 23rd January as ‘International Data Protection Week’. On each day, Serco’s Data Protection Office and Data Protection Champions have been sharing tips and resources to promote best practice in data protection and raise awareness of its importance to our business, data subjects, colleagues, business partners and customers.
As an international provider of services to Governments, Serco handles personal data on behalf of customers, staff members, citizens and suppliers – this is a duty we take very seriously. As such, we have in place a robust data protection framework of protocols, standards and processes, which ensure we operate in an ethical, responsible fashion and in compliance with data protection requirements on a risk-based and proportionate approach.
Serco’s dedicated Data Protection Office and network is a crucial part of ensuring compliance across the business: tasked with educating our staff and raising awareness of privacy and information security. The Data Protection Office also investigates data breaches and provides guidance to employees on how to safely handle personal data. Serco also boasts over 240 Data Protection Champions (DPCs), who assist the business with its compliance with data protection laws at the contract and function levels.
In 2022, Serco marked Data Protection Day with the theme Accountability, Responsibility and Ownership, highlighting the responsibility of the individual, Serco and business partners in properly managing personal data by acting in accordance with data protection requirements.
Key outcomes in 2022, we:
- strengthened data protection training for all employees;
- joined the International Association of Privacy Professionals;
- consolidated our global data protection reporting procedures;
- improved engagement of our data protection champions and privacy network; and more.
The 2023 theme is Back to Basics, seeking to simplify what can be a complex topic to navigate and to ensure our employees and leaders understand the data protection principles.
Throughout 'International Data Protection Week', Serco’s Data Protection team have shared a variety of engaging resources and other materials to encourage safe data protection practices in key parts of the business. We know our workforce is central to our data protection strategy, and we’ll continue to strengthen our operating culture and training for our staff in accordance with our obligations to our customers, business partners, employees and service users.
