Kendal announces new investigation into ICO culture, Edwards not going quietly

In a wide-ranging session at the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, chaired by Dame Chi Onwurah, Liz Kendall, the Secretary of State for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, announced an independent investigation into the culture, accountability, and governance at the Information Commissioner's Office (watch from 11:03). 

The new investigation comes in the wake of the resignation of former Information Commissioner John Edwards, after an independent HR investigation found there is a case to answer into undisclosed allegations of inappropriate use of sexual language, harassment, bullying and discrimination. Incredibly, as if the damage to the ICO's reputation was not severe enough, Kendal expressed her sadness over reports suggesting that the disgraced former Commissioner is preparing to "serve legal papers on one of the women at the ICO who raised concerns about his behaviour earlier this year."

In addition to the new investigation, Kendall also revealed that efforts are underway to recruit a new Chair of the Information Commission along with an entirely new board of non-executive directors, the majority of whom will be women.

In related news, contributing to a CityAM article on the matter, Professor David Erdos at the University of Cambridge remarked that "There have been wider problems at the Information Commissioner’s Office for quite some time... What we’ve been seeing is under-enforcement of the law. The regulator has become increasingly selective about when it acts, even in very serious cases. It would be naïve to think this has only resulted from John Edwards."

This view is backed up by several reports. The reports started with a comment on a LinkedIn post by the retired former Head of ICO Regions, Ken Macdonald, who shared an extract of an internal message to staff by ICO CEO Paul Arnold MBE, which, in Ken's words, "put a different spin on it." 

The message read: "We’ve previously committed to colleagues that we will be commissioning an independent review following on from the investigation into the former Commissioner and his subsequent resignation. This is the review the SoS referred to this morning and will be jointly commissioned by DSIT and ourselves. We’re currently working on the terms of reference and scope of the review with DSIT colleagues and our Trade Unions and I will update further with next steps as soon as I can." 

In a superb follow-up post, Maconald outlines his thoughts about the timeline of announcements into this new investigation into the ICO's culture, accountability and governance. Here, he notes that in a letter to Chi Onwurah on 29 June, Arnold said that "a thorough and independent lessons learned exercise will be commissioned shortly which will report to the new Information Commission’s board." As Macdonald highlights, Arnold said it would report to the new Information Commission (IC) Board, not to both the IC and DSIT.

The same story features in an MLEX (£) article, which states the ICO has said it will "jointly commission an independent review with DSIT.

Back to the Committee session (starting around 10:22), Kendal faced questions regarding online safety, during which the committee scrutinised the government's proposed social media ban for children under 16. In response to concerns about the effectiveness of the potential ban, Kendal acknowledged that children will likely continue to find ways to access online platforms despite the restrictions. It is because children will find ways to circumvent the ban that Kendal stressed the future enforcement of the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA) by the communications regulator, Ofcom, is critical. If Ofcom gets this right, future generations will see the positive impacts. 

Asked why a ban is necessary, Kendal responded that social media companies had had their chance to make their platforms safe. They've had "countless opportunities, and they failed," she told the committee.  

On defending democracy, the committee expressed a broader concern for protecting society as a whole, rather than focusing solely on children, and pushed for principles-based legislation. Kendal responded, saying that DSIT is drawing up plans to tackle deepfakes, AI labelling, and improve transparency. However, on countering online misinformation and disinformation, Kendal stated that while her department is exploring ways to boost trusted sources of information without negatively impacting freedom of expression, the OSA still applies, and she intends to make this legislation work. 

Additional reporting and commentary on the session by The Guardian, and this detailed blog on LinkedIn by Daniel L.

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