Guidance Notes and Best Practice Guides

ICO: The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published a new guide for SMEs, showing a series of clear, practical steps they can take to help make their IT systems safe & secure.
 
The guide, which covers topics such as physical security, anti-virus defences and employee awareness, can help small businesses keep personal data secure, and avoid a serious data breach that could see the ICO impose a monetary penalty of up to £500,000.
Press release & links ~ Belfast Trust fined £225,000 after leaving thousands of patient records in disused hospital
 
DfT: While as an employer you are best placed to maintain safeguarding practice on the ground, from September 2012, the Government is scaling back the criminal records & barring systems to ‘common sense’ levels whilst ensuring that they continue to provide effective safeguarding. These changes will impact on organisations across England, Wales & Northern Ireland.
 
The Home Office has produced a leaflet explaining these changes, as well as letting you know about other changes happening over the next 6 months. There will also be a number of seminars on the changes during June & July, which you can book a place on.
Press release & links
 
Ofsted: Ofsted has published a report that looks at what schools can do to create a positive school culture and to prevent & tackle bullying. An important aspect of the survey, No place for bullying, was inspectors’ focus on pupils’ own experiences & understanding of bullying and its effects.  

Inspectors asked pupils what they would do if they were bullied, whether they had been bullied while at their current school and how well they thought their school dealt with bullying.
Press release & links ~ Anti-Bullying: The Young Person’s Guide
 
FRC: The Financial Reporting Council is publishing a further Update for Directors of Listed Companies in the UK to assist them in responding to continued economic uncertainties.
Press release & links
Spotlight on women at Serco – Anita’s story