Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 July 2018
179. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the training her Department and agencies under its aegis will receive on General Data Protection Regulation legislation; when it will be completed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29840/18]
View answerTo date in 2018, 77 staff from across my Department and its Offices have attended specific targeted training on Data Protection and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Heads of Business Units were asked to identify key staff requiring this training to ensure that it was targeted effectively. There are two further one-day GDPR training courses scheduled for Autumn 2018.
Further training and awareness will take place in the coming months through Lunchtime Learning presentations and information awareness sessions. These sessions are being delivered by our Data Protection Officer (DPO) who has been assigned on a fulltime basis at Assistant Principal Officer level for my Department and its Offices. In addition, several presentations have been made by the DPO at Divisional Days, and to Business Units across my Department and its Offices who are responsible for specific functions that are particularly involved in the processing of personal data, including Employment Permits, Human Resources Unit, the Company Registration Office and the Patents Office. The DPO will continue to make presentations on the GDPR at management meetings and to Agency Liaison Units in the weeks ahead. The DPO will also continue to work actively with Business Units across my Department and its Offices to support them to ensure compliance with the GDPR, and to assist them with queries through providing assistance and practical advice.
Furthermore, the Department for Public Expenditure and Reform as the Contracting Authority has issued a request for tenders in relation to the award of a contract for the provision of service to deliver training for DPOs within the civil service and bodies across the public sector. The submitted tenders have been assessed and the winning tenderer will be notified shortly.
The provision of GDPR training in my Department's agencies is a matter for those agencies.
