Information Rights Officer (Data Protection)

House of Commons

The House of Commons is a unique and exciting place to work right at the heart of the UK\’s thriving democratic system.

Behind the scenes, the House of Commons Service is made up of more than 3,000 employees who support and facilitate the smooth day-to-day running of the House. They provide professional services to Members of Parliament, their staff, and the wider parliamentary community.

Staff Benefits

In addition to your salary, we offer an attractive range of benefits including:

• 30 days\’ annual leave (increasing to 35 days after first full leave year).
• Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%.
• Access to training and development.
• Flexible working.
• Interest-free season ticket loan and bicycle loan.

Introduction

The Governance Office plays a central role in the House Administration by supporting the governance of the House of Commons. We make Parliament happen by supporting our Member-led governing body, the House of Commons Commission, its advisory Member Committees, and the Commons Executive Board to which the Commission delegates day-to-day running of services. We promote a common direction through the strategy, enable better decision-making, and ensure compliance with the highest governance standards. We also deliver key corporate functions, including parliamentary safety, information compliance, engagement and culture, strategy development, business planning, organisational performance monitoring, risk management, assurance, and internal audit.

The Information Compliance Service is responsible for House of Commons compliance with information laws, including the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR), the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA).

The Role

The Information Rights Officer (Data Protection) will coordinate the House\’s responses to requests for information made under information rights legislation, primarily the UK GDPR and DPA. You will play a key role in the House\’s responsibilities under UK GDPR and DPA, including the information incident reporting procedure and maintaining the House\’s Records of Processing Activities (ROPA). The post will act as an additional data protection resource to the wider team as required.

Full training will be provided in the processes adopted by the Information Compliance Service. You may already have a relevant qualification, but if not, you will be supported and encouraged to develop your information compliance skills and work towards relevant qualifications.

Some of the responsibilities for this role include:

• Coordinate the day-to-day request/response process, primarily for data protection information rights requests, such as subject access and erasure requests.
• Play a key role in the information incident reporting process. You will be required to act quickly in the event of an incident; investigating the incident, liaising with the Deputy Data Protection Officer, assessing immediate mitigations, and working with the Departmental Information Risk Owner (DIRO) to achieve a positive outcome, documenting and communicating any lessons learned.
• Take part in monitoring, spot checking, and reporting of data protection compliance (e.g., review of Records of Processing Activities (ROPA), and relevant statistics).

Skills and Experience

To be successful in this role you will demonstrate:

• An ability to apply your knowledge and understanding of current information laws and best practice.
• The ability to organise and carry out different tasks, work independently, plan and prioritise work to meet deadlines, and be flexible in responding to changing requirements and circumstances.
• The ability to build successful working relationships and to challenge, persuade and negotiate where appropriate. Promote a culture of diversity and inclusion with experience of working collaboratively in a team and positively influencing the way the team works together, including taking account of others\’ views and providing support to colleagues.
• The ability to communicate facts and ideas to a range of audiences and people at all levels in an engaging and informative way.
• Experience of decision-making with the ability to assess and interpret information. The ability to extract and analyse the relevant facts from complex records to present information accurately and clearly.

Next Steps and Additional Information

• CV & Supporting Statement – If you would like to apply for this role, please submit your CV and covering letter with a 500-word limit.

Please ensure that you anonymise your application by removing any identifiable factors from your CV or Supporting Statement.

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