Public sector tops private sector in its awareness of data protection

Big businesses are falling behind public sector organisations in knowledge and awareness of data protection, according to a survey by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

Some 60 per cent of public sector organisations said, unprompted, that they are obliged to store personal information securely. This compares with just under half of private sector firms.

This is a significant turnaround from results in 2009, when the private sector's awareness score was seven percentage points higher than that of the public sector.

This year the public sector's score jumped 18 percentage points to take a significant lead, while the private sector's fell by one.

"Businesses need to show they are taking data protection seriously," said Information Commissioner Christopher Graham.

"Failing to do so could not only lead to enforcement action, it could also do significant damage to their reputation," he added.

"Our research shows that almost all of the individuals surveyed are concerned about the collection and secure storage of their personal information. To ignore data protection obligations is to ignore a key customer concern."

Although overall awareness of five of the eight data protection principles increased between 2009 and 2010, the ICO claims this has again been driven by greater awareness among public sector organisations. Security was the number one principle cited spontaneously at 54 per cent.

The ICO has also indicated that information rights remain a priority among members of the public. More than 90 per cent of respondents ranked "protecting personal information" as a socially important issue, which was only beaten by " preventing crime", cited by 93 per cent.