University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust breached the Data Protection Act by losing patients’ medical information on two separate occasions, the ICO said today.

42% of students are concerned that personal information available about them online might affect their future employment prospects, the ICO said today, as it launched its 2011 Student Brand Ambassador campaign.

Businesses may be ‘waking up’ to their obligations under the Data Protection Act (DPA) but public confidence in how personal information is being handled continues to decline, the ICO said today.

A private housing group based in Dorset breached the Data Protection Act by sending the personal data of 200 employees to the wrong email address, the ICO said today.

Dumfries and Galloway Council breached the Data Protection Act by accidentally publishing a spreadsheet containing the names, salaries and dates of birth of nearly 900 current and former employees on their ICO said today.

Powers to conduct compulsory data protection audits in local government, the health service and the private sector are needed to ensure compliance with the law, the Information Commissioner said today at the 10th annual data protection compliance conference in London.

Two organisations have taken action after they breached the Data Protection Act by failing to encrypt personal information on laptops that were later stolen, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said today.

Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust breached the Data Protection Act by accidentally destroying 10,000 archived records, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said today.

‘Transparency is not just about what the authorities choose to reveal to citizens; but what citizens have a right to ask to see,’ Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham, said today, in a speech to mark International Right to Know Day 2011.

The ICO has today published guidance on freedom of information legislation and research information, aimed specifically at public authorities in the higher education sector.