A TOP York public school says it is taking steps to prevent another loss of important data, following an incident in which a memory stick was apparently mislaid on public transport.
St Peter's School says it is acting on a series of recommendations from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), including mandatory training for employees in data protection.
However, it said the ICO had informed the school that it was not taking any further action over the incident, which happened earlier this year.
The Press exclusively reported in October how a memory stick, which was not protected by a password and contained a number of documents "relating to the governance of the school", had been lost.
School head Leo Winkley wrote to all parents to inform them of the loss, saying there was no indication that details of bank accounts had been on the device and nor was there any suggestion that the device or data had been found or accessed by anyone.
He said the school was contacting a small number of individuals whose data might have been included on the device.
The Press became aware of the incident after being contacted by a source, who claimed the memory stick contained highly sensitive information about pupils and former pupils.
Now the school has said in a statement: "Following our report of a potential data breach, the Information Commissioner’s Office has informed us that they will not be taking any further action but have made the following recommendations:
* Future incidents should be reported as soon as possible after the incident has occurred.
* Conduct mandatory training in data protection for employees, and for individuals who are not employees of the school but who have access to personal information to which the school is the data controller.
* Introduce a remote-working policy and procedure which relates to the use and storage of personal information away from school premises."
The statement said the ICO had provided useful references to help put together these policies and procedures.
"We are working to ensure that these recommendations are implemented as soon as possible."
The school said it understood that it was some months after the loss of the device before the school was alerted to it.
"However, the loss was reported as soon as we became aware of it," it added.
A spokesperson for the ICO said: “We have made enquiries about this potential breach and decided not to take any further action on this occasion.”
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