John Edwards has been confirmed as the new information commissioner.
He will begin a five-year term on 3 January 2022, after his predecessor Elizabeth Denham left the post at the end of November.
This follows his nomination as preferred candidate by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in August, and approval by Parliament’s DCMS Committee the following month.
Edwards was previously New Zealand’s privacy commissioner and spent 20 years practising law, with a specialism in information law.
He has been appointed by Her Majesty by Letters Patent on the basis of open competition.
Among his early priorities will be managing the response to the Government’s proposals for a new data regulatory regime, under which the Information Commissioner’s Office would work within strategic priorities set by DCMS. Earlier this week the ICO launched a consultation on its regulatory role.
Image by PrivacyMaven, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
