Do schools need a SIRO as well as a DPO

[Meldrew]

Hi everyone.

 

One of our trustees has been on a training course and is now asking who the MAT's SIRO is.

 

I've not heard the term SIRO mentioned since way before GDPR, I guess I assumed that the position of DPO has made a SIRO obsolete.

 

My gut feeling is that the training course was well out of date, but I need a definitive answer. Googling it, the only hits are in the area of healthcare that I can see.

 

Or do we need a SIRO as well as a DPO?

 

Many thanks in advance,

 

Meldrew

[elsiegee40]

One for @GrumbleDook probably

[elsiegee40]

Now I think about it, I think SIRO is an operational role and DPO is a governance role.

 

SIRO is the Senior Information Risk Owner ...the person who operationally owns and is in charge of implementing data policy. In most schools this would be the Head or Trust CEO as the buck stops with them for absolutely everything or possibly the Bursar.

 

Do you need to know who that person is? Certainly.

Do you formally have to call them the SIRO? I doubt it.

[Meldrew]

Now I think about it, I think SIRO is an operational role and DPO is a governance role.

 

SIRO is the Senior Information Risk Owner ...the person who operationally owns and is in charge of implementing data policy. In most schools this would be the Head or Trust CEO as the buck stops with them for absolutely everything or possibly the Bursar.

 

Do you need to know who that person is? Certainly.

Do you formally have to call them the SIRO? I doubt it.

 

Many thanks, much appreciated.

[GrumbleDook]

Hi everyone.

 

One of our trustees has been on a training course and is now asking who the MAT's SIRO is.

 

I've not heard the term SIRO mentioned since way before GDPR, I guess I assumed that the position of DPO has made a SIRO obsolete.

 

My gut feeling is that the training course was well out of date, but I need a definitive answer. Googling it, the only hits are in the area of healthcare that I can see.

 

Or do we need a SIRO as well as a DPO?

 

Many thanks in advance,

 

Meldrew

 

@elsiegee40 has pretty much covered it.

 

They are different roles and cannot be covered by a single person. In most schools, you won't find a single person as the SIRO, as it gets spread out (if done at all) and could be done better. Often the SIRO can be the DP Lead within the school, doing the operational tasks that the DPO has highlighted ... or at least coordinating the tasks to make sure that they are done. There are a lot of similarities in the roles, and if you don't have a SIRO you will still need to explain how your Information Governance structure is made workable.