Who am I?

My name is Tim Turner. I am what you get if you use 2040 Training. Yes, you’re on a company website, but it’s just me. Other people sometimes give the impression that they’re running a big sophisticated operation – I’m not. It’s just me.

Most of my work is virtual at the moment, but I live in Manchester, and I will travel across the UK and further afield if that’s where you are. I have worked on Data Protection, FOI and Information Rights law since 2001. I started at the Information Commissioner’s Office as a Policy Manager on FOI issues, just after the 2000 FOI Act was passed. I worked with central and local government, wrote guidance and policies for the Commissioner and was a regular speaker at conferences and events. I was DP & FOI Officer for two fine councils as well an Information Governance Manager for an NHS organisation. I ran my first training course in June 2005, when my employer at the time gave me permission to run a few courses on the side, as long as it didn’t cause any disruption.

I have a Masters of Law in Information Rights from Northumbria University, the ISEB Certificates in Data Protection and Freedom of Information, a Post-Graduate Diploma in Information and Library Studies, and a B.A. (Hons) in English from King’s College (University of London). I did also pass the CIPP/E, but I no longer maintain my IAPP membership, so I cannot tell you this without the risk that J. Trevor Hughes will have me assassinated.

Oh.

The most important thing I have is practical experience – I have searched for data to complete a SAR, made decisions about what to disclose to the police, dealt with the ICO during a security incident, and as a consultant, I’ve helped many organisations to do all this even after I stopped being a DPO day-to-day.

Why is it called 2040 Training?

I set the company up in 2008, having worked freelance for a few years on the side of my day-to-day DPO job. A friend suggested that the company should be called Turner Information Training Services – an idea with an obvious flaw that he still thinks is funny. Another possibility was to call it 3T (Tim Turner Training), but that seemed too close to what was at the time a well-known technology magazine (T3). Getting sued for trademark infringement didn’t seem like an illustrious beginning. And so the name 2040 was born on a walk up a hill at Wasdale Head in the Lake District.

20 is the 20 working days that the FOI Act gives you to respond; 40 is the 40 days that the Data Protection Act 1998 gives you to respond to a subject access request. In this field at this time, these were two crucial numbers. The 40 became redundant because of the GDPR, which replaced the 40 days with a month. Although other people may make fun of my old-fashioned name, I am reconciled to it. 2040 is evidence of my longevity, and doing this job has given me the two things I have always wanted to do in this sector – work with good people and be my own boss.

Why use 2040 Training?

The Data Protection sector is full of scaremongering GDPR-obsessed cowboys. Many of them are refugees from information security or general consulting, jumping on the GDPR bandwagon. I am not one of these people (they don’t like me). I am not a Certified GDPR Professional or Practitioner, because nobody is. In GDPR, Certification applies to processing of data, not individuals. Nobody can make you fully compliant or ‘GDPR ready’ because Data Protection is a constantly evolving area, continually updated by case-law, enforcement and guidance.

I am a trainer and consultant who is here to help you understand the real challenges of Data Protection and other information laws, not to drown you in hype or sell you a ‘solution’ you don’t need. I am not here to pitch a spurious take on Data Ethics or Data Privacy. I want to help you to understand how the law affects your organisation, and then let you get on with whatever it is that you do.

What I offer is honest, practical, down-to-earth advice and training to ensure that you stay on the right side of the law while achieving your business objectives. I have no magic solutions, no silver bullets – just years of experience at communicating a complex and ambiguous subject in an accessible and understandable way.

I do, however, have professional indemnity and public liability insurance, and references are available on request.