I think I can remember a time when Data Protection reform wasn’t on the menu, but maybe that was just a dream. As soon as the GDPR seemed to settle, the Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden (remember him?) announced that it was to be overhauled with an ambitious consultation about what Great British Data Protection should be like. And in a sign of things to come, the very next day Boris Johnson did a reshuffle and replaced him with Nadine Dorries.

We got a consultation, then two versions of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, but just as it seemed like the changes would limp over the finish line, Rishi Sunak announced an election six months earlier than he had to, and in July 2024, the electorate gave his government a complete shoeing. But GDPR reform is a dream that never dies, and in the King’s Speech, Keir Starmer’s government gave us a beautiful gift: a badly out of focus copy of the DPDI bill that was even less interesting.

By popular demand, I have been taken hostage and forced to put this course on: I will run through all the main features of the Bill / Act depending on when the session runs, and provide a full and free update if changes occur afterwards. I’ll put a strong emphasis on the Data Protection elements, and give a practical no-nonsense summary of what this will mean for you practically.