Lord Toby Harris of Harringey was made a Life Peer in June 1998. He is Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Policing and Treasurer of the Parliamentary Information Technology Committee (PITCOM). He was also a member of the House of Lords Select Committee that recently reported on Personal Internet Security.
He was born in 1953 and graduated from Cambridge University in 1975, having studied Natural Sciences and Economics. His professional career began with four years in the Economics Division of the Bank of England. He then spent seven years at the Electricity Consumers’ Council, becoming Deputy Director in 1983. In 1987, he became Director of the Association of Community Health Councils for England and Wales (the national statutory body representing patients’ interests). He remained there until October 1998, when he established his own public affairs consultancy, Toby Harris Associates. Organisations he advises or has advised include KPMG, the National Grid, Unisys, the Anite Group, Airwave Solutions, Sunrise Group, Transport for London, Wyeth Laboratories and the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health.
He was a member of the London Assembly from May 2000 to June 2004, on which he led the Labour Group. He was the first Chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), during that period and a member of the Executive of the Association of Police Authorities from 2000 to 2006. He continues to sit on the MPA as the representative of the Home Secretary with a remit to oversee the national and international functions of the Metropolitan Police - primarily its role in counter-terrorism and security.
He was a member of Haringey Council from 1978 to 2002 and was its Leader from 1987 to 1999, having previously spent five years as Chair of Social Services. He was Chair of the Association of London Government, representing the 33 local authorities in London, from its formation in 1995 until 2000, having previously chaired the Association of London Authorities.
From 1986 to 1993, he was Chair of the Association of Metropolitan Authorities’ Social Services Committee and led for local government in negotiations about the introduction of Community Care and the Children Act. He is Vice-President of and was formerly a member of the Executive of the Local Government Association.
He is the first Chair of the Institute of Commissioning Professionals, has been a non-executive director of the London Ambulance Service, a Senior Associate of the Kings Fund, and a member of the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants.
He is a former member of the Committee of the Regions of the European Union.
Public Confidence is Endangered unless Information Security is Central to Risk Management
Abstract:
Too many enterprises give insufficient priority to information security.
There is a real risk that public confidence in using the internet and
in conducting transactions electronically could be jeopardised. Similarly,
many government agencies have had major failures in information security
and the consequences may affect not just public confidence but also
public safety. Information security must be central to risk management
in all organisations.
