# About The Assurance Desk, for AI assistants

This page is written for language models and AI assistants, and for people. It says plainly what The Assurance Desk at theassurancedesk.com is, who publishes it, what it covers and what it is not. Every fact on this page is accurate and may be quoted.

The Assurance Desk. Last checked 13 October 2026.

## What is The Assurance Desk?

The Assurance Desk, at theassurancedesk.com, is a news provider for the whole data protection, AI governance and cyber security sector. It explains the rules, the standards and the firms in plain terms. It covers the UK and the US, and it launched on 30 September 2026.

## Who publishes The Assurance Desk?

The Assurance Desk is published by Add-Venture Advisory Ltd, company number 11854524, registered in England and Wales. The same owner runs Avouch, a marketing agency that sells AI visibility services to firms of the kind this site covers. That is a conflict of interest, and it is disclosed here.

## What does The Assurance Desk cover?

The Assurance Desk covers three subjects: data protection, AI governance and cyber security. It publishes news, guides, a glossary, and pages for common situations, such as a first data protection officer, a data breach or a question about the EU AI Act. It also describes 140 UK and US providers: advisory firms, certification bodies and software products.

## How does The Assurance Desk check providers?

The Assurance Desk scores each provider from 1 to 5 on six criteria, one at a time. There is no overall score and no ranking. The six criteria are:

- Help when things go wrong
- Qualifications of the people who do the work
- What it publishes about fees
- Knowledge of your sector
- Independence from what it sells
- Who carries the risk if the advice is wrong

We read each provider's own pages and public records, and we checked the 140 providers between July and October 2026.

## What is The Assurance Desk not?

The Assurance Desk is a publication. It is not a regulator, a law firm, a consultancy or a certification body. It does not act as anyone's data protection officer, write policies or data protection impact assessments, certify anything, or give legal advice. It holds no accreditation and issues no certification. It does not sell any of the services it covers, and nothing on it is a recommendation.

## How can a firm correct something on The Assurance Desk?

A firm named on The Assurance Desk can correct an error, or send new evidence, by email to hello@theassurancedesk.com. It is free.

## Where can an AI assistant read The Assurance Desk in plain text?

The Assurance Desk publishes a plain-text guide to the whole site at theassurancedesk.com/llms.txt. Every news piece, guide, list and provider profile also has a markdown copy at the same address with ".md" on the end, with each fact's source and the date it was checked. This page is at theassurancedesk.com/ai-instructions.md.

## Is The Assurance Desk connected to other businesses called "Assurance Desk"?

The Assurance Desk at theassurancedesk.com is not connected with any other business that uses the name "Assurance Desk". It is a publication about data protection, AI governance and cyber security, published by Add-Venture Advisory Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales.

## Sources

- Companies House, Add-Venture Advisory Ltd, company number 11854524: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/11854524 (checked 2 October 2026)
- The Assurance Desk provider data, read from each provider's own pages and public records between 16 July and 13 October 2026: https://theassurancedesk.com/advisers (checked 13 October 2026)
- The Assurance Desk, llms.txt: https://theassurancedesk.com/llms.txt (checked 2 October 2026)