An Evaluation of Initiatives to Enhance the Move on Process: Privacy Notice

In line with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we need to inform those who choose to participate in our research projects about how their information will be processed. This privacy notice will explain the legal basis for data processing, who will have access to your personal data, how your data will be used, stored, and deleted, and who you can contact for queries or complaints.

The Home Office is the data controller of this information. More information about the Home Office and how the data will be controlled can be found at www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/about/personal-information-charter. The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) is the data processor and is responsible for the collection, processing and storage of the data. Further information on NatCen and its policies can be found at www.natcen.ac.uk. NatCen will also be conducting this project with RSM, a global firm providing independent consultancy and evaluation services to UK public sector clients. RSM is on NatCen’s approved supplier list and are compliant with all their information security policies.

How and why the Home Office uses your information

The Home Office collects, processes, and shares personal information to enable it to carry out its statutory and other functions. The Home Office is only permitted to process your data where there is a lawful basis for doing so. For this research, data will be processed for the purpose of delivering a public task under GDPR Article 6(1)e.

NatCen and RSM will be collecting and processing data for this project (on the Home Office’s behalf). The Home Office will not have access to any personal data collected by NatCen/RSM as part of the research.

Who will access my personal data?

NatCen and RSM are conducting this research, and will have access to the names, contact details, and job role information of those who agree to take part or are contacted about the evaluation, where permission has been given to share this information. NatCen and RSM will also have access to the survey and proforma data, recordings and transcripts of the interviews and focus groups, and fieldwork notes made by researchers during the interviews / discussions, that will be collected as part of this evaluation.

McGowan Transcriptions is the transcription service used by NatCen to transcribe qualitative research recordings. They will have access to recordings and transcriptions (written accounts) from all interviews and focus groups. McGowan Transcriptions is on NatCen’s approved supplier list and are compliant with all their information security policies.

Clear Voice is the translation and transcription agency NatCen and RSM will use to translate any interviews that take place in languages other than English. Clear Voice is on NatCen’s approved supplier list and is compliant with all information security policies.

How will the data be used?

The data collected will be used for research purposes only. All data held for this project, including personal information, will be securely deleted five years after the project is completed. The data will be retained for five years to enable NatCen to respond to any follow-up queries from the Home Office. The data will be stored securely and will not be used for any other purposes.

NatCen will write a report covering the main themes which are discussed in the research activities. NatCen will not include any names or specific details in the report, and it will not be possible to identify your contributions from your interview/focus group/survey data. Any quotations will be labelled anonymously, and any other identifiable information will be removed.

All information gathered from the various research activities will be used to inform our evaluation. All data will be treated with the strictest confidence, and only the research team will have access to this. The findings of this evaluation will not be attributed to specific individuals who take part, and no individual will be directly identified in any of the research outputs. Where appropriate, the Home Office may seek to publish outputs from this evaluation, however, any publications will not include personal nor identifying information.

Although we take all precautions to anonymise the information shared with us, and the findings of this research will not be attributed to specific named geographical areas, local authorities or individuals, there are a small number of individuals who will be spoken with, and others may know if you choose to take part in the evaluation. This includes:

the person who invited you to take part in this research,
other staff and gatekeepers involved in selecting the local case study areas, and inviting areas and individuals to take part and,
any participants who attend the focus group discussions and paired interviews with you.

Therefore, it may be possible that specific local authorities/ areas and individual views could be identified by those who are directly involved in this evaluation, and other colleagues/people they know well.

Storing your information

The data collected and held by NatCen will be stored securely in the UK, in line with international best practice and NatCen’s ISO 27001, ISO 20252, and Cyber Essentials Plus certifications. Data will not be stored in servers overseas. All personal data will be securely deleted five years after project completion.

Requesting access to your personal data

You can request access to your personal data and for it to be updated or deleted by NatCen, as well as an explanation of how it has been used, at any point before it has been securely deleted. Rights requests will be responded to within 30 days. Please note that once your personal data is combined with other data and anonymised, we will not be able to change the findings by removing individual information. However, you can always request that your personal data be deleted or updated, and we will let you know immediately if this is possible or not. Individual rights requests apply to personal data only, and there may be some occasions where you will receive an explanation of why the request you have made cannot be complied with. If you would like to make a request about your data, please contact the NatCen team via the contact details provided below.

Questions or concerns about personal data

We would welcome the opportunity of discussing the research with you to address any concerns directly. Please do feel free to contact:

The research team at NatCen via email to MoveOnEvaluation@natcen.ac.uk or telephone on 0808 281 0308 or by post to Move on research team, National Centre for Social Research, 35 Northampton Square London EC1V OAX.
If you prefer to speak to somebody at the Home Office or you believe the evaluation has not complied with your data protection rights, you can contact: The HO research lead at Helen.muller@homeoffice.gov.uk.

Under GDPR, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office if you are unhappy with the way your personal data is being processed. You can lodge a complaint at:

Post: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF
Phone: 0303 123 1113
Website: https://ico.org.uk/concerns