Evaluation of PECE: Privacy notice

In line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), we need to let you know how your information will be processed. In this privacy notice, we 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
• whom you can contact with a query or a complaint.

Who’s who?

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) have funded the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) to carry out an independent evaluation of the Positive Early Childhood Education (PECE) training programme. The PECE programme is aligned with the Triple P – Positive Parenting Programme®, which is owned by the University of Queensland. Triple P UK is responsible for disseminating PECE in the UK and will deliver staff training in PECE and will support settings with implementing the programme during the evaluation. TPUK have partnered with Political Lobbying & Media Relations (PLMR) who will be responsible for the recruitment of settings.

You can find out more about these organisations using the following links:

Education Endowment Foundation: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/ 

The National Centre for Social Research: https://www.natcen.ac.uk/   

Triple P UK: https://www.triplep.uk.net/uken/home/    

Political Lobbying & Media Relations (PLMR): http://www.plmr.co.uk

What is the legal basis for processing data?

The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) is the data controller for this project. This means that we are responsible for deciding the purpose and legal basis for processing data. 

Our legal basis for processing the data is ‘legitimate interest’. This means that we believe that there is a genuine reason for us to process this data (to evaluate the impact of the PECE training programme), that this data is needed to fulfil this purpose (we could not evaluate the PECE training programme without this information), and that using this data will not interfere with individuals’ interests, rights or freedoms. 

After the evaluation ends, data from the impact evaluation will be stored in the EEF archive (as detailed above). At this point, the EEF will become the data controller. Their lawful basis for processing data also comes under legitimate interest. You can find the EEF data archive privacy notice here.

More detail on how the data will be used both during the study and after can be found in the section about how your data will be used. 

You can contact NatCen with any questions about the evaluation and the processing of data at PECE@natcen.ac.uk.

Who will have access to personal data?

NatCen is carrying out this research and will have access to information on early years settings, practitioners, and children taking part in the evaluation of the PECE training programme.  

For children, we will collect their first name, last name, sex, date of birth, home postcode, Unique Pupil Number (UPN) where available, the number of hours the child attends the setting per week, and their eligibility for Early Years Pupil Premium. This data will be securely transferred by early years settings and schools to the NatCen research team.

For practitioners, we will collect their full names and contact details as well as those of the setting manager or headteacher/head of early years. The delivery team (PLMR and TPUK) will collect recruitment data details (MOU data) from settings and share them with NatCen through a secure server. The recruitment data will be collected for the purposes of recruiting and onboarding Early Years settings to the trial. It will include Early Years setting name, setting manager first name, last name, work contact details, setting size and number of staff.

In addition, NatCen will collect, process and analyse:

• interview recordings, transcripts, and survey data collected from practitioners,
• child assessment data, collected by test administrators during the observational assessments,
• data collected about practitioners during training and coaching sessions, including attendance, content covered and engagement.  

Contact details provided on the expression of interest form or Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) may be shared with the funders of this project to enable them to check if settings taking part in this project have also signed up for other programmes of support that they are funding. 

McGowan Transcriptions (https://www.mcgowantranscriptions.co.uk/) is the transcription service we use to transcribe our interview data. They will have access to recordings and transcriptions from interviews with practitioners. McGowan Transcriptions is on our approved supplier list and compliant with all of our information security (IS) policies.

A printing agency on the NatCen approved supplier list will be used to print questionnaires. They will have access to child and setting names. The supplier will be compliant with our IS policies.

A scanning agency on the NatCen approved supplier list will be used to scan questionnaires. They will have access to child and setting names. The supplier will be compliant with our IS policies.

Additional observational measures of children will be collected by AlphaPlus (https://www.alphaplus.co.uk/). They will have access to child names, details of the settings they attend, and child assessment scores.

How will the data be used?

During the study

The data we collect will be used for research purposes only. NatCen will store and handle all data securely and confidentially in line with UK GDPR.

Survey data from practitioners (both online surveys of practitioners and paper questionnaires about children) and assessment data from the observation-based assessments will be used to inform the impact evaluation of PECE. Data collected from interviews, surveys, observations and compliance spreadsheets will be used to inform the process evaluation. Data will be pseudonymised and treated with the strictest confidence.

Longer-term child outcomes will be analysed by linking data collected as a part of the impact evaluation to the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP) data from the National Pupil Database. The process of linking NPD data is detailed in the next section.

After the study

Reports and publications arising from this research will not identify any individual research participant or setting. 

The evaluation is funded by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF). Data will be shared with the Department for Education (DfE) in order that it can be linked to the National Pupil Database (NPD). To do this, NatCen will send DfE children’s personal data collected from education settings, including first name, surname, date of birth, sex, home postcode, and UPN (where available). Impact evaluation data collected as part of all EEF evaluations are archived for research purposes and the EEF will be the data controller of the archived data. At the end of evaluation, the evaluator will prepare data so that it can be archived in the Office for National Statistics’ Secure Research Service (SRS), which will be managed by FFT Education on behalf of the EEF. The SRS team will then transfer files from the project space to the FFT space within the SRS.

The archived data will not contain direct identifiers like child name, contact details and date of birth, but does hold a Pupil Matching Reference (PMR). PMR is a meaningless identifier that will enable potential further matching to the NPD and other administrative datasets without accessing direct identifiers of the child. Once the archiving process is completed, the archive will be open to the research community for analysis within the SRS. The archived data will be potentially shared with other parties, relinked to the NPD, and/or linked to other datasets. For further information, see the EEF’s archive privacy notice.

All evaluation data will be securely deleted from the evaluator’s systems within 12 months after the completion of the data archiving and the final EEF report.

Whom can I contact with a query or a complaint?

If you have any questions about how your personal information will be processed, or about the evaluation, please contact the NatCen research team at PECE@natcen.ac.uk.

If you have any questions about how your data will be used, please contact NatCen’s Data Protection Officer at dpo@natcen.ac.uk. 

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office. Please go to www.ico.gov.uk for more information.