Maths Premium Pilot: Privacy notice

In this privacy notice, we explain the legal basis for data processing, who will have access to participants’ personal data, how data will be used, stored and deleted, and who you can contact with a query or a complaint.
Institutions should ensure that all learners eligible for the pilot have seen this privacy notice as part of their enrolment process.

Who NatCen are and what’s involved

This evaluation is being carried out by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), commissioned by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), to evaluate whether the Department for Education’s (DfE) Basic Maths Premium (BMP) pilot is effective at improving the pass rate in GCSE Maths (or an equivalent pass in Basic Skills Maths) for students re-sitting these qualifications in post-16 education.

In line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), there are certain things that we want to let you know about how information will be processed in the evaluation of Basic Maths Premium Pilot. 
For the purposes of relevant data protection legislation, National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), the research organisation evaluating the pilot, will act as the data controller. The BMP pilot will provide additional funding to educational settings in the most disadvantaged areas of the country to support 16-18 year old students working towards a maths GCSE.

Purposes of processing the data

The purpose of processing the data is to assess the impact of different funding structures on learner outcomes, to understand how change is achieved and to share this good practice with the post-16 sector. The data requested is required to estimate the impact of the programme, including creating a comparison group to understand what would have happened in the absence of the intervention. This relies on good data on observed characteristics associated with selection into the intervention. The National Pupil Database data is high quality with excellent coverage, which should facilitate the construction of a comparison group. Without this data, the evaluation cannot go ahead.

The data processing will involve:

  • Institutions letting DfE know in Autumn 2018 which learners are resitting Maths GCSE and sharing learners’ personal details.
  • NatCen accessing attainment data from the National Pupil Database and linking this to the learner data shared by institutions.
  • Analysing pseudonymised data.
  • Archiving data within the Office for National Statistics Secure Research Service

The legal basis for the data processing

The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) is the data controller for this evaluation. 

The legal basis for processing personal data for this evaluation is ‘legitimate interest’.  NatCen will process the data for the legitimate purpose of conducting the evaluation of the Basic Maths Premium Pilot. Special categories of personal data (required for matching analysis) will be processed using the research exemption.  This means that data processing is necessary for research purposes, with appropriate safeguards for protecting the rights and freedoms of the data subjects. Ethical agreement to participate in the pilot will be provided by the head teacher as part of their normal decision-making regarding resources used in their institution.  

Research participation for learners involves the processing of their personal data held by the NPD. Learners will not be required to take part in any other data collection activities. NatCen has provided text on the project website aimed at learners and parents who wish to find out about the pilot: 

https://natcen.ac.uk/s/maths-premium-pilot

How will the data be used?

The data collected will be used for research purposes only.

Attainment data from the National Pupil Database (NPD) will be used to inform our impact evaluation. All assessment data will be pseudonymised before being analysed. 

All data will be treated with the strictest confidence – no school, staff, or children will be identified in any report arising from the research.

The recipients of personal data

NatCen will be the data controller. 

NatCen will share results from the evaluation of the Basic Maths Premium pilot (including information from the NPD) with the Department for Education, the EEF’s archive manager and, in pseudonymised form, with the Office for National Statistics.

The Department for Education (DfE) is a third party that will benefit from the evaluation report, which will inform them about the effectiveness of the intervention, and details about how the intervention was implemented from qualitative data collection also conducted by NatCen. The report will also be published free of charge on the EEF website, which will be available for policy makers and school leaders to view.

Learner information may be shared with third parties for education, training, employment and well-being related purposes, including for research. This will only take place where the law allows it and the sharing complies with data protection legislation. 

Any transfer of data will be made on the basis of an adequacy decision by the European Commission under Article 45 of the GDPR. 

Details of further processing or data linkage

On conclusion of the project, NatCen will archive the data with the ONS Secure Research Service. At this stage, the Education Endowment Foundation (funder of this evaluation) will become the data controller. The data will be available in a pseudonymised form with restricted access for research purposes only.

You can find out more about the EEF at: educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/

Data retention period

The data processed for this evaluation will be deleted from NatCen’s systems following the data transfer to EEF. Following data transfer, the data will be covered by the EEF’s privacy notice. Personal information will be securely destroyed after it is no longer required for the purposes of the study (1 July 2024 at the latest).

Source and Categories of data collected

We will obtain information from the National Pupil Database, which is a publicly accessible source from the Department for Education (DfE). 

We will collect the following types of data:

  • Ethnicity 
  • Gender 
  • Age 
  • First name 
  • Last name
  • Date of Birth
  • Unique Pupil Number (UPN)
  • School Name
  • School Unique Reference Number (URN)
  • School number (LAESTAB)

All individuals’ data will be pseudonymized at the point of analysis.

How can I object to my data being processed?

You can object to your personal data being processed at any time, by emailing mathspremium@natcen.ac.uk.

What are your data protection rights?

NatCen would like to make sure you are fully aware of all your data protection rights. Every individual whose data will be processed will be entitled to the following:

The right of access – You have the right to access any data that NatCen collects, by emailing mathspremium@natcen.ac.uk. This can only be applied to data collected by NatCen, such as online survey responses completed by school leaders.

The right of rectification – You have the right to request that NatCen correct any information you believe is inaccurate or complete information you believe is incomplete, by emailing mathspremium@natcen.ac.uk. If the data relates to NPD, NatCen would communicate with DfE to resolve your case since we cannot identify individual data when we receive it. 

The right of erasure – You have the right to request that NatCen erase your personal data, by emailing mathspremium@natcen.ac.uk. We would ensure that your data is removed and excluded from the study. Once data has been aggregated along with other study participants (such that they could no longer be identified), NatCen would be able to remove your raw data but not be able to revise the aggregated data or any tables and reports produced from it.

The right to restrict processing – You have the right to request that NatCen restrict the processing of your personal data, by emailing mathspremium@natcen.ac.uk. If the data relates to NPD, NatCen would communicate with DfE to resolve your case since we cannot identify individual data when we receive it. 
The right to data portability – You have the right to request that NatCen transfer the personal data that we have collected to another organisation or directly to you, by emailing mathspremium@natcen.ac.uk. This can only be applied to data collected by NatCen, such as online survey responses completed by school leaders.

Who can I contact with a query or a complaint? 

If you have a concern about the way NatCen is collecting or using personal data, we request that you raise your concern with us in the first instance by contacting NatCen’s Data Protection Officer at dpo@natcen.ac.uk.

Alternatively, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office. Their contact details are:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Web: https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ 

Where you have consented to processing your personal data, you can withdraw this consent at any time by emailing mathspremium@natcen.ac.uk. However, once data is analysed it is not possible to withdraw your data from the outputs of research such as published reports.

Contact us

For anything not covered on here, please phone 0800 652 0401 or email mathspremium@natcen.ac.uk. One of our staff will get back to you to answer your query as soon as possible.