St. Giles - Privacy Notice

Evaluation of St Giles’ SOS+ Embedded Mentoring Programme

This privacy notice sets out how we will process your information if you decide to take part in this research. In line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), it explains the legal basis for data processing; who will have access to participants’ personal data; how this data will be used, stored and deleted; and how to submit a query or a complaint.

What is the purpose of the evaluation?

The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) has been commissioned by the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) to evaluate St Giles’ SOS+ Embedded Mentoring Programme. NatCen is a not-for-profit organisation aiming to improve people’s lives through research, and we are independent from both St Giles and YEF. YEF, which funds this study, is dedicated to preventing children and young people becoming involved in crime and violence.

This research evaluates the impact and effectiveness of St Giles’ SOS+ Embedded Mentoring Programme. SOS+ aims to support children and young people who have already been involved in criminal activity via six months of one-to-one mentoring sessions. The aims of this evaluation are to:

Assess the impact of the St Giles’ SOS+ Embedded Mentoring Programme.
Understand the factors that impact successful implementation of the St Giles’ SOS+ Embedded Mentoring Programme.
To estimate the average costs per mentee.

At the end of the evaluation period, the data collected on children will be stored in a secure archive and used to follow-up on children’s progress in the future. This will include, for example, assessing whether children who took part in YEF-funded projects were less likely to be excluded from school or be involved in crime in the future. Only researchers who are approved by YEF will be able to look at the archive.

If you would like to know more about the evaluation and what taking part will involve, please see the information letter received alongside this privacy notice.

What is the legal basis for NatCen processing my data?

NatCen is the data controller for this evaluation. This means we are responsible for deciding the purpose and legal basis for processing data, what personal information to collect, and how it is used. When evaluations have finished, YEF will become the controller of the personal data (see ‘who will be responsible for my archived data?’).

For the use of personal data to be lawful, NatCen needs to satisfy one or more conditions in the GDPR, as set out in Article 6(1).

For this project, the lawful basis is “legitimate interest”. This means we believe that there is a genuine reason for us to process this data (to evaluate the SOS+ programme), this data is needed to fulfil this purpose (we could not evaluate the SOS+ Embedded Mentoring Programme without this information) and using this data will not interfere with individuals’ interests, rights or freedoms.

Special category data and criminal offence data are personal data that need more protection because they are sensitive. The special category data we will be processing during the course of this evaluation is the ethnic background of children and young people. The criminal offence data we will be processing during the course of this evaluation is the alleged commission of offences by data subjects (including circumstances where participants self-report information).

The lawful basis for processing special category data is Article 9(j): Archiving research and statistics (with a basis in law) and Article 10 for criminal offence data. The legal basis for processing both special category and criminal offence data is the research condition in paragraph 4 of part 1 Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018.

Who will have access to my personal data?

NatCen is carrying out this evaluation. Named individuals on the NatCen research team will have access to:

mentor, pupil, school staff and linked statutory worker information;
interview recordings and transcripts;
pupil and school staff survey responses;
pupil school records including attendance and exclusions records;
details of support provided to pupils;
data on costs related to the SOS+ Embedded Mentoring Programme.

St Giles will act as NatCen’s ‘processor’. This means that NatCen controls how St Giles can use your personal data for this evaluation. Educational settings will also securely share and receive data about children with NatCen. You / your child’s personal data will not be transferred to any country outside the UK.

McGowan Transcriptions transcribe our interviews and will have access to audio recordings and transcripts. McGowan Transcriptions is on our approved supplier list and compliant with all our information security policies.

How will my data be used?

The results collected will be used for research purposes only. All data collected will be handled in accordance with GDPR. The information you provide will be used to write research outputs (such as published and internal reports and presentations). All findings, including any verbatim quotations that are used will be anonymised. This means we will not include the names of any individuals or organisations in the research outputs.

At the end of the evaluation period, data collected on children will be securely archived for future research purposes. The data will be securely stored with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and Department for Education (DfE). For more details on data archiving, please see ‘who will be responsible for my archived data?’.

Within one year of publishing the final report and acceptance of the final deliverable (we expect this to be October 2027), we will ensure that all data not required by the ONS and DfE on the project is securely deleted and that other outputs as listed above are securely stored.

Who will be responsible for my archived data?

When we finish the evaluation, we’ll give data about the children who took part to YEF, and YEF will become the ‘controller of the personal data’, as outlined by YEF’s privacy notice. They will keep the children’s information in a safe place called the YEF archive. The lawful basis for processing information in the YEF archive is “public task”. This means that the YEF data can only be used for tasks that are in the public interest.

The Department for Education and the Office for National Statistics will act as YEF’s ‘processors’. This means that YEF controls how the DfE and ONS can use your personal data. Your personal data will not be transferred to any country outside the UK.

The Department for Education will be a processor on behalf of YEF whilst they match children to the national pupil database. The DfE will only process YEF data for the purpose of pseudonymisation. This means that before children’s information goes into the YEF archive, the Department for Education will take out their name and other personal details, like their address. Once this is completed and data transferred to the Office for National Statistics, all YEF data will be removed from DfE systems.

The Office for National Statistics will be a processor on behalf of YEF for the archive when data is transferred to the Secure Research Service. The Secure Research Service gives accredited researchers secure access to data in order to work on research projects for the public good.

Researchers approved by YEF can ask to use this archive to do more studies to find out whether St Giles’ SOS+ mentoring and similar programmes helped children. The police cannot use the information. To prevent children’s identity from being revealed, data will no longer contain personal information.

Can I change my mind during the evaluation?

Yes. You have the right to withdraw your permission for processing at any time and you don’t have to justify or explain why you are doing so if you don’t want to state your reasons. To withdraw your permission, please contact the study team at StGilesSOSeval@natcen.ac.uk.

You (and / or your parent or carer) also have the right to withdraw your contribution to this evaluation by contacting the study team by the 30th of April 2026. After this date, the data you provide has been aggregated with other responses in analyses, and we will be unable to remove your contribution from those analyses and reports. Unless the information was archived, the original data and all your personal details will not be processed from that point, and they will be erased from NatCen’s systems.

Once information goes into the YEF archive (1st of December 2026) it can no longer be deleted as that would affect the quality of the archived data for use in future research.

What are your rights under GDPR?

You have the right to:

Be informed about the collection and use of your personal data. We must provide this privacy notice to explain the purpose for processing your personal data, retention periods for your personal data, and who it will be shared with.
Request access to your personal information (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
Request correction of the personal information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected.
Rights in relation to automated decision-making and profiling. We will not use your data for automated decision making or profiling in any way.

In certain circumstances, you also have the right to:

Request erasure of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal information where you have exercised your right to object to processing (see below).
Object to processing of your personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation that makes you want to object to processing on this ground.
Request the restriction of processing of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it.
Request the transfer of your personal information to another party.

If you want to exercise any of these rights during the evaluation, including if you change your mind about taking part, please contact the study team at StGilesSOSeval@natcen.ac.uk.

If you want to exercise any of these rights after the study has finished (i.e. after the point when information has been shared with the ONS), please contact YEF. Further information on your rights once your data has been transferred to YEF for archiving and their contact details are available in YEF’s privacy notice.

Who can I contact with a query or a complaint?

We would welcome the opportunity to discuss the evaluation with you to address any concerns directly. Please do feel free to contact us if you have any questions – at 0808 281 9553.

If you believe we have not complied with your data protection rights, you can contact us at dpo@natcen.ac.uk.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office on 0303 123 1113, at https://ico.org.uk/concerns, or by writing to Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.