Prison Security Investment Programme (SIP) Evaluation

Privacy notice

In line with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), there are certain things that we need to let you, a research participant, know about 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 who you can contact with a query or a complaint.

The Ministry of Justice is the data controller of this information. This includes when it is collected or processed by third parties on their behalf. More information about the Ministry of Justice and how the data will be controlled can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-ofjustice. The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) is the data processor, responsible for the collection, processing and storage of the data. Further information on NatCen and their policies can be found at www.natcen.ac.uk.

Further information about the Ministry of Justice and how the data will be controlled can be found here (pdf). 

How and why the Ministry of Justice uses your information

The Ministry of Justice collects, processes and shares personal information to enable it to carry out its statutory and other functions. The Ministry of Justice is only allowed 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 1e.

As part of this research we will also be collecting data about your ethnicity. Under GDPR, ethnicity is considered special category data. An additional condition is therefore needed to process this data, which in this case is ‘explicit consent’.. This means that you have given your consent for this data to be used for this research, and we will only process that data with your consent. You can change your mind without giving a reason for up to two weeks after the interview / focus group has been completed, by contacting the NatCen research team via email to SIPevaluation@natcen.ac.uk or telephone on 0808 178 9051.

Who will access personal data?

NatCen are carrying out this research. If required to arrange the interviews and focus groups they will have access to contact information shared by the prison with your consent and via a secure File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or by telephone. NatCen will also have access to the recordings and transcripts of interviews and focus groups, and fieldwork notes including of the observations. The recordings and transcripts will not be given to the prison or the Ministry of Justice.

McGowan Transcriptions is the transcription service we use to transcribe our interview data. They will have access to recordings and transcriptions (written accounts) from all interviews and focus groups. McGowan Transcriptions is on our approved supplier list and compliant with all of our information security policies.

How will the data be used?

The data collected will be used for research purposes only. All personal information, and any other data held on the project, will be securely deleted once the project has been completed.

Information and opinions gathered from the observations, interviews and focus groups with prison staff and prisoners will be used to inform our evaluation. All data will be treated with the strictest confidence. The findings of this evaluation will not be attributed to specific prisons or the individuals who take part, and no prison or individual will be directly identified in any report arising from the research.

Although the findings of this research will not be attributed to specific prisons or individuals, the internal MoJ SIP evaluation team have been involved in the recruitment of prisons and will therefore know what prisons have opted in to take part. There are a small number of individuals who will be spoken with and others may also know if you choose to take part in the evaluation. This includes the person who invited you to take part in this research and other staff at the prison involved in setting up the interviews. Therefore it may be possible that 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 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 overseas servers. All personal data will be securely deleted once the project has been completed.

Requesting access to your personal data

You can request access to your personal data and for it to be deleted or updated by NatCen, as well as an explanation of how it has been used, at any time before it has been destroyed. Rights requests will be responded to within 30 days. Analysis produced from personal data is not personal data, and the process of removing identifiable information is not reversible. 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've made cannot be complied with. If you would like to make a request about your data, please get in touch with Nathan Hudson (Research Director at NatCen) 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 SIPevaluation@natcen.ac.uk or telephone on 0808 178 9051, or by post to SIP research team, National Centre for Social Research, 35 Northampton Square London EC1V OAX.
  • If you prefer to speak to somebody at the MoJ or you believe the evaluation has not complied with your data protection rights, you can contact:

Emailprivacy@justice.gov.uk
Post: 3rd Floor, 10 South Colonnade,
         Canary Wharf,
         London E14 4PU

Under GDPR, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office if your query is not satisfactorily addressed. You can lodge a complaint at:

Post: Information Commissioner's Office Wycliffe House,
         Water Lane,
         Wilmslow
         Cheshire SK9 5AF

Phone: 0303 123 1113

Websitehttps://ico.org.uk/concerns