Citizens Survey: privacy notice

The Welsh Government have commissioned Beaufort Research to undertake a Citizens Survey of people living in South Wales and the Valleys.

The aim of this research is to understand citizens’ experiences of living and working in this area and to gain a sense of how aware people are of the work of the Valleys Taskforce. The survey aims to understand a number of key topic areas concerning jobs, skills, people’s feelings towards their public services and their local community. The information collected during the project will be included in a report published on the Welsh Government website.

The information collected during the project will be included in a report published on the Welsh Government website and possibly in other publications by Beaufort Research and Welsh Government.

The Welsh Government is the data controller for the research. However, Beaufort will delete any personal data provided through the interviews and surveys, and anonymise the raw data, before it is shared with the Welsh Government.

Participation is completely voluntary. However your views and experiences are important in order to help inform Welsh Government policies.

The contact for this survey at Beaufort is Chris Timmins, telephone: 029 2037 0606, email: chris@beaufortresearch.co.uk. 

Personal data is defined under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as “any information relating to an identifiable person who can be directly or indirectly identified by reference to an identifier”.

Your contact details were provided to Beaufort by the Welsh Government. These details were originally provided when you took part in the National Survey for Wales and also agreed to be re-contacted for the purposes of further research at a later date.

The survey does not require the collection of any additional personal data. However, if personal data is provided in open ended question responses, we do not try and identify you from, or link your identity to, the responses you provide.

If you raise a query or complaint and provide personal data requesting a response, the researcher will forward the request only to the relevant official and subsequently delete it from the research data.

On receipt of the raw survey data, any personally identifiable information will be deleted and results will be made anonymous.

The lawful basis of processing information in this data collection exercise is our public task; that is, exercising our official authority to undertake the core role and functions of the Welsh Government.

Participation is completely voluntary. Research studies such as this are important for the Welsh Government to collect information and actionable evidence about its ability to deliver government priorities. For example, the information collected might be used:

• to decide how to manage communications around the work of the Valleys Taskforce
• to understand how successful the work of the Valleys Taskforce has been
• to understand the experiences of people who live in the Valleys

Personal information provided to Beaufort Research by the Welsh Government is always immediately transferred to Beaufort’s secure network, specifically to an area in which only authorised individuals have access. The data can only be used by a limited number of researchers who are working on the research. Beaufort social researchers will only use participant contact details to contact them for research purposes.

Beaufort have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected data security breaches. If a suspected breach occurs, Beaufort will report this to the Welsh Government who will notify you and any applicable regulator where we are legally required to do so. Beaufort has Cyber Essentials certification.

All data gathered through this survey will be held in an anonymised format. It will not contain your contact details and any identifiable information in open-ended answers will be removed.

Beaufort will use the data to produce a report for Welsh Government. This report will not include any information that could be used to identify individual participants.

Beaufort Research will hold personal data during the contract period, and any personal data not already removed from survey responses will be deleted 3 months after the end of the contract.

Under GDPR, you have the following rights in relation to the personal information you provide as part of this evaluation, you have the right to:

• access a copy of your own data
• require us to rectify inaccuracies in that data
• to object to or restrict processing (in certain circumstances)
• for your data to be ‘erased’ (in certain circumstances)
• to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) who is our independent regulator for data protection

The contact details for the Information Commissioner’s Office are: Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Phone: 01625 545 745 or 0303 123 1113. Website: www.ico.gov.uk. 

The Welsh Government is committed to handling your personal data safely, securely and only for as long as we need. 

If you have any concerns about how we use your personal data, we encourage you to raise them with the relevant team in the first instance. 

You can also contact the Data Protection Officer by emailing DataProtectionOfficer@gov.wales  or writing to the DPO at: 

Welsh Government 
Cathays Park 
Cardiff 
CF10 3NQ

If you wish to make a formal complaint about how the Welsh Government has processed your personal data, you can complain about Welsh Government.

We will acknowledge your complaint and respond within an appropriate timescale, in line with data protection legislation and our complaints process.

If you have any further questions about how the data provided as part of this study will be used by the Welsh Government or wish to exercise your rights using the General Data Protection Regulation, please contact:

Launa Anderson (Knowledge and Analytical Services, Welsh Government)
Telephone: 0300 025 9274
Email: Launa.Anderson@gov.wales 

The Welsh Government’s Data Protection Officer can be contacted at: Welsh Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ. Email: DataProtectionOfficer@gov.wales.