Policy and strategy, Document

National Office for Care and Support Engagement Privacy Notice

We use your data to improve social care in Wales. It’s handled securely under UK GDPR for all engagement activities, ensuring transparency and trust.

First published: 28 October 2025

Last updated: 28 October 2025

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What we do

The National Office for Care and Support (National Office) helps to make social care better for everyone. It aims to improve outcomes, access to care and service-user experience.

About us

The National Office works with Welsh Government Ministers and the Chief Social Care Officer to:

provide strong national leadership and strategic direction within the spirit of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014
support and enable delivery of national priorities and standards, particularly in relation to commissioning of care and support services
work closely with the 22 local authorities in Wales and the 7 Regional Partnership Boards, equally involving people who use social care services and their carers, the social care workforce, relevant professional bodies, and other key partners and stakeholders
develop and implement a National Care and Support Service for Wales

The National Office are a team within Welsh Government, working to support the Chief Social Care Officer for Wales and Welsh Government Ministers in driving positive change in social care for everyone in Wales.

Working with the sector, the National Office aims to strengthen the link between Welsh Government and the sector, working together to achieve better and more equitable outcomes, access and service-user experience for both children and adults, and their carers, accessing services in Wales.

The wider team is made up of several branches, all working on various priorities and projects which form the National Office work programme, these include:

analysis and innovation
commissioning and market oversight
paying for care and future funding
public and stakeholder engagement
national care service programme
social care Workforce and partnership
pathways of care
safeguarding and advocacy

Together, we work towards the core value statement:

“To provide a central guiding hand to the sector through driving improvement in the national delivery of social care in Wales to achieve collaboration, better and more equitable outcomes, access, and service user experience.”

How we use your information

This privacy notice outlines what you can expect when you contact the National Office and provide us with your personal information, or when we contact you in relation to delivering our key objectives as described in section 1.

When you get in touch with us, whether by phone, email, online form, or in person, we collect and process your personal data to fulfil our objectives. This includes using your information to respond to your queries, provide updates, or involve you in our work where appropriate. Similarly, when we contact you, it is to support the delivery of our statutory functions and responsibilities.

When we meet online via Microsoft Teams, we may record the meeting and keep a note of the discussions with the use of Copilot.

In our remit as the data controller, This Privacy Notice by the National Office will focus on our engagement with the following groups:

people: service users including unpaid carers, friends and family
social care service delivery leaders and key partners
the workforce and their representatives

What data will we collect?

Why we need your personal information

You need to provide personal data to access the venue and take part in the event. If you do not provide this information, we will be unable to grant access or allow you to participate.

What personal information we collect

We may collect:

name
address
business address
postcode
email address
age category (children, young people or adults)
language preference
telephone numbers

Special category data

We may collect accessibility requirements to create a safe and inclusive environment.

We may also collect information about:

dietary requirements
food intolerances or allergies (for example, dairy, nuts or gluten)
lifestyle choices (for example, vegetarian or vegan)

We collect this information to provide safe, inclusive and appropriate food options.

We will only process this data with your explicit consent. We will ask for your consent before the meeting. You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting the Welsh Government data protection officer.

What will we do with your information?

We will retain your information in a secure, well organised environment and access to it will be restricted according to the ‘need to know’ principle. In our remit as the data controller, the Welsh Government uses the information received for the below purposes. These purposes are necessary under Article 6(1)(e) of the UK GDPR processing for a task in the public interest or official authority, while Article 9(a) and Schedule 1 of the DPA 2018 to explicit consent from an individual to process their special category data for making reasonable adjustments and providing support.

The purpose if this engagement will be to:

gather ideas, collaborate, and enhance policy delivery
support and enable the delivery of national priorities and standards
sharing good practice and innovation
monitor and target funding effectively

No automated decision-making or profiling is carried out in relation to the data collected for these meetings.

You should also be aware of our responsibilities under the Freedom of Information legislation.

Who do we share your information with?

We will share your information, as necessary, with event organisers, statutory and third sector partners who are involved in the successful running of our events and engagement activities. Some data may be processed by third-party services such as Microsoft Teams, which may involve transfers outside the UK. These providers are subject to appropriate safeguards under UK GDPR, including adequacy decisions or standard contractual clauses.

How long will we keep your information?

When we use event organisers or work with partners to arrange events, your personal data will be deleted as soon as the event or project is finished.

If you participate in an event, you may be contacted for further information, your personal data will be kept for up to 3 years.

If you subscribe to our newsletter, you will have the opportunity to opt out at any time.

If you are a member of a stakeholder group, working group or forum

If you are a member of a stakeholder group we will share your e-mail address amongst other members of the group, your name and e-mail address will be kept on our database for up to 3 years after the group is finished or you leave the group.

As part of our work, we often invite stakeholders to take part in various working groups or forums. If you are asked to join a working group or put yourself forward, we will set out the terms of reference where we will provide you with a description of the group that will include:

its purpose
your role in the group
how often the group will meet and over what period
if minutes and papers of the group are published.

While you are a member of the group or forum, we will contact you to arrange meetings, to send you papers for meetings or other information that is relevant to the purpose of the group. If we wish to use your personal data for any reason other than for the purpose of your membership of the group, then we will ask you about this first. If you no longer wish to be a member of a working group, then you can contact the group secretariat to be removed.

We will retain any contact information for the life of the group, or your part in it, plus 3 years. Minutes and other papers that mention you by name will be retained in accordance with criteria set out in the Welsh Government’s retention schedule and as such, will be kept for as long as any associated documents.

To read the Welsh Government’s Privacy Notice in full please visit: www.gov.wales/welsh-government-privacy-notice

Your rights

Under data protection legislation, you have the right:

to be informed of the personal data Welsh Government holds about you and to access it
to require us to rectify inaccuracies in that data
to (in certain circumstances) object to or restrict processing
for (in certain circumstances) your data to be ‘erased’
to (in certain circumstances) data portability
to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) who is our independent regulator for data protection

Contacts

For further information about the information which the Welsh Government holds and its use, or if you wish to exercise your rights under the UK GDPR, please see contact details below: