Evaluation of the Flexible Funding Programme: privacy notice

The Welsh Government have commissioned Wavehill to evaluate the ways in which the Flexible Funding programme is being implemented by local authorities across Wales. The aim of this evaluation is to provide robust and timely information on the implementation of Flexible Funding, to understand how its delivery will affect the achievement of outcomes in the longer term. 

As part of this project, you are invited to take part in a qualitative in-depth interview which will provide insights on the experiences of the ‘roll out’ of the programme providing valuable intelligence how it could best be implemented across Wales.

Based on the evaluation findings, a research report and executive summary will be published on the Welsh Government website and will be available in English and Welsh. No individuals will be identified in the reporting of the findings.

The Welsh Government is the data controller for the research. However, Wavehill will delete any personal data provided during research fieldwork. 

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

The contact for this evaluation at Wavehill is:

Simon Tanner 
Telephone: 01545 571711
Email: simon.tanner@wavehill.com  

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 Wavehill by the Welsh Government, following your approval by email to the Funding Alignment team to do this. Wavehill will contact you directly to invite you to take part in an in-depth interview with a researcher from Wavehill. 

The interview does not require you to provide any additional personal data. Any personally identifiable information that is provided will be deleted. 

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.

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. Evaluation 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 understand how to support vulnerable people and families in a more integrated and effective way.

Personal information provided to Wavehill by the Welsh Government is always stored securely. The data can only be used by a limited number of researchers who Page 2 of 4 Privacy Notice: Evaluation of the Flexible Funding Programme are working on the evaluation. Social researchers from Wavehill will only use participant contact details to contact them for research purposes. 

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

All data gathered through this research will be reported in an anonymised format. It will not contain your contact details and any identifiable information provided will be removed. Wavehill will use the information from your interview to produce a report for Welsh Government. This report will not include any information that could be used to identify individual participants. A separate dataset will not be supplied to the Welsh Government.

Wavehill will hold personal data during the contract period, and any personal data not already removed will be deleted three 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:

Sara Ahmad (Education and Public Services, Welsh Government)
Telephone: 03000 250 331
Email: sara.ahmad@gov.wales 

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