Regulated Public Bodies Board Diversity Welsh Language Survey 2025 to 2026: privacy notice

We are conducting a survey to gather diversity and Welsh language data from members of Regulated Public Bodies’ boards. This supports the Welsh Government’s commitment under the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan to ensure senior leadership is representative and inclusive.

The Public Appointments team will be gathering information from Regulated Public Bodies about their personal characteristics. We have asked our contact in your organisation to invite you to take part in a survey in your capacity as a member of your organisations Leadership Board. 

The Welsh Government is the data controller for the research. We will not share individual board member responses with others in Welsh Government unless you ask us to.

Your participation is voluntary, but your input is important to help inform Welsh Government policies and monitor progress towards diversity and inclusion goals.

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

You have been sent this survey as a web link from a representative from your organisation, we do not have your contact details. We will not share your survey response with the individual or organisation who sent you the survey link. 

As part of this research we will be collecting the following personal data: 

• Age
• Disability
• Sex (registered at birth)
• Organisation
• Welsh language skills
• Regulated public body
• Geographical location
• email addresses are held for purposes of contacting Board members only

As well as the following special category data:

• Ethnicity
• Religion
• Gender Identity
• Sexual Identity

You do not have to answer every question. Each question includes a ‘prefer not to say’ option. If you do not wish to take part or receive reminders, please reply to the representative who sent you the survey link.

The lawful basis for processing information in this research is our public task; that is, exercising our official authority to undertake the core role and functions of the Welsh Government. Some of the data we are collecting are called ‘special category data’ (see list in section above) and the lawful basis for processing this information is that it is for statistical or research purposes.

Research such as this is important for the Welsh Government to collect information and actionable evidence about its ability to deliver government priorities. The information collected in this research will be used to understand diversity in leadership positions within Public Sector Bodies and the Welsh Government and monitor this over time.

The information collected will be used to:

• Assess the diversity of Regulated Public Bodies in Wales.
• Inform Ministerial decision-making on public appointments.
• Shape future strategies and actions.
• Enable Senedd scrutiny.
• Provide public insight into whether recruitment to public boards meets diversity priorities.

All analysis will be conducted in aggregate form. No individual will be identifiable in reports.

Personal data provided to Welsh Government is held on secure servers, and for this project a folder has been created that has access restricted only to the Public Appointments team. The data you provide will be stored in this restricted folder. 

When conducting surveys, the Welsh Government uses a survey software programme called Smart Survey. We have ensured that Smart Survey is UK GDPR compliant and meets our expectations in terms of the security of any data collected via the software.

The information collected during this exercise will be used to assess the diversity of Regulated Public Bodies in Wales, inform Ministerial decision-making on individual campaigns, shape future strategies and actions, enable Senedd scrutiny, and provide the public with insight into whether recruitment to public boards is achieving the diversity aims set as a Ministerial priority; no information that could identify individual participants will be used for these purposes.

Individual survey responses will be deleted by the Welsh Government’s Public Appointment Team within two years of the publication of the report. Survey responses will only be used for research analysis. 

Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights in relation to the personal information you provide as part of this research into the diversity of regulated Public Sector Body Boards, specifically you have the right:

• To access a copy of your own data;
• For 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); and
• 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: 

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 UK General Data Protection Regulation, please contact PublicAppointments@gov.wales.

The Welsh Government’s Data Protection Officer can be contacted at: