Research into CYA’s Forging Futures programme: Privacy Information Notice

Data protection legislation and personal data

Data protection legislation determines how, when and why any organisation can process personal data. ‘Personal data’ means any information which can identify someone. ‘Processing’ means any actions performed on personal data, including: collection, storage, alteration or deletion. These laws exist to ensure that your data are managed safely and used responsibly. They also provide you with certain rights in respect of your data and creates a responsibility on the Youth Futures Foundation (YFF) and the research organisations it works with to provide you with certain information.

This privacy notice sets out the legal basis for processing data in relation to this research project, which is being completed by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES). This includes who will have access to your personal data, how your data will be used, stored and deleted, your legal rights and who you can contact if you have a query or a complaint.

The legal basis for processing personal data

The legal basis under which IES processes personal data and ‘special category data’, such as information about your health and well-being, criminal allegations, proceedings or convictions, racial or ethnic origin, is to fulfil YFF’s legitimate interests as funder of the Forging Futures programme from 2023-2024.

This legal justification applies to this research project, which is a pilot evaluation and feasibility of impact evaluation study for the Forging Futures Programme at CYA, examining how it works to improve education, employment and training (EET) outcomes for young people with multiple or complex needs, as well as contribute to a range of intermediate outcomes relating to skills, confidence, resilience, and wellbeing. The study will involve IES leading analysis of participant Management Information and survey data collected by CYA, conducting in-depth interviews with Forging Futures programme participants, staff and partner organisations / employers, as well as shadowing of case workers.

IES will analyse an anonymised version of the participant and survey data held by CYA collected from enrolment to leaving the Forging Futures programme. IES will receive information covering personal characteristics (e.g. gender, age, ethnicity, SEN/disability) and individual needs (e.g. health, substance misuse, housing situation, involvement in the criminal justice system), support received, and activities undertaken through Forging Futures, EET outcomes and destination for all participants who provide consent. Your data will be anonymised by CYA before it is shared with IES, meaning it will not contain any personal details such as your name, address or date of birth. Despite this, you may still be identifiable based on the potentially unique set of information held about you. This data will be transferred and held securely on IES servers. It will not be published in this format at any time.

IES will use the participant data to do the following:

• Understand the experience and outcomes of participants on the Forging Futures programme based on their initial support needs.
• Select young people to invite to take part in interviews about their experience and outcomes.

If you are selected to be invited to interview, interviews will be arranged by CYA and your name will be supplied to IES. Interviews with young people will mainly be face-to-face and so your contact details (i.e. email address) will only be shared with IES if you prefer a telephone/video call interview which needs to be arranged with you directly or if we need to follow up with you. This personal information will only be processed for the purposes of completing this research. Participation in the research is completely voluntary – just because you are contacted, does not mean that you have to take part and you can decline the invitation without having to give a reason.

We will be observing case workers providing support, information, advice and guidance to young people. Personal data about the young person will not be collected but we will provide an information sheet and seek consent via a consent form. When IES researchers conduct observations of CYA staff at work, some interviews with young people may be conducted ad hoc, with their consent. If you agree to this you may choose to share additional personal data during the short interview (e.g. about personal circumstances, age). We will not record your name and will instead use an ID number.

Who will have access to my personal data?

If you take part in interviews arranged by IES or needing follow-up from IES, your contact details will be stored on the IES encrypted server, with access restricted solely to members of the research team at IES. Even after these contacts details have been shared with the research team, you are free to withdraw from the research and can decline to take part in an interview without having to give a reason.

If you agree to take part in a research interview, any information you provide will be summarised in an anonymised format – this means we will remove any information that could be used to identify you. 

How will my data be treated?

If you are invited and choose to take part in an interview, the information you give will only be used for purposes of this study. IES will produce progress reports summarising the main findings from the interviews. These will be shared with YFF but are not intended for wider publication, though they could be shared with other stakeholders. You will not be named in the reports, nor will any information be included that could reveal your identity.

When the interviews are completed, we will produce a final report drawing together the findings from the evaluation. No information that can identify you will be included in this report. The report will be made publicly available on the YFF, IES and CYA websites. It will be accompanied by three young people case studies. These will summarise the experiences of three participants of Forging Futures, including information about their personal circumstances, support received and EET outcomes. The case studies will be fully anonymised so that the participants cannot be identified in any way. We will also produce a final report on feasibility to take forward a further evaluation which will be shared with YFF.

Data protection law requires that personal data are kept for no longer than is necessary. We will anonymise the information you provide as soon as we practically can (i.e. within 2 weeks of the interview date). The personal data we used to contact you will be securely deleted from the IES systems six months after the project is complete (currently estimated to be May 2025).

At the end of the research period, numeric participant data will be transferred to the YFF data depository; that is, information covering personal characteristics (gender, age, ethnicity etc), Forging Futures support received, outcomes and destination. It will not contain any identifiers such as names, address, contact information or the code-identifier that CYA uses. Despite this, you may still be identifiable based on the potentially unique set of information held about you. When it processes your data, IES will take action to minimise the risk that you could be identified indirectly. The data from the interviews will not be transferred to YFF. The data stored in the YFF data depository will only be used for research purposes that have been approved by YFF. More specifically:

Your data will be securely shared with the project funders, Youth Futures Foundation, to be held in a data depository for the purposes of evaluation and research to help young people.  To fulfil these purposes, the data may also be shared with other organisations who manage the archive, evaluate outcomes or conduct further research that is associated with Youth Futures’ vision and values.  Youth Futures will process your data in accordance with data protection law which includes keeping it secure and only using it where there is a fair and lawful basis to do so.  For more information, please see Youth Futures’ privacy policy.  

Who can I contact if I would like to withdraw my interview or participant data?

You have rights under data protection law to make the following requests the personal data held about you that is being processed for this research, including:

■    to request access to this data

■    to amend any incorrect or inaccurate information

■    to restrict or object to your data being processed

■    to destroy this data

■    to move, copy or transfer your data.

You have the right to withdraw the information you have provided as part of the interviews up to 2 weeks after the interview date. After this point the information will have been anonymised and will no longer be treated as personal data.

If you have taken part in an interview but would like your data withdrawn or have consented to share data CYA hold about you and want to change your mind, please contact: Lorraine.lanceley@employment-studies.co.uk

If you have any questions about how your data will be used, please contact Lorraine Lanceley, Project Manager at IES: Lorraine.lanceley@employment-studies.co.uk

Who can I contact with a complaint?

Further information on the rights available to you is also available from the Information Commissioner’s Office - the independent body responsible for regulating data protection within the UK. They can also deal with any complaints you may have regarding our use of your data:

■    Tel: 0303 123 1113

■    Email: casework@ico.org.uk

■    Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF