Process Evaluation of the Extended and More Flexible Government Traineeships Programme: Privacy Notice

In line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), in this privacy notice for research participants, we explain the legal basis for data processing for this process evaluation of an extended and more flexible Traineeships programme. This includes who will have access to your personal data, how your data will be used, stored and deleted and who you can contact with a query or a complaint.

What is the legal basis for processing my data?

This evaluation is being carried out by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) and Ipsos MORI who have been commissioned by the Department for Education (DfE) to undertake the evaluation on its behalf.

The DfE is the data controller for this project. This means that they are responsible for deciding the purpose and legal basis for processing personal data.  

For this project, the legal basis for processing data is Article 6(1)(e) of the General Data Protection Regulation where “processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the [data] controller”.

More information about how the DfE handles personal information is published here

IES and Ipsos MORI are data processors. Under the Data Protection Act 2018, you are entitled to ask if we hold information relating to you and ask for a copy, by making a ‘subject access request’.

You can contact the project managers at IES and Ipsos MORI with any questions about the evaluation and the processing of data at rosie.gloster@employment-studies.co.uk or at Catherine.Crick@ipsos.com  

For further information and how to request your data, please use the ‘contact form’ in the Personal Information Charter under the ‘How to find out what personal information we hold about you’ section.

If you need to contact DfE regarding any of the above, please do so via the DfE website:

Further information about your data protection rights appears on the Information Commissioner’s website.

About IES

IES is an independent, not-for-profit centre for research and evidence-based consultancy in employment, labour market and human resource policy and practice.

About Ipsos MORI

Market & Opinion Research International Limited is a specialist research agency, commonly known as “Ipsos MORI”. Ipsos MORI is part of the Ipsos worldwide group of companies, and a member of the Market Research Society.

Who will have access to my personal data?

The DfE will share data with IES and Ipsos MORI for the purposes of evaluation. This will include:

■  The names and contact details of employers that have offered traineeship placements since September 2020, and employers that have submitted incentive claims.

■  The names and contact details of a sample of providers who have been awarded a contract to deliver traineeships.

If you are a trainee or employer, the further education college or training provider you are working with will share, with your permission (or if you are aged 16-18 with yours and your parent/carer’s permission), your data with a limited number of staff within IES and Ipsos MORI for evaluation purposes. This will mean that IES and Ipsos MORI will have access to:

■  Information on a sample of participating employers: employer name, name, and role of key contact(s), contact details (email and telephone)

■  Information on trainees: name, email address, contact telephone number, age group (eg 16-18 or 19+), sector in which their traineeship is taking place.

If you are a trainee, we may also ask you about your ethnicity, sex, your previous qualifications, whether you have any learning difficulties or disabilities, age, and details of the employer hosting your traineeship placement (name of employer, key contact’s name and email). However, there is no obligation to provide any of this information. 

IES and Ipsos MORI will use these data for the evaluation to invite a selection of participants to take part in a research interview or, for trainees, contribute their experiences of the traineeship via AppLife, an online app-based diary. Trainees taking part in AppLife will be asked to share information about their experience of the traineeship in written format, through photos, pictures, or short video clips.

■   We will ask trainees not to share photos, pictures, or videos of other people.

■   Applife has a function to retrieve and send location details using Global Positioning System, but this function will not be enabled for this project, so the app will not collect any location data.

■   Applife may access your photo library, camera, and/or microphone to allow you to upload videos and photos as part of the app diary. Your phone will ask you for permission when this is needed.

■   For more information on Applife’s functions, and the terms and conditions of using it, please see its privacy policy here: http://site.ipsos-nederland.nl/terms/applife/

How will my interview data be treated?

If you are invited and choose to take part in an interview for the evaluation, the data you give will be used for research purposes only. Your data will be stored in a secure folder on our server that can only be accessed by the evaluation team. None of the information you provide will be shared directly with other organisations involved in the traineeship (trainee, employer, provider or any other organisation), nor will any individual feedback be passed on to DfE.  IES and Ipsos MORI will produce a report that summarises the main findings from all the interviews with project participants. Individuals will not be named, and no information will be included which could reveal your identity.

Your personal information will be securely deleted from the IES and Ipsos MORI systems two months after the project is complete and the final report has been published (estimated to be November 2021). Interview and video recordings and notes will be kept for a year after the report is published.

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

You have the to right to have your interview information deleted. If you have taken part in an interview or in the online app-based diary, but would like to withdraw your data (up to 3rd September 2021), please contact: rosie.gloster@employment-studies.co.uk

Who can I contact with a query about how my data will be used?

If you have any questions about how your data will be used, please contact us and enter Traineeships Process Evaluation 20-21/027 as a reference. For the Data Protection Officer (DPO) please contact us via gov.uk and mark it for the attention of the ‘DPO’.

Who can I contact with a complaint?

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office if you have any concerns about how your personal information has been handled at www.ico.org.uk