Privacy

LLWR Privacy Notice 2010/11: Short Version

We will send some of the information we hold about you to the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG). This information forms your learner record held by WAG. The learner record held by WAG is used by WAG and the third parties detailed below for four broad purposes:

  1. For WAG, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, Estyn, and the Wales Audit Office to carry out their statutory functions.
  2. For WAG to produce anonymised data in statistical publications.
  3. For third parties, such as further education sector bodies, to use anonymised data to carry out research or equal opportunities monitoring that WAG deems to be in the public interest. This information may be published.
  4. Occasionally WAG may allow third parties acting on its behalf access to learner records including personal identifiers only to assist in linking learner records for the purpose of statistical research. Contractors will be required to sign confidentiality agreements in relation to the data, demonstrate that they operate satisfactory information security procedures, and destroy their copies of the data following conclusion of the research project.

The data you supply will also be used by the Managing Information Across Partners (MIAP) service only to issue you with a Unique Learner Number (ULN) and share information about your learning with organisations linked to your education and training. Further details of how your data is processed and shared can be found at www.miap.gov.uk.

Your contact details may be passed to survey contractors to carry out the Learner Voice Survey, or other surveys related to education functions on behalf of the organisations listed above. These contractors will use your details only for that purpose, and will then delete them. If you do not want to take part in these surveys, please let us know.

Your rights

Under the Data Protection Act 1998, you have rights of access to the data WAG holds about you. You may have to pay a small fee for this. For further information please email llwr@wales.gsi.gov.uk.

LLWR Privacy Notice 2010/11: Long Version

We will send some of the information we hold about you to the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG). This information forms your learner record held by WAG, which is used for four broad purposes:

  1. Statutory functions
    The learner record held by WAG is used by the organisations listed below, or agents acting on their behalf, to carry out their statutory functions connected with education in Wales.

    • Welsh Assembly Government
    • Higher Education Funding Council for Wales
    • Estyn (Her Majesty’s Inspectorate for Education and Training in Wales)

    The data may also be used by the Wales Audit Office to fulfil its statutory functions of audit and inspection of public services.

  2. WAG publications
    The learner record held by WAG is used to produce anonymised data in annual statistical publications. These include some National Statistics publications and online management information services.
  3. Research, equal opportunity, journalism, other legitimate interest/public function
    WAG will also supply anonymised data to third parties for the following purposes. This information may be published.

    • Equal opportunities monitoring – Your learner record may contain details of your ethnic group and any disabilities you have. This data is only used where it is neededto promote or maintain equality of opportunity or treatment between persons ofdifferent racial or ethnic origins, religious beliefs or different states of physical or mental conditions.
    • Research – This may be academic research, commercial research or other statistical research into education that WAG deems to be in the public interest. Anonymised data for the above purposes is supplied by WAG to the following types of user.
    • Local, regional and national government bodies who have an interest in further education.
    • Further education sector bodies (including Sector Skills Councils)
    • Further education institutions and other training providers
    • Academic researchers and students
    • Commercial organisations (e.g. recruitment firms, housing providers, employers)
    • Unions
    • Non-governmental organisations and charities
    • Journalists
  4. In certain circumstances WAG will allow access to learner records including personal identifiers (such as names) for a limited time to academics or commercial organisations acting on its behalf. This will only be to assist in linking the learner record held by WAG to another source (for example school records) to enable statistical research. Any statistical publications based on such research will contain anonymised data, and the contractors will be required to sign confidentiality agreements in relation to the data, demonstrate that they operate satisfactory information security procedures, and destroy their copies of the data following conclusion of the research project.

The data you supply will also be passed to the Managing Information Across Partners (MIAP) service for the purpose of allocating you a Unique Learner Number (ULN) and creation of your Personal Learning Record. The ULN is used to enable collection and sharing of data within the education sector in support of learning programmes such as the Qualification and Credit Framework, Welsh Baccalaureate and the Credit and Qualification Framework for Wales. The Personal Learning Record will be a lifelong record of your learning and qualifications, which will be accessible to you and to organisations linked to your education and training. You can control how you share your Personal Learning Record with learning providers and other third parties such as employers or careers advisors. For further details of how your data is shared and used by MIAP, and how to change who has access to your record, please see the MIAP website at www.miap.gov.uk. Your contact details may be passed to survey contractors to carry out the Learner Voice Survey, or other surveys related to education functions on behalf of the organisations listed above. These contractors will use your details only for that purpose, and will then delete them. If you do not want to take part in these surveys, please let us know.

Your rights

The Data Protection Act 1998 gives individuals certain rights in respect of the personal data held on them. Whilst not intending to be exhaustive, examples of these rights include:

  • The right for any personal data held about you to be processed fairly and lawfully.
  • The right to ask for and receive copies of the personal data the Welsh Assembly Government holds about you (you may have to pay a small fee for this), although some information can sometimes be legitimately withheld.
  • The right, in some circumstances, to prevent the processing of personal data if doing so will cause damage or distress.
  • The right to ask for wrong information to be put right.

You also have the right to ask the Information Commissioner, who enforces and oversees the Data Protection Act 1998, to assess whether or not the processing of your personal data is likely to comply with the provisions of the Act. For further information about the personal data collected and its use and if you have any concerns about the accuracy of personal data or wish to exercise any of your rights under the Data Protection Act 1998, you should contact:

  • Data Management Section, IMS Branch, Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills, Welsh Assembly Government, Second Floor, Ffynnon Las, The Orchards, Ilex Close, Llanishen, Cardiff CF14 5EZ. Email: LLWR@Wales.GSI.Gov.UK
  • The Welsh Assembly Government’s Data Protection Officer at Welsh Assembly Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ. Email: DataProtectionOfficer@Wales.GSI.Gov.UK
  • The Information Commissioners Office can be contacted on 01625 545745 or via the web at www.ico.gov.uk

All requests to the Welsh Assembly Government for the disclosure of information (including that you provide in relation to your learner record) will be considered in accordance with the Assembly’s Code of Practice on Access to Information (‘the Code’) and the Assembly’s statutory obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) and Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA). The Code reflects the Assembly’s approach to open government and provides guidance on how the Assembly will respond to requests for information from members of the public whether they fall under the FOIA, EIR or DPA.

MIAP ULN: it will be necessary for some Learners to be given an ULN in order for them to follow and receive awards for QCF courses or the Welsh Baccalaureate. Some Providers have taken the view that if learner numbers are low it is simpler to provide these learners only with information about the MIAP Privacy Notice (see under Data Management or Documents on the MIAP web site).