Consultation outcome

Privacy information notice (accessible version)

Updated 6 September 2021

Privacy Notice

Your personal information supplied for the purposes of the consultation will be held and processed by the Home Office. The Secretary of State for the Home Department is the controller of this information.

Data we are collecting

We have asked respondents to the consultation to voluntarily provide the following information:

• Regional geographic location;
• The capacity in which they are responding (victim of crime, legal practitioners etc); and
• Name of their organisation (if relevant).

Taken together, these data may enable a respondent to be identified. In addition, the way in which a person responds to this consultation will also impact the data we collect on them. If someone responds to the online consultation survey, we will consequently collect their IP address, and if someone responds via email, we will have collected their email address.

Your opinions are also personal data. We have requested that all responses to the free text questions remove all personally identifiable information such as names, dates and locations. However, some respondents may still provide information which could identify them.

We will not keep personal data longer than is necessary for the purpose for which they are being processed. We aim to delete IP and email addresses, and any other personal identifiable information, within one month of publishing the government’s response to the consultation.

How and why the Home Office uses your information

On 5 November 2019 the government announced a review of the pre-charge bail legislative framework. The objective of the review is to make sure we have a system that:

• prioritises the safety of victims and witnesses;
• supports the effective management of investigations;
• respects the rights of individuals under investigation, victims and witnesses to timely decisions and updates; and
• supports the timely progression of cases to courts.

The public consultation exercise is a central part of the review.

During the consultation period we intend to engage with a wide range of external stakeholders including the police, victims, groups who advocate for and provide services to support victims of crime, the judiciary, academics, legal representatives and individuals who have been under investigation.

The Home Office collects and processes personal information to enable it to carry out its statutory and other functions. The Home Office is only allowed to process your data where there is a lawful basis for doing so. In this case the Home Office, as a government department, may process personal data to effectively complete a public task i.e. the consultation. Under this basis we consider the processing to be necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest.

If respondents provide the information we request, we will use this to understand the geographic spread of respondents and to see if there are significant differences between types of respondents, for example, do police officers have different views to civil society groups on whether pre-charge bail conditions are effective. We may illustrate findings through quotes provided to the consultation. We will ensure these are anonymised and do not include any personally identifiable information.

We will publish high-level analysis, including breakdowns by the data we collect and the organisations who have responded, in the government response to this consultation. This will help us and those reading the government response understand how views differ across different groups.

What we will not do

We will not publish IP or email addresses, or any personal information inadvertently provided in the free text responses.

For the purposes of this consultation, the Home Office will not share your information with other organisations, nor will we send your personal data overseas. Your personal data will not be used for any automated decision making.

More information about the ways in which the Home Office may use your personal information, including the purposes for which we use it and the legal basis, can be found in the Home Office personal information charter.

Storing your information

Your personal information will be held on a secure government IT system for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it is being processed and in line with departmental retention policy. More details of this policy can be found in the Home Office personal information charter.

Requesting access to your personal data

You have the right to request access to the personal information the Home Office holds about you. Details of how to make the request can be found in the Home Office personal information charter.

Posted consultation responses may not always be identifiable as personal data is not requested. Where a data access request for a posted response is received and is identifiable this will be processed as any other request for access to personal data. Where the response is not identifiable you will receive a response stating this.

Other rights

Because we are processing your personal data under the legal basis of public task, you have the following rights:

1. To object to and restrict the use of your personal information, or to ask to have your data corrected; and

2. To contact the Home Office’s Data Protection Officer if you have questions or concerns about how we are processing your personal data.

Reporting a concern

Email: dpo@homeoffice.gov.uk

Telephone: 020 7035 6999

Or write to:

Office of the DPO
Home Office
Peel Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF

When we process your information, we will comply with the law, including data protection legislation. Should you feel that your data is being processed in breach of data protection law or other legislation, you can report your concern to our Data Protection Officer using the contact details provided above, or contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at:

Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 08456 30 60 60 or 01625 54 57 45.

Fax: 01625 524510

You can also visit the Information Commissioner’s Office website.

Questions or concerns about personal data

If you have any further questions or concerns about the collection, use or disclosure of your personal information please contact the Home Office vthe personal information charter.