Guidance

Independent Review of Prevent: privacy notice

Updated 18 August 2021

When you accept to take part in the Review, we ask you to give us some of your personal details so that we can record, store and administer your comments. We also collect your personal details at other times, for example when you contact us. We are committed to keeping any information we hold about you secure, private and confidential.

This page explains why we need to collect your personal details and what we do with your personal data. It also sets out the legal basis in which we collect and use your information and outlines the rights you have over your personal data under current data protection legislation.

We are processing your personal data to obtain your views and opinions. We aim to acquire these from you, the public, and representatives of organisations and companies as part of the statutory review of the government’s strategy for supporting people vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism within the United Kingdom, under section 20 of the Counter Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019 s.20(8)-(10). Read more information about the Review

Lawful basis for processing your data

We can use your personal information for a range of reasons, called ‘lawful bases’. These are:

Public task

There are times when we need to share information with other government bodies to allow them to meet their legal obligations, for example where there is a safeguarding issue and the responsible law enforcement agency would need to know how to protect you.

Legal obligation

We may need to use your personal information to meet our legal obligations, for example to meet the requirement of the Counter-Terrorism & Border Security Act 2019 to set up an independent review of Prevent and report on the Government strategy for supporting people vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism.

Consent

We only rely on consent as a lawful basis for using your personal information in a few limited circumstances, for example if you want us to publish your name or comments that can directly or indirectly identify you. Or when you write to us requesting for information, we hold about you (Data Subject Access Request). You can withdraw your consent at any time.

Legitimate interests

We have a legitimate interest in promoting our community meetings and engagements. For this reason, we may use your personal details to send you information about our next event or meeting that we think you may be interested in. We might also invite you to take part in research or surveys to help us provide evidence based recommendations to the Government on how to improve or develop the strategy and policies that will better safeguard people from being drawn into terrorism within the United Kingdom. You can ask us to stop sending you these invitations at any time.

Details that we collect

We will ask for your opinions, and where given we will also store your full name, address, email address, job title, employer, and information that may be holding any criminal activity related data.

Your opinions are necessary to help the Independent Reviewer of Prevent to understand how well Prevent operates, and what impact it has on people’s lives.  Your knowledge, insights and/or experience will help the Review to understand more about how well Prevent, the Government’s strategy for drawing vulnerable people away from terrorism, is working.

All responses to the call(s) for evidence can be submitted anonymously. Should you choose to include personal details they will be anonymised before publication, unless we approach you asking for your permission to name you.

When you write to us making a data subject request or asking about information we hold about you; we will ask you to provide the following:

• confirmation of your identity: a copy of your passport, full driving license or birth certificate (please do not send original documents)
• proof of name and address: a copy of your full driving license, a copy of a recent utility bill, bank or credit card statement, pension or child benefit book (or similar official document which shows your name and address)
• if you are writing on behalf of someone else – a signed declaration from the person you are acting for indicating that they have asked you to make an application on their behalf

If possible, you should also send:

• details of all addresses you have used in previous correspondence, including email addresses (if applicable) so that we can search our systems.

When we collect these details

We receive your personal data through your contact with the Reviewer or Review team, when you submit information to the Review by email, via the call for evidence, or at an event or meeting.

In addition to any data you provide we may also hold data about you which has been provided to us by the Home Office, public bodies or other organisations or programmes which are or have been involved with the Prevent strategy, including as part of their statutory duties.

Our website

Our webpage on GOV.UK uses cookies and other tracking technologies to collect information. When you visit our website, you can choose to decline cookies, but some of our online tools and other processes need to use cookies to work properly. You can find out more about our cookie policy at: Cookies on GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Our webpage does not capture or store personal information, other than what you tell us when submitting a form. We may track the number of visitors to the website, but this tracking will not personally identify you. We use cookies to collect information on website usage, and to enable some of the website’s services. When you use our website, we collect information such as the browser you are using and the date, time and your IP address (a label used to identify your device on the internet).

Providing details on behalf of someone else

When you give us details about someone else, for example when you request for a joint interview with somebody else, or if you are writing on behalf of someone else, you must have their agreement to do so. You can prove you have their agreement by obtaining a signed declaration from the person you are acting for indicating that they have asked you to make an application on their behalf and other considered acceptable means.

What we do with your information

The main reasons for us to use your information would be to help the Independent Reviewer of Prevent to understand how well Prevent operates, and what impact it has on people’s lives and in supporting vulnerable individuals within the United Kingdom from being drawn into terrorism.

We may also use your information to:

• help the government to develop the strategy and policies to help safeguard people from being drawn into terrorism.
• contact you with further information on the Review (such as any updates, future events, and further opportunities to input into the Review), or if you are happy to be contacted about the response you have submitted.
• publish the responses, in full or in part. We will not publish your names or any of your identifying information unless we receive your request or permission to be named.
• contact you and provide you with the opportunity to review any of your responses as appropriate.
• carry out anonymous statistical analysis (we won’t be able to identify individuals when we do this)
• respond to you if you ask us about the information, we hold about you. You have the right to request a copy of your personal data held by us through a data subject access request (DSAR). We will respond to you within one month of receiving your request.

Who we share your details with

We use selected organisations to help us deliver what we have mandated to complete.

We may share your personal information with officials within the Home Office and other government departments and public bodies. Information shared for this purpose will not identify individuals, unless this relates to a specific safeguarding concern which we would then share, as and when necessary with the appropriate authority.

We may also share your information with, for example; law enforcement agencies, courts or other third parties to comply with our legal obligations or lawful disclosure requests.

How long we keep your information for

We store your personal information if there is an ongoing legitimate need to do so (for example, to analyse responses and understand more about how well Prevent, the Government’s strategy for drawing vulnerable people away from terrorism, is working).

Any evidence produced by the Review team, including write ups of meetings and responses from individuals and organisations to the call for evidence, will be retained in identifiable form for five calendar years after the Review has concluded (with publication of the Reviewer’s report). Currently there is a moratorium1 on the disposal of all information throughout the Home Office, including all operational records and case files. This is currently in force and will remain so until further notice. However, once this is lifted and after 5 years, all online copies will be deleted, and hard copies will be securely disposed of.

Published information will generally be retained indefinitely on the basis that the information is of historic value. This might include, for example, personal data about representatives of organisations where the representative has consented to be named. As detailed above, the Secretariat will notify those who are named and share with them excerpts in context prior to any publication. The Review will, always, gather and use information in accordance with legislative and common law duties.

Our retention approach is in line with industry best practice and in accordance with the Limitation Act 1980.

How we store your personal information

Your information is securely stored in databases located in the United Kingdom and the European Economic Area (EEA).

The Reviewer, and the Secretariat and their support, operate separately from the Home Office and store information electronically in folders on the Home Office system that cannot be accessed by officials who do not work on the Review.

At the end of the Review, evidence gathered, including public responses, may be transferred for archiving either in their electronic or physical format to a secure on site or offsite storage for example at the National Archives.

 

Your data protection rights

Under data protection law, you have rights including:

Your right of access

You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.

Your right to rectification

You have the right to ask us to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.

Your right to erasure

You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.

Your right to restriction of processing

You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.

Your right to object to processing

You have the the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.

Your right to data portability

You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.

You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.

Please contact us at enquiries@preventreview.independent.gov.uk if you wish to make a request.

 

Useful contacts

The Independent Review of Prevent is the data controller of the information we hold about you. If you have any questions or concerns about how we process your information, you can contact us or write to:

enquiries@preventreview.independent.gov.uk

or:

Data Protection Officer
Independent Review of Prevent
Second Floor,10 South Colonnade
Canary Wharf
London
E14 4QQ

You can also complain to the ICO if you are unhappy with how we have used your data.

The ICO’s address:

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

Helpline number: 0303 123 1113

ICO website: https://www.ico.org.uk