Guidance

Privacy statement: Ofqual subject matter specialists

Updated 15 August 2023

Applies to England

As part of our recruitment of subject matter specialists’ procedure, Ofqual collects and processes personal data relating to applicants. Ofqual is committed to being transparent about how it collects and uses your personal data and to meeting our data protection obligations.

Why we process your personal data (the legal basis)

Ofqual needs to process your personal data to take specific steps prior to entering into a contract (whether or not a contract is entered into) with you. We will also process your personal data when we enter into a contract with you.

Ofqual has a legitimate interest in processing personal data during the subject matter specialist recruitment process and for keeping records of that process.

Processing your personal data from the subject matter specialist application allows Ofqual to manage the recruitment process effectively and to assess and confirm your suitability as a subject matter specialist. We carry out identification checks as well as right to work checks to support our statutory objective to maintain public confidence in qualifications and where appropriate to support commissioning work.

If your application is successful, we may also ask for further information about any court judgements, legal proceedings, or bankruptcies you have disclosed as part of our due diligence processes.

Sometimes, we will need to process your personal data to comply with our legal obligations. We may process sensitive information such as data relating to health to make reasonable adjustments.

We publish your name and selected details about your background if your application is successful, as set out in the terms and conditions. Your information may also be used for promotional purposes, but we will seek your consent prior to use of your information as part of a promotion activity.

Ofqual is committed to recruiting specialists from diverse communities and backgrounds, so it is important that we monitor and analyse equality and diversity information so that we can ensure that our processes are fair, transparent and promote equality of opportunity. As this is regarded as sensitive data, we rely on processing this information where it is necessary for the purposes of identifying or keeping under review the existence or absence of equality of opportunity or treatment between groups of people. This information is only reported anonymously, reflecting the full pool of specialists, and individual responses will not be shared internally or externally.

We will collect information on your performance from the person you have worked with at Ofqual. This information will be used as part of the shortlisting process for future pieces of work and when deciding whether to renew existing subject matter specialists’ contracts. The information collected includes:

• quality of work
• working independently
• working to time
• working to specification
• professionalism

You can view all feedback collected on your performance through your account on the Ofqual system.

What personal data we process

Ofqual collects a range of information about you when you apply to become a subject matter specialist and when managing your contract while working for us as a subject matter specialist. Most of the information will be contained in your application form or obtained as part of the recruitment process and during the management of the contract. This includes:

• your name, address and contact details, including email address and telephone number
• details of your knowledge and experience, qualifications and employment history
• information about your right to work in the UK
• information proving your identity (passport and other identity documentation)
• if successful, we will also need to ask for your bank details in order to ensure you receive payment for the work undertaken
• details of any reasonable adjustments that enable you to participate in the application process, and as a specialist, if your application is successful

Ofqual collects this information using our online application form and any communication you have with us via the Ofqual system. Your information will be stored on Ofqual’s system. Your details will not be shared, sold, or used for any other purpose.

As part of the recruitment process, you will be asked to create a GOV.UK One Login account if you do not already have one. This will enable you to access our subject matter specialist system using your GOV.UK One Login account. Each time you sign in, we will receive a unique identifier to inform us that you have successfully signed in. This unique identifier will be retained for a short period of time (30 days) after which it is securely deleted. Please note that we will never have access to your GOV.UK One Login username or password. For more details of how GOV.UK One Login processes your personal information including sharing information with Ofqual, please see the GOV.UK One Login privacy notice.

We will also collect any other information that you expressly permit GOV.UK One Login to share with us. We do not share any of your personal information with GOV.UK One Login unless necessary such as to prevent fraud.

Who we share your personal data with

Your personal data may be shared internally for the purposes of the recruitment exercise. This includes members of staff involved in the evaluation and moderation of your application and those who administer the external application process.

Where necessary, personal data will also be shared with Ofqual staff involved in the commissioning and allocation of work; this will include your full contact details and may include any feedback on your file relating to your performance on previous assignments. As part of your commission, Ofqual staff will need to contact you to arrange meetings and for you to provide feedback. Occasionally, we will share your information with our legal and procurement teams to provide us with advice regarding contractual issues.

We will also share and collect personal data about you from third parties, such as references supplied by those people you have listed as referees. Ofqual may also seek information from third parties throughout the application process; we will inform you when we do this.

In some circumstances, we may be required to share your information with other authorities to fulfil our legal obligations.

How long we keep your personal data for

Your personal data will be stored on our online application system, in our secure document management system and our email system.

• Partially completed applications will be deleted from Ofqual’s systems after 6 months of the last updated date.
• If your application is unsuccessful, Ofqual will keep your data on file for 12 months from the date of receipt – at the end of that period, your data is deleted.
• If your application to become a subject matter specialist, or to renew your tenure, is successful, personal data gathered during the application process will be retained on Ofqual’s system throughout your tenure with Ofqual, plus an additional 2 years where you have not provided any services to us. Where you have provided services, Ofqual will retain relevant information for an additional 6 years.
• Applications for additional expertise will be added to your individual file and retained throughout your tenure, plus 2 or 6 years depending on whether you have provided services to Ofqual.
• If you request to withdraw your application to become a subject matter specialist, your data will be removed within 14 calendar days from the receipt of the request.

Your rights

Under the data protection legislation you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. You can:

• access and obtain a copy of your data on request
• require Ofqual to change incorrect or incomplete data
• require Ofqual to delete or stop processing your data, for example where the data is no longer necessary for the purposes of processing

However, due to the purposes for which Ofqual may be processing your personal data, we may not be able to comply with some requests due to our legal or contractual obligations.

You are under no statutory or contractual obligation to provide data to Ofqual during the application process. However, if you do not provide the information, Ofqual will not be able to process your application properly or at all.

How Ofqual protects your personal data

All Ofqual staff are required to respect the personal data and privacy of others and must ensure that appropriate protection and security measures are taken against unlawful or unauthorised processing of personal data. This includes controls to protect against the accidental loss of, or damage to personal data and to ensure that personal data is not accessed except by our employees in the proper performance of their duties.

The data protection legislation includes provisions that promote accountability, good information governance and data security. Ofqual has technical, procedural, administrative controls and processes in place to make sure your personal data is protected; these are supported and underpinned by a number of information assurance and security policies and guidance.

For more information, please contact Ofqual’s Data Protection Officer.

Data protection requests

Data protection officer, Ofqual
2nd floor, 1 Friargate
Station Square
Coventry
CV1 2GN

Email dp.requests@ofqual.gov.uk

Contact form https://ofqual.citizen...

For queries about personal data Ofqual holds about you.

Making a complaint

If you believe that Ofqual has not complied with your data protection rights, please contact Ofqual’s Data Protection Officer in the first instance. Or if you wish to make a formal complaint to Ofqual about how we process your personal data, please visit our complaints procedure page.

You also have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at:

The Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone 0303 123 1113

Visit the ICO website