Guidance

DSIT Public Engagement Survey: Privacy Notice

Published 8 September 2025

This notice sets out how we will process your personal data, and your rights. It is made under Articles 13 and/or 14 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).  

The DSIT Public Engagement Survey is a statistical survey of UK adults aged 16 and over on their engagement with science and technology. Results from the survey will be published annually as official statistics. The statistics produced will not identify you or anyone in your household. Your answers will be combined with those of all others who take part in the survey.   

DSIT is the data controller for this research, Verian, a third-party data processor, administers the survey on DSIT’s behalf and carries out statistical analyses of the survey results in accordance with our instructions.

For this purpose, Verian contracts two sub-processors  

• “Bright Marketing Research” to administer online data collection and processing of survey data (e.g. data cleaning actions) 

• “Greens Ltd” to print survey invitations and administer paper questionnaires. 

Verian has a contract with “Merit Incentives” (Merit) as its corporate incentive supplier. No personal data is shared with Merit. Merit will only process data that is directly provided to them by participants that choose to receive an email incentive through the Merit portal.

1. Your data

We will process the following personal data within the online and paper versions of this survey. 

• Postal addresses of households randomly selected to participate in the survey 

• Names and contact details (including email addresses) provided by participants who have given permission to be re-contacted by Verian (if Verian need to come back to check any of the answers given in the survey). This would be in the unlikely case of a programming script error in the online survey where Verian would recontact affected respondents as soon as possible during fieldwork to ask them any missed questions.

• Postal addresses of participants who have requested to not to be contacted again relating to this survey in the current survey year. 

• (Online format only) IP address, browser and device specifications used to detect duplicate or fraudulent responses. 

• (Online format only) email addresses, where participants have requested to receive instructions for claiming incentives via email.  

We will process the following special category data: 

• Personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin 

• Data concerning health  

Providing the special category data is completely optional. If you choose not to provide this, it will not affect your ability to complete the rest of the survey or eligibility to claim incentives upon completion. 

1.1 Where personal data has not been obtained from the data subject  

Your address was obtained by us from the Postcode-Address-File (PAF), owned by Royal Mail. Your address was randomly selected to receive an invitation to take part in this survey.

2. Purpose 

The purpose(s) for which we are processing your personal data is:  

• Administering the survey (e.g. issuing invitations to participants and incentives upon completion) 

• Analysis of survey data in order to produce aggregate statistics 

• Manging opt-outs for individuals who request not to be contacted again in relation to the DSIT Public Engagement Survey. 

• Data quality measures (e.g. fraud protection, checking for duplicate responses and resolving scripting errors) 

3. Legal basis of processing  

The legal basis for processing your personal data under Article 6 of the UK GDPR is:  

1(e) Public task: 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. The data collected from this survey will help DSIT to monitor and develop the policies it oversees. 

The legal basis for processing your special category data under Article 9 of the UK GDPR is:   

9 2 (j) It is necessary for archiving purposes, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes in accordance with Article 89(1), and it is in the public interest. Collecting this data is necessary for DSIT to be able to produce aggregated statistics on the experiences of engaging with technology by different demographic groups. This information helps DSIT better monitor and implement policies in the areas that it is responsible for overseeing and so is needed for reasons of public interest. 

4. Recipients 

Your personal data will be shared with: 

• Verian: administering the survey and analysing the survey data. 

• Greens Ltd (printing suppliers): address level information is provided to Greens to print survey invitations and questionnaires. Paper questionnaires are also returned to Greens Ltd.  

• Bright Marketing Research (BMR): administering online data collection and processing survey data (e.g. data cleaning actions). 

DSIT may share pseudonymised data collected in the DSIT Public Engagement Survey with other government departments or the Office for National Statistics for research and statistical purposes only. This data will not include your name, full address, telephone number or email address. 

As part of our the DSIT IT infrastructure, your personal data will be stored in the UK on systems provided by our data processors - Microsoft and Amazon Web Services. This does not mean we actively share your personal data with these entities; rather, they are technical service providers who host infrastructure supporting our IT systems.

5. Retention

Verian will retain your personal data for no longer than 12 months after the date you completed the survey. All information processed for the purposes of administering the survey, including any contact details provided by participants, will be deleted at this point. 

Data and paper questionnaires processed by Greens Ltd are stored securely for a maximum of 12 months and confidentially destroyed.   

Pseudonymised survey datasets will continue to be held by DSIT for statistical purposes in conducting analysis of the survey data in order to produce aggregated, anonymous outputs, in accordance with the standards set out by the Code of Practice for Statistics. 

 The only personal data that will be contained in these datasets will be postcode and special category data. DSIT is retaining postcode data on the basis that this is necessary in order to derive geographical statistical units (such as output areas) in the event that these definitions change over time. Any postcode data collected will be retained for a maximum of 15 years after collection and DSIT will review the need to continue to retain this data on an annual basis.  

Safeguards in place when storing this data include: 

• Minimisation - we are only retaining the personal data necessary to produce aggregated statistics 

• Pseudonymisation - any additional information that could be used to identify individuals will be stored separately from responses to survey questions. 

• DSIT will review the need to continue to retain postcode data on an annual basis. 

• A full Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) has been undertaken for this project. 

• The data will be stored in restricted-access areas within DSIT’s secure analytical environment. Access will be restricted to those that are using the data for statistical purposes e.g. the DSIT Public Engagement Survey project team.

6. International Transfers

Where your personal data is processed in the EEA, the following safeguards will be in place: 

• UK Adequacy Regulations

7. Your rights

You have the right to request information about how your personal data are processed, and to request a copy of that personal data.  

You have the right to request that any inaccuracies in your personal data are rectified without delay.  

You have the right to request that any incomplete personal data are completed, including by means of a supplementary statement.  

You have the right to request that your personal data are erased if there is no longer a justification for them to be processed.  

You have the right in certain circumstances (for example, where accuracy is contested) to request that the processing of your personal data is restricted.  

You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data.  

To exercise your rights please contact the Data Protection Officer using the contact details below. 

8. Contact Details 

The data controller for your personal data is the Department for Science. Innovation and Technology (DSIT). You can contact the DSIT Data Protection Officer at:  

DSIT Data Protection Officer  
Department for Science, Innovation &Technology  
22-26 Whitehall  
London  
SW1A 2EG 

 Email: dataprotection@dsit.gov.uk 

If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your personal data, please write to the department’s Data Protection Officer in the first instance using the contact details above.  

9. Complaints 

If you consider that your personal data has been misused or mishandled, you may make a complaint to the Information Commissioner, who is an UK independent regulator.  The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:  

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

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/ 

Any complaint to the Information Commissioner is without prejudice to your right to seek redress through the courts.  

10. Updates to this notice 

If this privacy notice changes in any way, we will place an updated version on this page. Regularly reviewing this page ensures you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances we will share it with other parties. The ‘last updated’ date at the bottom of this page will also change. If these changes affect how your personal data is processed, we will take reasonable steps to let you know. 

Last updated:  09/09/2025