Guidance

FCDO privacy notice: consular research

Updated 14 January 2026

What a privacy notice is

The General Data Protection Regulation requires that data controllers provide information to people whose personal information they process. Processing information means how we use it, store it, and share it, how long we keep it and how we destroy it.

Who we are

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) pursues UK national interests and projects the UK as a force for good in the world. We promote the interests of British citizens and provide consular services overseas. We safeguard the UK’s security, defend our values and deal with global challenges with our international partners. To do this effectively we must collect, store, share and use personal information.

As part of providing consular services overseas, the FCDO conducts and commissions regular research to make improvements to our policies and services. You can get in touch with the Consular Research team using the consular enquiry form.

This privacy notice explains how data is collected and processed specifically for research with users of consular services, which is optional and based on consent. This is separate from our privacy notice for consular services in the UK and missions overseas which governs the data used to provide the consular services themselves.

What information we collect about you and how

When you use consular services, we will ask if you are willing to be contacted for participation in research. We may ask this through an online form, email or during a phone call. We may then contact you to invite you to provide feedback, participate in a research activity, or ask for more details about you so that we can match you to relevant research topics.  

The personal data we may collect includes: 

• your full name 

• contact details and preferences - email addresses and telephone numbers 

• the consular service(s) you applied for or received 

• demographic information such as age range and whether you are a parent or guardian  

• socio-economic indicators such as your income bracket or your level of education   

• information to understand what research topics would be relevant to you, such as where you live or have lived (country, area), your occupation or your relationship status (relevant for research on our marriage services) 

• what device or web browser you use and how confident you are using digital services and the internet 

We may also ask for more sensitive data about you, known as ‘special category data’. This can include: 

• health conditions or access needs, if you choose to disclose these – we use this data to make reasonable adjustments and ensure equal opportunity to participate in our research 

• your ethnic background, sexual orientation and gender identity for diversity, equality and inclusion monitoring and to ensure participation from under-represented groups 

We collect this information from you through:  

• online consular services you use 

• contact with consular staff, whether face-to-face, over the phone or in writing, or by email or SMS  

• forms or survey responses you send us when we request feedback or participation in a research activity 

• interactions with a researcher by phone or email when identifying participants for research topics

How we use your information

If you consent to be contacted for customer research or to provide feedback, your contact details may be used to invite you to a feedback or research session. This can include requests for additional information, usually through a short survey, to match you with relevant research studies.  

Any research data you share with us (your ideas or feedback) will be anonymised and stored separately from your contact details.  

At the FCDO, we work with partner agencies to conduct some of our research. For example, we may ask you to complete a survey after using a consular service. We may also invite you to participate in customer interviews or testing of current or new services. None of your data will be shared outside of FCDO systems without your explicit consent. The details of current partners appear later in this document, under ‘Who we share your information with and why’.

Why we collect personal information about you

We collect personal data during the research we do to improve our services. 

Personal data (such as your name and contact information) is used to facilitate your participation and your data rights. Research data (your thoughts or feedback) will be anonymised and stored separately from your personal data.  

We may also store anonymised, demographic information, such as age, location, ethnic background or declared disability, for equality and diversity monitoring. This ensures our research is inclusive and our services work for everyone.

Who we share your information with and why

We run a variety of research activities to help improve our services. Who we share your data with will depend on the specific activity. We will always ask for explicit consent to share your data with our partners.  

Our current consular research partners include:  

IFF Research 

A research agency based in the UK, with some data processed on servers based in the European Economic Area (EEA). 

We will ask for your explicit consent to share your data with IFF research, who will collect, store and process your data within their systems in accordance with their data protection policies. 

You can read their privacy policy. 

Kainos Software Ltd 

A digital transformation and technology consultancy based in Belfast, with offices in London and operations in 20 countries globally. 

We will ask for your consent to participate in research activities and Kainos staff will conduct activities such as interviews, surveys and testing new or current services. All data will be collected and processed inside FCDO systems.  

You can read the Kainos privacy notice (no data will be shared with Kainos systems). 

There may be other circumstances in which we may lawfully share your data with third parties. For example, we may be required to do so by law, by court order, or to prevent fraud or other crimes. Where we share data, however, we shall do so in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

Our lawful basis for processing

We process this data because you have given explicit consent either: 

• to be contacted for research purposes 

• to share data with our partner agency so that they can contact you for feedback 

We may process special category data and to do so we need consent to be explicit to satisfy Art.9(2) as well as Art.6(1)(a) of the General Data Protection Regulation. 

You are under no obligation to consent to share your data for the purpose of gathering feedback. You may withdraw your consent at any stage by making this request using our consular enquiry form. Alternatively, you can send your withdrawal notice addressed to:

Consular Customer Insight Team 
Consular Directorate 
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office 
King Charles Street 
London
SW1A 2AH

How long we keep your personal information for

Personal data collected and processed when using consular services will be retained in line with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office privacy notice for consular services in the UK and missions overseas. If, when you use a service, you give consent to be contacted to participate in research, that consent will be retained in line with this policy, and can be withdrawn at any time.  

If we collect information about you to identify relevant research topics, we will keep this personal data for up to 12 months so we can invite you to participate in relevant research activities. We will keep a record that you participated in our research for up to 12 months. This will be kept separate from any ideas or feedback you share with us.  

All research data (your feedback and ideas) will be fully anonymised within 12 months. After full anonymisation it will no longer be attributable to you and will no longer count as personal data. 

All data shared with or collected by our partner agency, IFF Research, will be retained for a maximum of 12 months before being securely destroyed in line with FCDO’s retention and disposal policies.

Your rights

The General Data Protection Regulations set out your rights as a data subject, giving you control over your personal information. 

All personal data for consular research is collected and processed on the basis of consent. If you withdraw your consent, all personal data attributed to you will be deleted. 

When your personal information is used for consular research, you have the following rights:

• right to be informed – you have the right to be informed about what we do with your personal data, which is the purpose of this Privacy Notice 

• right of access – you have the right to request a copy of any personal information we hold about you and what we do with it, which is known as a Subject Access Request, by emailing: information.rights@fcdo.gov.uk 

• right to rectification – you have the right to request that any inaccurate personal data we hold is corrected or have incomplete personal information completed 

• right to erasure – you have the right to request that your personal data is erased, for example if you withdraw your consent 

• right to restrict processing – you have the right to request that we limit the use of your personal data (we ask about this during the consent process) 

• right to data portability – you have the right to move, copy or transfer personal information from one IT system to another in a safe and secure way (this right only applies to certain information in certain circumstances) 

• right to object – you have the right to object to the use of your information and to stop us using it, by refusing consent  

• rights related to automated decision-making – this is not relevant to consular research as there is no automated decision-making  

See the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) guide to individual rights for more detail.

How to contact us

If you have any questions about this notice, or you think that your personal data has been misused or mishandled, or would like to exercise any of your rights, you can contact us using our consular enquiry form. For some research activities, such as interviews, you may contact the researcher directly during or shortly after your participation.   

You can also contact the Data Protection Officer at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office:

Data Protection Officer
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
King Charles Street
London
SW1A 2AH

Email: Data.Protection@fcdo.gov.uk

How to make a complaint

You may also make a complaint to the Information Commissioner, who is an independent regulator. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

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

To make a complaint, please visit the ICO website, select ‘Make a complaint’ from the menu options on the home screen banner, and follow the complaints process.

Changes to this privacy notice

We aim to update this privacy notice periodically. We encourage you to reread it from time to time to stay informed about how we use your personal information.