Guidance

GCS Senior Talent Commission privacy notice

Published 23 July 2025

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

Your data

Purpose

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

We are responsible for understanding and developing a pipeline of senior talent to lead the communications profession. To do this, we need to collect data on the grade 6s and deputy directors across comms.

Data will be collected as part of GCS’s annual senior talent commission. This data will be shared with the Senior Leadership Committee, People Board, Director General representatives at director talent clusters, wider Permanent Secretary community and relevant HR colleagues for the purposes of:

• Talent moderation and discussion
• Succession planning for Director of Communications roles
• Development planning and related activities i.e. events, webinars, networking opportunities
• To inform briefings for career conversations and 1:1 meetings
• To understand the diversity of GCS’s senior leadership

This data will be collected via SmartSurvey and stored on Google Drive, with access limited to a handful of People and Membership team members.

This project is entirely voluntary and Diversity data questions are entirely optional.

The data

We will process the following personal data:

• Name
• Performance details
• Email address
• Employment details (start date or profession etc)
• Location data
• Religious or philosophical belief
• Job title or grade
• Age
• Health (incl disability or dietary requirements)
• Nationality
• Sex life or sexuality
• Ethnicity or race

Legal basis of processing

The legal basis for processing your personal data is:

It is necessary for a public function.

Sensitive personal data is personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, and the processing of genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person, data concerning health or data concerning a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation.

The legal basis for processing your sensitive personal data is: Promoting or monitoring diversity (para 8, sch.1)

Recipients

Your personal data will be shared by us with our data processors who provide email, and document management, survey, and storage services.

Retention

Your personal data will be kept by us for 2 years

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

International transfers

As your personal data is stored on our Corporate IT infrastructure, and shared with our data processors, it may be transferred and stored securely outside the UK. Where that is the case it will be subject to equivalent legal protection through an adequacy decision, reliance on Standard Contractual Clauses, or reliance on a UK International Data Transfer Agreement.

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 independent regulator. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

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

or 0303 123 1113, or icocasework@ico.org.uk. Any complaint to the Information Commissioner is without prejudice to your right to seek redress through the courts.

Contact details

The data controller for your personal data is the Cabinet Office. The contact details for the data controller are:

Cabinet Office
70 Whitehall
London
SW1A 2AS

or 0207 276 1234, or you can use this webform.

The contact details for the data controller’s Data Protection Officer are: dpo@cabinetoffice.gov.uk.

The Data Protection Officer provides independent advice and monitoring of Cabinet Office’s use of personal information.