Guidance

Government Communication Service Talent Grid privacy notice

Updated 16 July 2024

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The Government Communication Service aims to develop a strong and diverse pipeline of inspiring, confident and empowering leaders to help shape the future of the profession.

This notice applies to Senior Civil Servants (SCS) and G6s talent data. 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 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

1. Your data

1.1 Purpose

The SCS1 and G6 talent biographies are submitted annually and may be shared with the Senior Leadership Committee, People Board, DG representatives, Deputy Director and Director Talent boards, wider Permanent Secretary community and relevant HR colleagues. Data is shared for the purposes of:

  • talent moderation and discussion
  • succession planning for  DoC roles
  • development planning and related activities
  • to inform briefings for career conversations and 1:1 meetings

1.2 The data

We will process the following personal data:

  • Your name
  • Your department and role 
  • Your recent career history
  • Your experience at SCS level
  •  Your education and skills information; relevant qualifications and future qualifications 
  • General Information; the date you were promoted, the date you started your current role, your current location and working pattern 
  • Your willingness/ability to relocate 
  • Your profession/career anchor and the profession of your current role 
  • If you have a coach and/or mentor, whether you have an ‘active’ relationship and who they are 
  • Your career aspirations 
  • Your areas of strengths and areas of development

The legal basis for processing your personal data is: 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, such as the exercise of a function of the Crown, a Minister of the Crown, or a government department. 

GCS develops and manages the talent of Comms Professionals across departments and functions. This is crucial to the future of the organisation; good talent management leads to greater efficiency and delivers a diverse and inclusive organisation in which the best people thrive. 

1.4 Recipients

Your personal data will be shared by us with the Senior Leadership Committee, the wider DoC community and with relevant HR colleagues as part of succession planning and talent moderation processes. 

1.5 Retention

Your personal data will be kept by us for a maximum of 5 years, but will be refreshed annually as part of DoC/DD/G6 Talent Moderation. Your personal data was obtained by us from yourself and your department’s/function’s talent team. 

1.6 Where personal data have not been obtained from you

Your personal data was obtained by us from your employer.

2. 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 is 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 where it is processed for direct marketing purposes.

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

3. International transfers

As your personal data is stored on our IT infrastructure, and shared with our data processors Google and AODocs, 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, or the use of Standard Contractual Clauses or a UK International Data Transfer Agreement. 

4. 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

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Email: casework@ico.org.uk

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

5. 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

Public Enquiries: Online Contact Form

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

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

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