Guidance

Ofqual recognition process: privacy statement

Published 9 September 2019

Applies to England

As part of our application process to become an Ofqual recognised organisation, Ofqual collects and processes personal data relating to applicants and those involved in the application process. 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’s recognition process requires you to provide personal data (for example contact details and proposed Responsible Officer details) to allow us to perform our public tasks as a regulator.

We will use the information you provide to us in your application to perform our regulatory functions, in particular:

• determining your application for recognition
• monitoring any future compliance with the Conditions of Recognition in relation to which that information is relevant

What personal data we process

Ofqual collects a range of information about you, and potentially others employed by your organisation, when you apply to become a recognised awarding organisation.

This includes:

• your name, address and contact details, including email address and telephone number.
• ther personal details you provide, such as name, address, contact details, and details within CVs of anyone that you have decided it is important for us to know about as part of your application

Ofqual collects this information using our online application form and any communication you have with us via the Ofqual Gateway. Your information will be stored on our online application system, in our secure document management system and our email system.

Who we share your personal data with

Your personal data will be shared internally for the purposes of the recognition process and if required, subsequent regulatory monitoring by Ofqual to ensure continued compliance with the Conditions of Recognition. This includes members of staff involved in the review and evaluation of your application and those who administer the recognition application process.

As part of the application, Ofqual staff will contact you to provide the outcome of your application, to arrange meetings, and/or to request further information from you.

We will not disclose any personal data supplied to us as part of the recognition process to a third party, except to the following third parties who may access and use the information:

• other public authorities in order to further Ofqual’s qualifications functions, for example, the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education and the Education and Skills Funding Agency
• other qualifications regulators in the United Kingdom (where it is necessary for those regulators to have information in the course of carrying out their regulatory functions)
• Ofqual’s data processors who are third parties who provide services for us. We have contracts in place with our data processors. This means that they cannot do anything with personal information unless we have instructed them to do it. They will not share your personal information with any organisation apart from us. They will hold it securely and retain it for the period we instruct
• the police, fraud prevention agencies or other law enforcement agencies (to investigate or prevent crime, including fraud)
• the courts (in connection with court proceedings)
• in circumstances we are legally obliged to share information. For example under a court order
• another third party where we satisfy ourselves that we have a lawful basis on which to share the information

In any scenario, we will satisfy ourselves that we have a lawful basis on which to share the information.

How long we keep your personal data for

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

If recognised, we will hold the application form and all documents submitted for recognition, our decision documents, and Ofqual reports for the life of the awarding organisation plus 12 months.

If rejected, we will hold the application form submitted for recognition, our decision documents and Ofqual reports for 10 years following rejection. Documents submitted by the applicant will be deleted after two years of the decision. This is to allow sufficient time for you to reapply.

Ofqual will monitor incomplete applications and dormant accounts in the Ofqual Gateway. We will contact the named individual through the Ofqual Gateway to ask whether they still need the account. If they no longer need it, or we receive no response, we will delete all personal data from the account.

Your rights

Under 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 only authorised access to personal data.

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. If you wish to make a formal complaint to Ofqual about how we process your personal data, please visit our complaints procedure.

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

Information Commissioner's Office

Email icocasework@ico.org.uk

Telephone 0303 123 1113

Textphone 01625 545 860