Notice

Opportunities for public sector data survey 2026: privacy notice

Published 23 January 2026

© Crown copyright 2026

This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.

Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.

This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/opportunities-for-public-sector-data-survey-2026/opportunities-for-public-sector-data-survey-2026-privacy-notice

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 Demand for Public Sector Data Survey seeks views on public sector data sets needed by businesses and researchers to:

  • support the government’s missions
  • develop new products and services
  • generate insights
  • create efficiencies within an organisation or sector
  • enable AI development or adoption

For information you submit the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is the data controller

Your data 

We will process the following personal data:

  • job title
  • organisation/employer
  • email address - only collected where individuals have agreed to take part in follow-up engagement

Where personal data such as your email address has not been obtained from you directly, it was obtained by DSIT from another government department or Arm’s Length Body who you engaged with in the pursuit of their public task.

Purpose 

The purposes for which we are processing your personal data are:

  • to inform policy development to support key sectors in DSIT and other relevant public bodies
  • to contact you and arrange your participation in follow up engagement where you have agreed to do so
  • to compile statistics, for example on the types of organisations who respond and the needs of their sectors.

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, to gather evidence to inform future policy, and to understand trends in the use of public sector data and how it can be harnessed to improve lives and support economic growth.

Recipients 

We may share the name of your organisation and your responses with other public bodies to inform policy development within your sector, or where that public body shared the survey link with your organisation. Your job title and email address, where we have it, will not be shared with other public bodies.

Your data may be analysed and summarised using technology, such as artificial intelligence (AI), to help us to handle survey responses efficiently and accurately. This would be through the ‘Consult’ tool, developed within the Department for Science Innovation and Technology to analyse consultation and survey responses.

As part of our 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

Retention 

Your personal data will be kept by us for no longer than 6 months after the close of the survey, or 3 months after the end of any subsequent follow up engagement in which you have participated.   

International Transfers 

Your personal data will be processed in the UK. 

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. 

  • to request that any inaccuracies in your personal data are rectified without delay. 

  • to request that any incomplete personal data are completed, including by means of a supplementary statement. 

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

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

  • to object to the processing of your personal data. 

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

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 and Technology
22-26 Whitehall
London
SW1A 2EG

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.

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

Email casework@ico.org.uk

Telephone 0303 123 1113

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

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: 13 January 2026

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