Guidance

Privacy notice for Protecting the Debate consultation

Published 19 February 2019

1. Your data

1.1 Purpose

The purpose for which we are processing your personal data is to obtain the opinions of members of the public, parliamentarians and representatives of organisations and companies about departmental policies, proposals, or generally to obtain public opinion data on an issue of public interest.

1.2 The data

We will process the following personal data:

  • name
  • address
  • email address
  • job title (where given)
  • employer (where given)
  • opinions

We will also process additional biographical information about respondents or third parties where it is volunteered.

The legal basis for processing your personal data is that it 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. In this case that is consulting on departmental policies or proposals, or obtaining opinion data, in order to develop good effective policies.

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, or data about criminal convictions (where you volunteer it), is that it is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest for the exercise of a function of the Crown, a Minister of the Crown, or a government department. The function is consulting on departmental policies or proposals, or obtaining opinion data, in order to develop good effective policies.

1.4 Recipients

Where individuals submit responses, we may publish their responses, but we will not publicly identify them. We will endeavour to remove any information that may lead to individuals being identified.

Responses submitted by organisations or representatives of organisations may be published in full.

Where information about responses is not published, it may be shared with officials within other public bodies in order to help develop policy.

As your personal data will be stored on our IT infrastructure it will also be shared with our data processors who provide email, and document management and storage services.

We may share your personal data where required to be law, for example in relation to a request made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

1.5 Retention

Published information will generally be retained indefinitely on the basis that the information is of historic value. This would include, for example, personal data about representatives of organisations.

Responses from individuals will be retained in identifiable form for three calendar years after the consultation has concluded.

Where personal data have not been obtained from you

Your personal data were obtained by us from a respondent to a consultation.

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
  • 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 where it is processed for direct marketing purposes
  • 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, it may be transferred and stored securely outside the European Union. Where that is the case it will be subject to equivalent legal protection through the use of Model Contract Clauses.

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
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