How the Welsh Government uses your data and your rights in relation to personal information.
Contents
Introduction
The Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales (ICCFW) issued its final report in January 2024. The Welsh Government has accepted the recommendations in full and provided a published response on 12 March 2024. The Senedd endorsed the conclusions and recommendations of the ICCFW and noted the Welsh Government's response in a debate on 19 March 2024.
Implementation of the first 2 recommendations (below) on democratic innovations and a statement of constitutional principles, requires action from the Welsh Government working with external partners.
1. Democratic innovation
The Welsh Government should strengthen the capacity for democratic innovation and inclusive community engagement in Wales. This should draw on an expert advisory panel, and should be designed in partnership with the Senedd, local government and other partners. New strategies for civic education should be a priority for this work, which should be subject to regular review by the Senedd.
2. Constitutional principles
Drawing on this expertise, the Welsh Government should lead a project to engage citizens in drafting a statement of constitutional and governance principles for Wales.
Personal data
To help achieve its objectives, the Commission engaged the views of citizens and external stakeholders using different surveys, platforms and channels.
Personal data is defined under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as ‘any information relating to an identifiable person who can be directly or indirectly identified by reference to an identifier’. The ongoing engagement work does not explicitly ask for personally identifiable data, however correspondents may choose to provide personal data as part of their communication with the Welsh Government.
The lawful basis of processing information in this exercise is our public task, which is exercising our official authority to undertake the core role and functions of the Welsh Government. Individual participation is voluntary.
Upon receipt of the information, the Welsh Government becomes the data controller for it.
Data storage
The personal data of people signing up to the constitutional reform mailing list is collected by Welsh Government officials and held on a database in a secure file, where data can only be accessed by a limited number of Welsh Government officials.
The following data will be collected by Welsh Government.
Personally identifiable data
To continue to hear about how the Welsh Government is responding to the recommendations made by the Commission, existing mailing list recipients will need to opt-in:
- They will be asked for mandatory data as follows:
- First name
- Last name
- Email address
- They will be asked to provide optional data as follows:
- First 4 digits - post code
- Year of Birth
Personal and special category information that will be collected and held includes personal details such as name, address, and contact details. Personal data will not be shared outside of the Welsh Government.
What we do with it
We process the information internally for the above stated purpose. We will not share your personal data with any third party without your consent.
How long we keep it
Your details will be retained on our systems in line with Welsh Government retention policy for up to 2 years as part of our ongoing delivery of Welsh Government policy objectives.
Where will we keep it?
All personally identifiable data will be held on secure servers hosted, or downloaded for anonymisation for subsequent analysis onto the Welsh Government servers. No identifiable data will be copied or downloaded on to any external server apart from those listed.
Use of information
In our remit as the data controller, the Welsh Government uses the information received for the below purposes. These purposes are necessary so as to enable us to carry out our public task and in the exercise of our official authority:
- contacting individuals who have expressed a wish to be kept informed of the activity following the commission's final report.
- Maintain a national stakeholder contact list.
- monitoring the overall engagement capturing individual comments and feedback.
Individual rights
Under GDPR, you have the following rights in relation to the personal information you provide as part of this evaluation:
- the right of access (request a copy of your own data)
- the right of rectification (correcting incorrect information)
- the right to object to or restrict processing of data
- the right to erasure
- the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s office
Contact
If you would like to discuss the storage and processing of your data, you can contact the Welsh Government data protection officer:
Data Protection Officer
Welsh Government
Cathays Park
CARDIFF
CF10 3NQ
Rydym yn croesawu gohebiaeth yn Gymraeg / We welcome correspondence in Welsh.
Or contact the Commission's Constitutional Reform team:
Constitutional Reform
Welsh Government
Cathays Park
CARDIFF
CF10 3NQ
Rydym yn croesawu gohebiaeth yn Gymraeg / We welcome correspondence in Welsh.
As per the final right set out above, the information commissioner’s office can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner’s Office (Wales)
Churchill House
17 Churchill Way
Cardiff
CF10 2HH
Telephone: 029 2067 8400 / 0303 123 1113
Email: casework@ico.org.uk