Public sector bodies approaches to collecting diversity information survey: privacy notice

In June 2022, the Welsh Government launched and published its Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan. One of the goals of the Anti-Racist Wales action plan is to ensure that public sector senior leadership is representative and inclusive, as are all boards of public services and third sector organisations we fund. One action to achieve this is for the Welsh Government to scope and pilot a data collection of the equality characteristics of board members for Public Sector Bodies regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments.

As part of this research the Welsh Government’s Equality, Race and Disability Evidence Units will be gathering information via a survey from regulated Public Sector Bodies on whether they currently collect any equality characteristic information from their board members and workforce, and if they do, how they collect this. This is the first part of a series of research projects that aim to understand Public Sector Body workforce diversity over the next few years.

The Welsh Government is the data controller for the research.

Your participation in this research is voluntary. However, your participation is important to help inform Welsh Government policies. The Welsh Government may send reminders via email or telephone but if you do not wish to take part or be sent reminders then please reply to the email that invited you to complete the survey.

Personal data is defined under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) as ‘any information relating to an identifiable person who can be directly or indirectly identified by reference to an identifier’.

The Public Bodies Unit in Welsh Government hold the contact details (name, e-mail address and telephone number) of Chief Executive Officer’s and chairs of most Public Sector Bodies regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. They hold this information because they engage with these stakeholders as part of their role as the corporate interface between Welsh Government and its public bodies.

The Equality, Race and Disability Evidence Units are contacting you to request your participation in our survey via the contact details the Public Bodies Unit holds.

You will receive a survey link in one of the following ways:

• sent in an email by the Equality, Race and Disability Evidence Units as part of the invitation to take part in this research
• forwarded onto you by a colleague in your organisation
• forwarded onto you by the Equality, Race and Disability Evidence Units because their initial contact in your organisation gave them your contact details (name, e-mail and/or telephone number) to complete the survey instead

You are not required to provide any additional personal data in the survey, but you will be asked to provide your contact details (name, email address, telephone) again so that we are able to contact you for future research. If you choose to provide your contact details, these will only be accessible to the immediate research team.

If you do not wish to take part or be sent reminders, then please reply to the invitation email and you will not be contacted again for this research project.

If you raise a query or complaint and provide personal data requesting a response, the researcher will forward the request only to the relevant official and subsequently delete it from the research data.

The lawful basis for processing information in this research is our public task; that is, exercising our official authority to undertake the core role and functions of the Welsh Government. A summary of your Public Sector Bodies current approach to collecting equality data of its board and workforce may be published as part of a report on the Welsh Government Website. As the person responding to the survey on behalf of your Public Sector Body, your personal information will not be included in any publication as part of this research.

Participation is voluntary. Research studies such as this are important for the Welsh Government to collect information and actionable evidence about its ability to deliver government priorities. The information collected in this research will be used to:

• understand diversity in leadership positions within Public Sector Bodies
• be transparent about diversity in leadership positions within Public Sector Bodies
• allow us to monitor changes in diversity in leadership positions within Public Sector Bodies over time

Personal data provided to Welsh Government is held on secure servers. A copy of your personal data (contact details) has been made for this research and will be stored in a restricted folder that can only be accessed by a limited number of researchers. 

The researchers will not provide any personal information when reporting findings to the policy team.

When conducting surveys, the Welsh Government use a survey software programme called Smart Survey. We have ensured that Smart Survey is UK GDPR compliant and meets our expectations in terms of the security of any data collected via the software.

The Equality, Race and Disability Evidence Units will use the information gathered to produce a report that will be published on the Welsh Government website.

If we obtained your personal data from the Public Bodies Unit in the Welsh Government, your contact details will continue to be held by them for the purposes of engaging with you as part of their role as the corporate interface between Welsh Government and its public bodies.

If we obtained your contact details for this research through our initial contact in your organisation and/or through the survey, then this will be held for this research and deleted within 24 months after the completion of the project.

Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights in relation to the personal information you provide as part of this research, specifically you have the right:

• to access a copy of your own data
• for us to rectify inaccuracies in that data
• to object to or restrict processing (in certain circumstances)
• for your data to be ‘erased’ (in certain circumstances)
• to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) who is our independent regulator for data protection

The contact details for the Information Commissioner’s Office are:

Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Phone: 0303 123 1113
Website: www.ico.gov.uk

If you have any further questions about how the data provided as part of this study will be used by the Welsh Government or wish to exercise your rights using the UK General Data Protection Regulation, please contact:

Name: Samantha Collins

E-mail address: Samantha.Collins1@gov.wales

Telephone number: 03000257371

The Welsh Government’s Data Protection Officer can be contacted at:

Welsh Government
Cathays Park
Cardiff
CF10 3NQ

Email: DataProtectionOfficer@gov.wales