Research on strengthening and advancing equality and human rights in Wales: privacy notice (interviews)

The Welsh Government has commissioned Swansea University in collaboration with Bangor University and Diverse Cymru to undertake research on strengthening and advancing equality and human rights in Wales. The aim of this research is to investigate mechanisms to strengthen and advance equality and human rights in Wales, and to make recommendations for legislative, policy, guidance, or other reforms to meet this objective. As part of this research Swansea University will be gathering information through interviews.

The Welsh Government is the data controller for the research. However, Swansea University will delete any personal data provided, and anonymise the raw data, before it is shared with the Welsh Government.

The information collected during the project will be included in a report published on the Welsh Government website and possibly in other publications such as journal articles, blogs or consultation responses, and may be referred to at conferences, academic seminars or other public events by Swansea University/Bangor University/Diverse Cymru.

Your participation in this research is completely voluntary. However your views and experiences are important in order to help inform Welsh Government policies.

The contact for this research at Swansea University is Simon Hoffman.

E-mail address: s.hoffman@swansea.ac.uk
Telephone number: 01792 513004

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’.

You have been approached to be interviewed as part of this research given Swansea University are keen to gather views from professional stakeholders representing their employer organisations on the challenges facing equality and human rights in Wales and how the Welsh Government could/should make use of devolved powers to address these challenges. Your contact details have been accessed by Swansea University from publicly available contact information online.

This research does not require the collection of additional personal data from you other than a video of the interview if you agree to the interview being recorded.

Your participation is voluntary and if you do not wish to take part or be sent reminders then please reply to the invitation email and your details will be removed. Swansea University will only use your email address and telephone number to contact you for research purposes.

If you choose to provide additional personal data as part of the research we will try not to identify you from, or link your identity to, the responses you provide. 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.

We wish to record interviews for operational reasons. We will make this clear to you before the interview begins, and you will have the opportunity to tell us if you are not happy for the discussion to be recorded. If interviews are recorded, personal data will be removed during the process of transcribing. Recordings will be deleted as soon as this process is completed. If the interview is not recorded, personal data will not be included in written notes prepared following the interview.

The lawful basis for processing information in this data collection exercise is our public task; that is, exercising our official authority to undertake the core role and functions of the Welsh Government.

Participation is completely 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, for example, might be used to:

• provide a better understanding of equality and human rights in Wales
• develop, deliver, monitor and evaluate policies relating to equality and human rights
• make recommendations for legislative, policy, guidance, or other reforms

Personal information provided to Swansea University is always stored on a secure server. The data can only be accessed by a limited number of researchers working on this project. Swansea University will only use this data for research purposes.

Swansea University has procedures to deal with any suspected data security breaches. If a suspected breach occurs, Swansea University will report this to the Welsh Government who will notify you and any applicable regulator where we are legally required to do so.

All data gathered through this research will be reported in an anonymised format. It will not contain your contact details and any identifiable information in open-ended answers will be removed. Swansea University will use the information gathered to produce a report that will be published on the Welsh Government website. This report will not include any information that could be used to identify individual participants.

Swansea University will hold personal data during the contract period, and any personal data not already removed from research responses will be deleted by Swansea University three months after the end of the contract. This includes your contact details. Swansea University will provide Welsh Government with an anonymised version of the data which will not include information that could identify you.

Under GDPR, you have the following rights in relation to the personal information you provide as part of this research, 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), and
• 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: 01625 545 745 or 0303 123 1113.
Website

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 General Data Protection Regulation, please contact:

Name: Steven Macey
E-mail address: Steven.Macey@gov.wales
Telephone number: 03000 622253

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

Welsh Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ.
Email: DataProtectionOfficer@gov.wales