Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (VAWDASV) barriers to engagement: privacy notice

The VAWDASV policy team in Welsh Government has commissioned the Internal Research Programme (IRP) in Knowledge and Analytical Services, Welsh Government to undertake exploratory research into the barriers which prevent survivors from diverse and under-represented populations from participating in Welsh Government engagement projects. This aim of this research is to find out and understand the barriers which stop diverse populations from taking part in engagement activities, and what strategies could be put in place to overcome these.

As part of this research, the IRP will be gathering information through online focus groups, and also an online survey for those who cannot or do not wish to attend a focus group. The focus groups will not be mixed, so you will only be in a group with others who identify with your own diverse group, the researcher, and also potentially a professional who works with survivors from your group. The questions asked in the focus groups and in the survey will be the same, with focus groups allowing space for expansion and follow up questions, while the survey will allow anonymity to participants.

The Welsh Government is the data controller for the research. The IRP will remove personal data before writing up the report and will not provide personally identifiable data to others in Welsh Government unless you ask us to.

The information collected during the project will be included in a report published on the Welsh Government website.

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

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 Welsh Government will share a link to an expression of interest form to take part in a focus group via Welsh Government social media platforms and through gatekeeping organisations. A link to a survey covering the same issues will be shared at a later date.

If you wish to take part in a focus group you will need to complete an expression of interest form with your contact details and preferences for involvement so that the researcher can contact you to discuss the project and any safety concerns you have, and then to send you an invite to the focus group. The form will also ask for the following information:

• Name
• The diverse group(s) with which you identify
• Contact details:
  • Email Address or
  • Telephone Number or
  • Postal Address

The discussions during the focus group will only issues in relation to your diverse group(s) and the barriers/solutions for participation.

While the research team will know your name, you will have the option to use a pseudonym (fake name) for the focus group, and you will also be allowed to have your camera switched off so that your face is not visible. This will provide a level of anonymity from the other participants in the focus group.

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

If you decided to take part in the survey then completing the survey will not capture your email address nor your IP address. Although the survey will ask about which diverse group(s) you identify with, along with your opinions on barriers or solutions for participating, it will not ask for any information that will identify you. The survey will therefore be anonymous. If you provide any identifiable information in any open text questions then this will be removed when we download the data.

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. Some of the data we are collecting are called ‘special category data’ (the diverse group(s) you identify with, for example sexual orientation and ethnicity) and the lawful basis for processing this information is that it is for statistical or research purposes.

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:

• Propose different ways for Welsh Government to engage with diverse and under-represented populations
• Influence future research and evaluation design

Personal data provided to Welsh Government is held on secure servers, and for this project a folder has been created that has access restricted only to the immediate research team. Your contact details and any personal data you choose to provide will be stored in this restricted folder. 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 (e.g. all data is processed within the EEA).

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. The IRP 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.

Any personal data not already removed during data processing will be deleted by the IRP three months after the publication of the final report. This includes your contact details.

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: 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 UK General Data Protection Regulation, please email Rhiannon Maniatt. 

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

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

This project is looking to find out what the barriers are for survivors of abuse from diverse groups to engaging with Welsh Government, and how these can be overcome.

Online focus groups will be used to collect this information to apply you will need to fill in an expression of interest and give your contact details. The researcher can then contact you to discuss the project and make sure you understand how things will work.

The focus groups will not be mixed, so you will only be in a group with others who identify with your own diverse group, the researcher, and also potentially a professional who works with survivors from your group.

If you cannot or do not wish to take part in a focus group then you can provide your views via a survey.

What data will we have?

If you wish to take part in a focus group then we will ask you to give us the following personal data so that we can contact you about the focus groups:

• Name
• Email address
• Postal Address or
• Telephone Number

If you take part in the survey you do not need to provide your name or any contact details.

In the focus groups and the survey, we will also be collecting which diverse group(s) you identify with, which falls under ‘special category data’ in the law.

If you want, you can use a fake name (pseudonym) for the focus group, and you will also be allowed to have your camera switched off so that your face is not visible.

If everyone in the group is happy, the discussion will be recorded so we can write up (transcribe) what was said. The recording will then be deleted. Any details which could be used to identify you will be removed from the write up (transcription).

Why are we collecting this? (Lawful basis)

We are collecting this data so that we can do our job at Welsh Government, and we are collecting your identification with a diverse group for research purposes.

Taking part is completely voluntary and if you want to stop taking part, contact Rhiannon.Maniatt@gov.wales.

By conducting this research, we will hopefully be able to find ways to include diverse groups in Welsh Government projects in the future.

How safe is your data?

All information collected will be kept on secure computers, with files that can only be accessed by the researcher and her team. Your names and contact details will also be protected by password.

The findings from the project will be published in a report on the Welsh Government website, but no one will be able to identify you or what you said.

How long will we keep your data?

Your details will be deleted three months after the report for this project has been published.

Your rights

You have rights that allow you to ask to see what information we have about you, fix any errors as well as raise objections about what we are doing.

You can make a complaint to 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

More Information

If you have any questions or concerns please contact email Rhiannon.Maniatt@gov.wales

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

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