Consultation outcome

Privacy notice for the consultation on standards for ethnicity data

Updated 17 April 2023

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

© Crown copyright 2023

This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/standards-for-ethnicity-data/privacy-notice-for-the-consultation-on-standards-for-ethnicity-data

1. Your data

This notice sets out how we will use your personal data, and your rights. It is made under Articles 13 and/or 14 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

2. 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.

3. The data

We will process the following personal data (where given): name, email address, and organisation as well as 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 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 policies or proposals, or obtaining opinion data, in order to develop good effective policies.

5. 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.

6. 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 3 calendar years after the consultation has concluded.

7. Where personal data has not been obtained from you

Your personal data was obtained by us from a respondent to the consultation about data standards for ethnicity.

8. 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

  • request that any inaccuracies in your personal data are rectified without delay

  • request that any incomplete personal data are completed, including by means of a supplementary statement

  • request that your personal data are erased if there is no longer a justification for it to be processed

  • request that the processing of your personal data is restricted in certain circumstances (for example, where accuracy is contested)

  • object to the processing of your personal data where it is processed for direct marketing purposes

  • object to the processing of your personal data

9. 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.

10. 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

11. 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

Tel: 0303 123 1113

Email: casework@ico.org.uk

Any complaint to the Information Commissioner is without prejudice to your right to seek redress through the courts.

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