Guidance

OPG privacy notice: customer research

Updated 29 May 2019

Applies to England and Wales

© Crown copyright 2019

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/publications/opg-privacy-notice-customer-research/office-of-the-public-guardian-customer-research-privacy-notice

This privacy notice sets out the standards that you can expect from the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG):

  • when we request or hold personal information (‘personal data’) about you
  • how you can get access to a copy of your personal data
  • what you can do if you think the standards are not being met

OPG is an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice (MOJ).

MOJ is the data controller for the personal information we collect.

OPG collects and processes personal data for the exercise of its own and associated public functions. These include conducting customer research with the aim of improving our services and customer experience.

About personal data

Personal data is information about you as an individual. It can be your name, address, telephone number or email address. It can also include information about your age, gender or ethnic background.

We know how important it is to protect customers’ privacy and to comply with data protection laws. We will safeguard your personal data and only disclose it where the law says we can, or with your consent.

Types of personal data we process

We only process personal data that is relevant for the services we provide to you. This may include:

  • your name and address
  • your date of birth
  • ethnic background
  • gender
  • any comments you make during the research

We’re responsible for finding ways to improve our service. An important part of this is asking our customers for their views and opinions. To do this we conduct research. We might ask you to participate in this research - this is voluntary. We’ll use the information you provide to try and improve our services. If you agree to participate, you can withdraw at any time by contacting us.

We won’t share your information with any other organisations unless you agree to it first.

Sharing information

We sometimes need to share the personal information we process with the individual themselves and also with other organisations. Where this is necessary we will comply with all aspects of data protection laws.

The organisations we might share your information with include, but are not limited to:

  • local authorities
  • care homes
  • charities and advocacy services
  • health care services
  • solicitors
  • SmartSurvey (for running surveys)

We’ll let you know how we’re going to share your information if you volunteer.

Although we make every attempt to protect your rights, under certain circumstances we have a legal duty to share your information, even if you do not consent. This might include prevention or detection of crime, interests of counter-terrorism, and safeguarding responsibilities including child protection.

In these cases, we might have to share information with:

  • the police
  • other government agencies
  • prisons or probation services
  • local authorities and social services

This list is not exhaustive and any decision to share information will be made on a case-by-case basis.

How long we keep personal data

Results of surveys and interviews will be held for 3 years. We’ll then review the information to see if it’s still needed or should be destroyed.

Access to personal data

You can find out if we hold any personal data about you by making a subject access request.

To request details of personal data we hold, please send your request to:

OPG information assurance
PO Box 16185
Birmingham
B2 2WH

Under certain circumstances, some or all of the information requested under a subject access request may be withheld. This might include, but is not limited to:

  • disclosing information about another individual
  • information shared with the police or other government agencies, where disclosing this may impact criminal or taxation investigations
  • any information relating to physical or mental health conditions of an individual that has been made by or on behalf of a health professional

Information passed to or received from social services may be restricted if it is likely to prejudice social work by causing serious harm to the physical or mental health or condition of the requester or any other person.

When we ask you for personal data

We promise:

  • to inform you why we need your personal data and ask only for the personal data we need
  • not to collect information that is irrelevant or excessive
  • you can stop being a part of customer research at any time by notifying us (we will offer you the opportunity to do so with every communication)
  • you can lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority
  • to protect your personal data and make sure no unauthorised person has access to it
  • only to share your data with other organisations for legitimate purposes where appropriate and necessary
  • to make sure we don’t keep data longer than necessary
  • not to make your personal data available for commercial use without your consent
  • to consider your request to correct, stop processing or erase your personal data

You can get more details on:

  • agreements we have with other organisations for sharing information
  • circumstances where we can pass on personal information without telling you, for example, to help with the prevention or detection of crime
  • our instructions to staff on how to collect, use or delete your personal data
  • how we check that the information we hold is accurate and up-to-date
  • how to make a complaint
  • how to contact the Ministry of Justice data protection officer

For more information about these issues, please contact:

OPG information assurance
PO Box 16185
Birmingham
B2 2WH

Or alternatively contact:

MOJ data protection officer
Post point 10.38
102 Petty France
London
SW1H 9AJ

For more information on how and why your information is processed please see the information provided when you accessed our services or were contacted by us.

Data protection officer

If you have any concerns about how OPG is handling your personal data, you can contact the data protection officer (DPO).

The DPO provides independent advice and monitoring of our use of personal information.

You can contact the data protection officer at:

MOJ data protection officer
Post point 10.38
102 Petty France
London
SW1H 9AJ

Complaints

When we ask you for information, we will keep to the law. If you consider that your information has been handled incorrectly, you can contact the Information Commissioner for independent advice about data protection.

Contact the Information Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Website: www.ico.org.uk

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