Guidance

Recruitment & Selection Privacy Notice

Updated 18 November 2024

Applies to England and Wales

Purpose

As a prospective employer the Planning Inspectorate must meet its statutory and administrative obligations. We are committed to ensuring that the personal data of our candidates applying for roles within the Planning Authority is handled in accordance with the principles set out in data protection laws. The wording in this notice reflects the requirements of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and will be updated to reflect any future changes to data protection laws as required.

It relates to the Recruitment and Selection Process Planning Inspectorate uses for candidates, agency candidates and contractors. it advises candidates about the specifics of the personal data handling practices within the Planning Inspectorate. It informs you about what personal data we may collect, how we may collect it, use it, store it and disposal of it and what you can expect when the Planning Inspectorate to do with the information it collects. However, the information we will process about you will vary depending on your specific role and personal circumstances.

This Privacy Notice does not form part of a contract of employment or other contract to provide services. When appropriate we will provide a ‘just in time’ notice to cover any additional processing activities not mentioned in this document.

This Privacy Notice may be updated at and/or re-issued at any time, and we will provide you with notice of any such updates via the Planning Inspectorate’s page on GOV.UK. At our discretion, where any updates are substantial updates, we may notify you by other means or in other ways from time to time about the processing of your personal information.

Personal Data Definition

Any references to “personal information” or “personal data” or “data” within the body of this Privacy Notice, shall be taken to mean the same and shall have the meaning given to “personal data” by the UK GDPR (or any subsequent applicable law, for example the Data Protection Act 2018).

The UK GDPR defines personal data as “any information relating to a data subject [from which they can be identified]” (at Article 4(1)). It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data). A data subject is the identified or identifiable person to whom the personal data relates and, in relation to this Privacy Notice, is candidates, agency candidates and contractors.

There are “special categories” of personal data (referred to by previous law as “sensitive personal data”), these are more sensitive in nature and therefore we afford this category of personal data the highest level of protection.

Data Controller

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) is the Data Controller for data protection purposes (the Planning Inspectorate is an “Executive Agency” of DLUHC). The Department’s address is:

Fry Building,
2 Marsham Street,
London SW1P 4DF
and our ICO Registration number is Z7123035

How the Planning Inspectorate uses your data

The Planning Inspectorate is responsible for deciding how we collect, store and process your personal information in relation to Recruitment and Selection. This Privacy Notice explains in plain English how we collect, use and share your data.   

The Planning Inspectorate have appointed a Senior Data Protection Manager to oversee our compliance with data protection legislation. If you would like to contact the Senior Data Protection Manager because you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or on how we handle your personal information, or believe we have not complied with your rights as a data subject, please contact data.protection@planninginspectorate.gov.uk

DLUHC’s Data Protection Officer (DPO) formally oversees data protection compliance for the Planning Inspectorate. You may also contact the Department’s DPO:

• by e-mail to data.protection@communities.gov.uk
• in writing, addressed to the “Data Protection Officer” at:

DLUHC Data Protection Officer, 
Ground Floor,
Fry Building,
Marsham Street,
London SW1P 4DF

Complaints about the processing of your personal information

When we process your personal information, we will comply with the Data Protection Legislation/Regulations.

If you are unhappy with the way the Planning Inspectorate processes your personal information, then you should first contact the Inspectorate’s Senior Data Protection Manager to discuss your concerns and to seek resolution of your concerns: mark.brincat@planninginspectorate.gov.uk cc the DP mailbox dataprotection@planninginspectorate.gov.uk

Alternatively, you can contact our respective sponsor’s Data Protection Officer directly (please make clear that your query relates to The Planning Inspectorate):

DLUHC: dataprotection@communities.gov.uk

You are also reminded that if you are not happy, or for independent advice about data protection matters you have the right to escalate any complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (the UK supervisory authority for Data Protection issues) please see below for their postal address and contact telephone number:

Information Commissioner’s Office,
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire,
SK9 5AF:
Telephone helpline on 0303 123 1113

1. How do we get your information?

• directly from you
• from an employment agency
• from your employer if you are transferring from another Government Department
• from referees, either external or internal
• from security clearance providers
• from Occupational Health and other health providers
• meta data is auto collected by devices such as smart phones and computers

2. What personal data we process and why?

We may collect and process a range of information about you as part of the recruitment and selection. This includes:

• your name
• address and contact details, including email address and telephone numbers landline and mobile
• date of birth
• gender
• ethnicity
• marital status
• employment history
• qualifications
• health information
• psychometric testing data

Special Category Data

We may also collect, store and process the following special categories of more sensitive personal information:

• information about criminal convictions or offences
• health information

The types of Special Category Data in DP Legislation

1. racial or ethnic origin
2. political opinions
3. religious or philosophical beliefs
4. trade union membership
5. genetic data biometric data
6. health/medical data
7. sex life or sexual orientation
8. criminal proceedings or convictions data

3. Lawful basis for processing your personal data

Depending on the processing activity, we rely on the following lawful basis for processing your personal data under the UK GDPR:

• Article 6(1)(b) which relates to processing necessary for the performance of a contract
• Article 6(1)(c) so we can comply with our legal obligations as your employer

Special category data

Where the information we process is special category data, for example your health data, the additional bases for processing that we rely on are:

• Article 9(2)(b) which relates to carrying out our obligations and exercising our rights in employment and the safeguarding of your fundamental rights
• Article 9(2)(h) for the purposes of preventative or occupational medicine and assessing your working capacity as an employee
• Article 9(2)(j) for archiving purposes in the public interest

In addition, we rely on processing conditions at Schedule 1 part 1 paragraph 1 and Schedule 1 part 1 paragraph 2(2)(a) and (b) of the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018. These relate to the processing of special category data for employment purposes, preventative or occupational medicine and the assessment of your working capacity as an employee.

Criminal convictions and offences

We process information about candidates’ criminal convictions and offences. The lawful basis we rely to process this data are:

• Article 6(1)(e) for the performance of our public task. In addition, we rely on the processing condition at Schedule 1 part 2 paragraph
• Article 6(1)(b) for the performance of a contract. In addition, we rely on the processing condition at Schedule 1 part 1 paragraph 1

4. How long we keep your personal data?

The Planning Inspectorate will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory accounting, or reporting requirements.

Candidates information is retained by HR for the following periods:

Successful Candidates - Data will form part of their employment record and will be retained as described in the HR Retention policy. Unsuccessful Candidates - Your details will be held for no longer than 6 months.

5. Who do we share your data with?

We share your data with third parties in order to obtain:

• pre-employment references from other employers
• employment background checks, including from third party provider
• criminal record checks or where otherwise necessary in connection with the management of your employment contract or other contract for services
• we may also share your data with third parties for example in the context of complying with our obligations under The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE). Sharing data is required by TUPE
• Cabinet Office Statement of Practice (COSOP, TUPE equivalent within the Civil Service

In some circumstances, such as under a court order, we are legally obliged to share information. Additionally, we are required under the Public Records Act 1958 (as amended) to transfer records to the National Archives (TNA) for permanent preservation. Some of these records may include the personal data of our current and former employees. Full consideration will be given to Data Protection and Freedom of Information legislation when making decisions about whether such records should be open to the public.

We may also need to share your personal information with a regulator if necessary, or to otherwise comply with the law.

6. Who will have access to your data?

Your personal data will be shared internally with members of the HR team. The recruitment panel (for the selection to interview process) Appropriate access controls will be in place.

We share your data with third parties in order to:

• obtain pre-employment references from other employers
• obtain employment background checks, including from third party providers
• obtain criminal record checks

We may also share your data with third parties e.g. in the context of complying with our obligations under The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) and Cabinet Office Statement of Practice (COSOP) policy. Sharing data is required by TUPE. We may also need to share your personal information with a regulator if necessary, or to otherwise comply with the law.

Whenever we share your personal data with third parties, we ensure they are obliged to follow strict rules to protect it.

7. Do we use any data processors?

Yes, a list of our current Recruitment and Selection data processors can be found in Annex A.

Where we use certain data processors, we may use specific contracts approved by the European Commission which give personal data the same protection it has in Europe. For further details, see European Commission: Model contracts for the transfer of personal data to third countries.

8. Your rights in relation to this processing?

Under data protection law, you have rights we need to make you aware of regarding the processing of your personal data. The rights available to you depend on our reason for processing your information. You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. We have one month to respond to you.

Listed below the UK GDPR rights for individuals:

The right to be Informed - You have the right to be informed about the collection and use of your personal information.

The right of Access (aka Subject Access Request) - You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information. This right always applies. There are some exemptions, which means you may not always receive all the information we process.

The right to Rectification - You have the right to ask us to rectify information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete. This right always applies.

The right to Erasure - You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.

The right to Restrict processing - You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your information in certain circumstances.

The right to Object - You have the right to object to processing if we are able to process your information because the process forms part of our public tasks or is in our legitimate interests.

The right to Data Portability - This only applies to information you have given us. You have the right to ask that we transfer the information you gave us from one organisation to another or give it to you. The right only applies if we are processing information based on your consent or under, or in talks about entering into a contract and the processing is automated.

Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling - The UK GDPR applies to all automated individual decision-making and profiling. It relates to automated individual decision-making (deciding solely by automated means without any human involvement); and profiling (automated processing of personal data to evaluate certain things about an individual). Profiling can be part of an automated decision-making process

Further information regarding your rights can be found on the ICO Website.

9. Transfers of personal data

No candidate personal data is transferred outside the EEA. All employee information is hosted in the EU.

10. Recruitment & Selection Process

Stage 1: Applying for a vacancy

You will need to submit a completed application in the format outlined within specific advert on our applicant tracking system, which is Civil Service Jobs. 

It is important for you to show how you meet the individual requirements for a specific role, so we ask that you don’t send speculative applications.

When you are applying, please only submit the information requested in the application system, we will not consider any other information provided in support of your application your application.

When we advertise a role, we always include a closing date. After this date, we can’t accept applications without prior agreement from our Human Resources Team.

Stage 2: Application pack

Job specification

This contains details about what the role involves and what skills you will need.

Application form

The answers and information you provide will enable us to understand and assess your skills, qualifications, career history and reasons for applying.

Equal opportunities form

The information given in this section will be removed from your application before consideration of candidates takes place and will not be made available to anyone involved in the selection process.

Stage 3: Shortlisting and interview

Short listing

All applications are assessed by the shortlisting panel according to the information you have supplied and against the criteria set out in the person specification. All applications are scored and compared in order to draw up the shortlist for the post.

Invitation to interview

If you are short listed, our HR team will contact you. We will also let you know if there are any additional requirements. Depending on the role, these may include a presentation, a written assessment or completing an online assessment.

Disability Confident and reasonable adjustments

The Planning Inspectorate has made a commitment to the Disability Confident scheme. As part of this scheme, disabled candidates who meet the minimum criteria for a role will be guaranteed an interview.

If you require any adjustments to the recruitment process, whether at the application stage or to support your interview/assessment centre, please ensure that you provide details of your requirement on your application for.

If you would like to discuss these adjustments in detail please email: PINS.Recruitment@planninginspectorate.gov.uk.

Stage 4: Offer of employment

Employment offer

Our HR Team will send you a provisional offer of employment, along with a copy of the main terms and conditions of employment. Your offer will be made subject to satisfactory references, occupational health clearance as appropriate, proof of right to work in the UK and security clearance.

Evidence of qualifications 

The offer of employment may be withdrawn if you are unable to satisfy us that you have obtained the qualifications listed on the application form.

Confirmation of Employment History (References)

When you are offered the role, we will conduct an Employment History Check (EHC) through the Government Recruitment Service (GRS), this is to confirm your employer’s for the last three years, the GRS will check this against your tax records using your National Insurance Number. If there are any gaps in the EHC, you will be asked to provide details of appropriate referees.

Occupational health clearance

When offered the role you may be asked to complete pre-employment medical questionnaire, dependent on any declarations you have made during the recruitment process. The results are sent directly to our Occupational Health providers who will screen it and confirm with us that you are fit for work or any reasonable adjustments we may be able to put in place to support you.

Security clearance

As everyone at the Planning Inspectorate is required to ensure they have the right work in the UK it is imperative that you provide proof of identity, nationality before your appointment can start. Our HR Team will arrange this with you and can advise you on suitable forms of ID. All applicants who are offered employment will be subject to security checks as they will have access to government information and assets. Candidates intending to work with the Planning Inspectorate must meet the Baseline Personnel Security Standard, which includes a Basic Check of unspent criminal convictions via the services operated by the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Some roles will require additional security clearance to Counter Terrorist Check, Security Check or Developed Vetting level which requires the disclosure of spend and unspent convictions as well as additional personal information. The requirement for these will depend on the type of work allocated, requirements for security vetting will be discussed with you as and when required.

Formal offer

Once your employment history, occupational health and security have been validated, a formal offer of employment will be confirmed. You will then be contacted by your line manager to agree a start date.

11. Management Information Data Warehouses

The Planning Inspectorate has data warehouses to support production of analysis and management information. This brings together key data from across Planning Inspectorate internal systems.

The data warehouses are exploited using Business intelligence tools. Access to data is controlled.

12. Security Clearances

Basic security checks and / or advanced checks based on your role in line with the Baseline Personnel Security Standards and the government Security Policy Framework these are carried out by using the Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS); candidates are provided a link via HR for completion via the GOV.UK Website.

Successful candidates will be requested to complete a DBS check the cost will be reimbursed as appropriate.

All Planning Inspectorate security clearance applications for all types of security vetting are processed by DLUHC.

Annex A - Data Processor List

Data Processor = Recruitment Agencies

Purpose = Recruitment Agencies used

Hays

Reed – Please email PINS.Recruitment@planninginspectorate.gov.uk for copy of this privacy notice.

Michael Page Methods Talent International Venn Group Capita SOLOS Consultants Rainmaker People Ltd Badenoch and Clark Sanderson Plc Odgers Interim

Data Processor = Home Office

Purpose = National Security Vetting

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-security-vetting-privacy-notice

Data Processor = Civil Service HR

Purpose = Civil Service Jobs

https://www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cgi?pageclass=StandardMessage&display=privacy