Guidance

Research on diverse SCS interview panels - privacy notice

Published 9 May 2019

1. Your data

1.1 Purpose

The purpose for which we are processing your personal data is to research the impact of ensuring that Senior Civil Service (SCS) interview panels include one or more individuals from an ethnic minority background or with a disability. We want to see if that has any effect on the appointment of individuals from an ethnic minority background or with a disability. We will:

• ask employers to collect information on the number of SCS panels which had panel members with a disability or from an ethnic minority background. This data will then be anonymised (but still linked the vacancy ID number) and sent to the Cabinet Office
• ask employers to collect information on the number of SCS panels which had applicants at SCS Payband 2 or above with a disability or from an ethnic minority background. This data will then be anonymised (but still linked the vacancy ID number) and sent to the Cabinet Office
• review diversity information about applicants for SCS payband 1 posts which is already collected by the Cabinet Office. This data will not identify individuals but provide data linked to the vacancy ID number
• match the two datasets above to discover if diverse panels lead to more candidates from diverse backgrounds being appointed
• collect anonymously feedback from candidates and interviewers on perceptions of interviews

1.2 The data

We will process the following personal data:

• ethnicity (number of White or BAME)
• disability / health (number with a disability)
• panel participated in or job applied for
• success in job application
• department
• job grade

1.3 Legal basis of processing

The legal basis for processing your personal data is that processing 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 collecting the data required for research and statistical purposes to investigate the effectiveness of the diverse SCS interview panels policy. Using vacancy numbers to match the outcomes for panels with a diverse pool of assessors to outcomes for panels that did not have diverse pool of assessors.

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 about health or disability is:

• processing is of a specific category of personal data and it is necessary for the purposes of identifying or keeping under review the existence or absence of equality of opportunity or treatment between groups of people with a view to enabling such equality to be promoted or maintained
• it is necessary for archiving purposes, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes, and it is in the public interest

1.4 Recipients

Personal data on the number of people from ethnic minority backgrounds or with a disability will be collected by employers. This will then be passed in anonymous form to the Cabinet Office research team.

As your personal data will be stored on Cabinet Office’s IT infrastructure it will also be shared with our data processors who provide email, and document management and storage services.

If you respond to our online survey your data will be shared with out IT supplier who provides survey management services.

1.5 Retention

Your personal data will be kept by us until October 2020.

1.6 Where personal data have not been obtained from you

Your personal data were obtained by us from your employer.

2. Your rights

You have the right:

• to object to the processing of your personal data
• to request information about how your personal data are processed, and to request a copy of that personal data
• to request that any inaccuracies in your personal data are rectified without delay
• to request that any incomplete personal data are completed, including by means of a supplementary statement
• to request that your personal data are erased if there is no longer a justification for them to be processed
• in certain circumstances (for example, where accuracy is contested), to request that the processing of your personal data is restricted
• to object to the processing of your personal data where it is processed for direct marketing purposes

3. International transfers

As your personal data is stored on Cabinet Office 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.

Data shared with our IT supplier that provides survey management services may be transferred and stored securely outside the European Union. Where that is the case it will be subject to appropriate safeguards.

4. 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

Telephone: 0303 123 1113
casework@ico.org.uk

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

5. Contact details

For diversity data collected from panel members, the Cabinet Office and your employer are acting as joint data controllers.

For any data submitted by applicants for civil service vacancies, the Cabinet Office and the employer are joint data controllers. Please see the Civil Service Jobs Privacy Notice for further details.

For all other data, the data controller is the Cabinet Office.

The contact details for the Cabinet Office 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