Community Life Survey – survey privacy and cookie notice

This Privacy Notice explains who is processing your data, the personal data we collect, how we use it, who we share it with, and what your legal rights are.

The Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) has commissioned Verian to carry out the Community Life Survey.

On this page:


Who are the Data Controllers?

The Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS), is a controller of personal data collected for the Community Life Survey.

The DCMS postal address is:
Department for Culture, Media and Sport,
100 Parliament St,
Westminster,
London
SW1A 2BQ
You can contact DCMS’s Data Protection Officer by email at:

Please refer to DCMS’s Community Life Survey Privacy Notice here.

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Who is the Data processor?

DCMS has commissioned a third-party data processor, Verian.

Verian administers the Community Life Survey on behalf of DCMS and carries out statistical analyses of the survey results in accordance with DCMS’s instructions.

Verian’s postal address is:
Verian
4 Millbank,
Westminster,
London
SW1P 3JA

Email address for queries about the Community Life Survey:
.

Verian will never misrepresent themselves or what they are doing. If you receive an email that concerns you, purporting to be from Verian, please contact Verian at .

Verian have contacted you to take part in a survey by post by randomly selecting your address through Royal Mail’s publicly accessible Postcode Address File (PAF).

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What is the legal basis for collecting and processing data?

Article 6 (1) (e) - Public Task; it is necessary to perform a public task (to carry out a public function or exercise powers set out in law, or to perform a specific task in the public interest that is set out in law).

DCMS is the government department responsible for delivering government policy on arts and culture, communications and media, sport, tourism. Information collected from this survey will be used to evaluate policies which DCMS oversees and inform the development of future policy.

DCMS may also rely on your consent to contact you in relation to future research, where you have indicated you are happy to be contacted. Where we do so, our lawful basis is: Article 6 (1) (a) - Consent.

Where sub-processors are used, they are commissioned by Verian to carry out the specific tasks as instructed. Supplier agreements are in place which specify minimum information security requirements. As a sub-processor, no legal basis is required for the transfer as they are only handling the data on Verian’s instruction.

When Verian conducts surveys, their invitations/platforms and questionnaires clearly identify them and explain the purpose(s) of their contact and if applicable, the purpose for collecting your personal data. You may decline to answer any questions or withdraw from participation in a survey at any time.

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Sensitive data collection

The survey collects the following categories of information for the purposes of understanding how demographic differences impact various aspects of community life in England, which will be used to inform future policy development in DCMS:

  • Your age and gender
  • Information about your ethnicity and religion
  • Information about your health status
  • Information about your sexual orientation
  • Marriage or civil partnership status

The survey will also ask for your consent to be re-contacted to participate in further research, in which case you will be asked for:

  • Your name (for the purposes of re-contacting you to participate in future research)
  • Your contact information, including phone number and email address (for the purposes of re-contacting you to participate in future research)

This information will be collected by Verian on behalf of DCMS.

Questions within the survey are optional, so you will be able to choose whether or not to provide this data to us to be used as described.

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Who will Verian share your data with?

Verian will share your personal data with its suppliers for the purposes listed below:

  • McLays (printing suppliers): Addresses will be provided to McLays to print survey invitations and questionnaires, for individuals who prefer to complete the survey via post. Data is erased from their records after 30 days.
  • Greens Ltd (scanning paper questionnaires): Completed paper questionnaires are returned to Greens Ltd where they are scanned and the data recorded to return to Verian. Questionnaires are stored securely for a maximum of 12 months and confidentially destroyed.
  • Bright Marketing Research (BMR) (data collection and processing partner): provides survey scripting, sample uploads, and data processing services for this research.
  • Merit Incentives (“Merit”) (corporate incentive supplier): If you opt to sign up to receive an incentive for completing the survey, then Merit will request your email address in order to provide your incentive to you. This is optional. Merit will hold the personal data you provide them, such as your email address, for a maximum of two years in Europe. Merit holds this information in case of any issues you may have with your incentive.

McLays, Greens Ltd, BMR, and Merit have contracts in place with Verian which prevent them from using your personal data except as instructed by Verian.

Aside from the four suppliers above, the only exceptions when Verian may disclose your personal data or survey responses to other third parties are as follows:

  • When we provide your responses to a third-party processor who is contractually bound to keep the information disclosed confidential and use it only for research or statistical purposes;

Verian will not share your information with any third parties for the purposes of direct marketing. In some circumstances they may be legally obliged to share information - for example under a court order.

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Who will DCMS share your data with?

Data will be shared with the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) and their appointed contractors, in order to support the evaluation of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF). This data will not include information that can identify you, such as your name, address, telephone number or email address. Findings from the UKSPF evaluation will be published on gov.uk. The privacy policy for the UKSPF can be found here.

DCMS may share data collected in the Community Life Survey for research and statistical purposes. This data will not include information that can identify you, such as your name, address, telephone number or email address.

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Will my data be published?

We will publish an aggregated (grouped together) and anonymised version of this dataset, as Official Statistics derived from this survey on gov.uk. It will not be possible to identify you from any information published.

A dataset containing answers from the survey (not including your name or contact information) will be available to researchers in the UK data service. This will be shared for the purpose of facilitating research in this area. The UK Data Service is a national data service that provides research access to a range of social and economic data collections. To understand more about how the UK Data Service handles your information, please refer to their Privacy Notice here.

The deposited datasets will not contain your name, address, telephone number or email address.

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How long will Verian process your personal data?

Verian will retain your personal data for no longer than 2 years.

As part of Verian’s Company Business Continuity plan and as required by ISO 27001, ISO 9001, ISO 20252 certifications where held, and in certain instances the law, Verian’s electronic systems are backed up and archived. These archives are retained for a defined period of time in a strictly controlled environment. Once expired, the data is securely deleted and the physical media destroyed to ensure the data is erased completely.

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How will your personal data, including survey responses, be used?

Responding to this survey is entirely voluntary.

Verian will keep all personal data and responses in strict confidence in accordance with this survey privacy notice. We can assure you that you will NOT be identifiable in any published results.

Verian, DCMS, MHCLG, and other recipients of this data who have signed data sharing agreements will use your personal data and responses solely for research purposes to produce anonymous, statistical research findings and insights.

Contact details and other information provided to the technical helpline will be used only for the purpose of dealing with the query raised.

Email addresses collected for the purpose of sending details of how to claim an incentive will be used only to send this information and to validate responses.

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How will Verian ensure your personal information is secure?

Verian has appropriate technological and organisational measures in place to protect your personal data and takes all reasonable steps to ensure your personal data is processed securely. All information you provide is stored in secure servers and environments. Unfortunately, no data transmission can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while Verian strive to protect your personal data, they cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to Verian or from their online products or services, and you do so at your own risk. Once Verian receive your transmission, they will take reasonable steps to ensure their systems are secure.

All Verian third-party contractors, site service providers and employees are contractually obliged to follow policies and procedures regarding confidentiality, security and privacy.

Verian adhere to the following industry requirements:

  • The UK GDPR, UK Data Protection Act 2018, the EU GDPR, and any subsequent legislation, which may be amended from time to time
  • They follow the MRS and ESOMAR professional Codes of Conduct
  • Verian hold Market Research Society (MRS) Company Partner Accreditation

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Your rights

You have rights over your personal data under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018). The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is the supervisory authority for data protection legislation, and maintains a full explanation of these rights on their website.

Participation in this survey is voluntary and you may withdraw from participation in a survey at any time. If you do not wish to receive any further reminder mailings, you can either: call the survey helpline on 0800 158 2952 or email Verian at . Please be ready to provide your reference number, address and postcode so we can opt you out of further communication. The reference number is located on the top of the letter.

To request access to personal data that Verian hold about you, please contact Verian at or in writing to Compliance Officer, 4 Millbank, Westminster, London, SW1P 3JA. When you make a request, you should indicate your survey identifier.

If you contact Verian using an email address or contact details for which they do not hold a record of, you will also need to provide a copy of a valid government issued or official identification (such as drivers licence or passport).

If necessary, Verian will notify any other parties such as suppliers or service providers who have been transferred your personal data of any changes made when you make a request. Note that while Verian communicates to these third parties, they are not responsible for the actions taken by these third parties to answer your request. You may be able to access your personal data held by these third parties and correct, amend or delete it where it is inaccurate.

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Cookies

Verian do not use cookies on standard online in-house surveys. Where cookies are required by a partner’s platform, this is notified by the platform privacy notice/policy.

As is true of most online surveys, Verian gather certain information automatically and store it in survey data files. This information may include things like Internet Protocol address (IP address), browser type, Internet Service Provider (ISP); referring/exit pages, operating system and date/time stamp.

Verian use this automatically collected information to analyse trends such as browser usage and to administer the site, e.g., to optimise the survey experience depending on your browser type.

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Where will data be held and processed?

Verian collect and process personal data for the purposes described above, but do not share or sell your personal data to any third parties, unless it is required by law, or you have agreed otherwise.

Additional to the above, your personal data may be collected, stored, transferred or processed by companies or 3rd party service providers for survey-related purposes, such as data processing, and fulfilment of prize draws or other incentives (where you have opted in) within the UK and the EEA. All parties are contractually bound to keep any information they collect and disclose to Verian or, Verian collect and disclose to them, confidential and must protect it with security standards and practices that are equivalent to Verian's own.

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Accuracy

Verian takes all reasonable steps to keep your personal data accurate, complete, current and relevant, based on the most recent information provided to them. If you would like to update your personal data, please contact Verian.

Verian relies on you to help keep your personal information accurate, complete and current by answering our questions honestly and you are responsible for ensuring that the data controller is notified of any updates or changes to your personal data.

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Children’s data collection

Verian never knowingly invites children under the age of 16 years to participate in surveys without consent and participation in this survey is intended for those aged 16+ years.

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Complaints

Who can I contact to find out more about the Community Life Survey and/or my personal data?

For general Community Life survey enquiries please contact
communitylifesurvey@dcms.gov.uk

For general information on how DCMS handles personal data, please read DCMS’s personal information charter. For any data protection queries, please contact the DCMS Data Protection Officer mentioning the Community Life Survey: dpo@dcms.gov.uk.

If you have any questions, complaints or if you’d like to exercise your data protection rights you can do so by contacting our Data Protection Officer (DPO) using the details below: Data Protection Officer, The Department for Culture, Media & Sport, 100 Parliament Street, London, SW1A 2BQ. Email: dpo@dcms.gov.uk

If you are not satisfied with how we handle and protect personal information, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. In the UK, this is the ICO and their contact details are:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate)

Email: casework@ico.org.uk

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Notification of material changes

We keep our privacy policy under regular review, and it may be amended from time to time. We will always have the most up-to-date policy on this web page. We will record when the policy was last revised.

Last revised: 15/07/2024

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