Privacy
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 UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The Cabinet Office and our joint controllers process the following personal data for the following purposes:
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To enable you to set up and manage your user account on the Public Appointments website, to subscribe to newsletters, for us to contact you about your account, and to ensure the security of our IT systems, and to develop our IT systems.
This will allow you to create a user account so that you can receive updates about vacancies and subscribe to newsletters. You can also then apply for appointments and be approached about future opportunities. If you do not wish to be contacted about future opportunities you will need to opt out of this feature. We also monitor access to our IT systems to understand usage and to identify threats, and to contact you about your account.
The personal data we will hold is your:
- name;
- e-mail address;
- IP address, analytical cookie identifiers and site activity; and
- contact preferences
The data will be visible to Cabinet Office officials and our IT providers.
You may delete your personal data at any time. If you do not access your account for one year your personal data will be deleted.
The legal ground on which we process your analytical cookie identifiers is Consent. The legal ground for which we process your other personal data is Public Task.
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To enable you to make and manage applications for public appointments, to be contacted about future opportunities that may be of interest to you, and to volunteer as a role model, and for us to monitor campaign effectiveness.
This will allow you to:
- make and manage your application;
- opt out of being contacted about future opportunities that may be of interest to you;
- volunteer as an individual who is willing to act as a role model to encourage applications, and;
- to help us monitor the effectiveness of the application process and to conduct due diligence on potential appointees.
The personal data we will hold is your:
- name;
- contact details;
- employment history, qualifications;
- CV / biography and other background information relevant to your application including sift and interview assessments made by the advisory assessment panel;
- information you provide on interests relevant to the appointment you are applying for;
- political activity;
- geographical location;
- principal employment sector;
- number of government public appointments held;
- alongside your own declaration of relevant interests, this may also include information related to your conduct or professional capacity gathered as part of departments conducting appropriate checks on information in the public domain;
- health information as required to facilitate access and participation in events (e.g. venue access and dietary requirements);
- socio-economic data; and
- data provided by you to us for any other reason.
The data will be visible to Cabinet Office and other departments’ officials. Some of this data will also be available to other individuals involved in your campaign including Advisory Assessment Panel members and members of the Commissioner for Public Appointments team, and our IT providers.
If you are successful and appointed we will hold your data relating to your application for the duration of your appointment plus two years.
If you are unsuccessful we will hold your data relating to your application for two years from the date the successful appointee was announced.
Your account will retain a record of the appointments you have applied for after your application has been deleted, for as long as you choose to hold your account.
If you have not opted out of being contacted about future opportunities that may be of interest your data is retained for this purpose for as long as you choose to remain open to such contact.
The lawful ground on which we process your personal data is Public Task.
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To monitor the diversity and inclusivity of our processes.
We will collect and monitor diversity data, when provided, in order to:
- understand the diversity of public appointees and to satisfy our public sector equality duty (PSED), and;
- share anonymised diversity data with the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA) in order that the Commissioner’s Annual Report can be produced.
The personal data we will hold is your:
- name;
- contact details;
- employment history, qualifications;
- CV / biography and other background information relevant to your application including sift and interview assessments;
- information you provide on interests relevant to the appointment you are applying for;
- political activity;
- age;
- gender;
- ethnicity;
- sexual orientation;
- recorded disability (health conditions);
- faith;
- geographical location;
- principal employment sector;
- number of government public appointments held;
- socio-economic indicators;
- alongside your own declaration of relevant interests, this may also include information related to your conduct or professional capacity gathered as part of departments conducting appropriate checks on information in the public domain; and
- health information is also needed to facilitate access and participation in events (e.g. venue access and dietary requirements).
The data will be visible to the Cabinet Office, other departments’ officials, individuals involved in the campaign you may have applied for including Advisory Assessment Panel members, members of the Commissioner for Public Appointments team, and our IT providers. The application process will make clear which data will not be visible to Advisory Assessment Panel members.
We will hold your diversity data in your account for as long as your account exists. If you do not access your account for two years it will be deleted.
If you are successful in an application and appointed we will hold your diversity data for a rolling five year period while you are in post and for five years from the date your appointment ends.
If you are unsuccessful in your application the diversity data from your application will be held for five years from the date the successful appointee is announced.
The lawful ground on which we process your personal data is Public Task.
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To enable you to participate in an event or activity associated with public appointments.
We will process your personal data in order to communicate with you to invite you to events promoting public appointments.
The personal data we may hold could include your:
- name;
- telephone number;
- email address;
- contact details that you have provided;
- a record of any public appointments held;
- views and opinions on the public appointments process and the appointments you have held, and;
- we do not actively collect diversity data in relation to this activity, but it may be volunteered by you in the course of any awareness raising work, including health information needed to facilitate access and participation in events (e.g. venue access and dietary requirements).
The data will be visible to Cabinet Office and other departments’ officials, event organisers and co-hosts, and our IT providers.
We will hold your personal data for 18 months from the date of the event. The lawful ground on which we process your personal data is Public Task.
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To co-operate with external auditors.
We will share data with external auditors including the National Audit Office so that we can undergo an audit.
Wherever possible we will anonymise the personal data. However in some cases the data may still be identifiable. For example, if there was only one successful applicant.
Your data will be held by the auditor in accordance with their privacy policy.
Our lawful ground for sharing data for audit purposes 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.
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 UK. Where that is the case it will be subject to equivalent legal protection through an adequacy decision or reliance on Standard Contractual Clauses or a UK International Data Transfer Agreement.
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.
You have the right to request that any inaccuracies in your personal data are rectified without delay.
You have the right to request that any incomplete personal data are completed, including by means of a supplementary statement.
You have the right to request that your personal data are erased if there is no longer a justification for them to be processed.
You have the right in certain circumstances (for example, where accuracy is contested) to request that the processing of your personal data is restricted.
You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data where it is processed for direct marketing purposes.
You have the right to request a copy of any personal data you have provided, and for this to be provided in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format.
You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data.
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
0303 123 1113
Any complaint to the Information Commissioner is without prejudice to your right to seek redress through the courts.
Contact Details
The data controller for your personal data is the Cabinet Office. In relation to equality and diversity data, the Cabinet Office, Office for the Commissioner of Public Appointments and the recruiting Government Department are joint data controllers.
The contact details for the Cabinet Office are:
Cabinet Office
70 Whitehall
London
SW1A 2AS
0207 276 1234
publicappointments@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
The contact details for the data controller’s Data Protection Officer (DPO) are:
The Data Protection Officer provides independent advice and monitoring of Cabinet Office’s use of personal information.