Evaluation of London Multiply: Privacy Information Notice

Data protection legislation and personal data

Data protection legislation determines how, when and why any organisation can process personal data. ‘Personal data’ means any information which can identify someone. ‘Processing’ means any actions performed on personal data, including: collection, storage, alteration or deletion. These laws exist to ensure that your data are managed safely and used responsibly. They also provide you with certain rights in respect of your data and creates a responsibility on the Greater London Authority (GLA) and the research organisations it works with to provide you with certain information.

This privacy notice sets out the legal basis for processing data in relation to this research project, which is being completed by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES). This includes who will have access to your personal data, how your data will be used, stored and deleted, your legal rights and who you can contact with a query or a complaint.

The legal basis for processing personal data

The GLA is the data controller for this project. The legal bases under which the GLA and its contractors process personal data and ‘special category data’, such as information about your health and well-being or ethnicity are:

■   Article 6 (1)(e): It is necessary to collect data from users in order to effectively access the service and to evaluate outcomes of the service. The legal basis is public task and the legal gateway is Section 87 of the Education and Skills Act 2008. 

■   Article 6 (1)(f): It is necessary to collect data from users as the processing is necessary for the organisation’s legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party unless there is a good reason to protect the individual’s individual data that overrides those legitimate interests. 

■   Article 9(2)(g) of the GDPR, and Schedule 1, Part 2 paragraph 8 of the Data Protection Act 2018: to ensure equality of opportunity or treatment. 

This legal justification applies to this research project, which is evaluating the effectiveness of London Multiply in improving adult numeracy across the Capital. The study will involve:

■   Surveys with London Multiply providers, community partners engaged in the Community Numeracy Roadshow, and learners,

■   Case study research with providers delivering Multiply interventions across London. These will include in-depth interviews with both senior and delivery staff at provider organisations, focus groups with learners, and face-to-face observations at provider organisation sites,

■   In-depth telephone interviews with Multiply providers, wider partners (including community organisations/partners and employers), and learners engaged with Multiply provision,

■   Observations of Community Numeracy Roadshow events.

The GLA will share contact details of the providers contracted to deliver Multiply provision (including name, organisation, role and email address) with IES so that they can invite you to take part in an online survey. These surveys will provide an insight into the interventions you are delivering and your experiences of delivering Multiply.

If you agree to take part in the survey, IES will receive your personal data from your survey responses. Personal data from the surveys will be used to contact some of those who take part in the survey to engage in qualitative research (including case studies and/or telephone interviews). Please be aware that, if contacted, you are under no obligation to take part in further research.

If you are a learner, employer or community partner, the provider you are working with may, with your permission, share your data with a limited number of staff within IES. This means IES will have access to:

■   Information on a sample of participating employers and community partners, including: employer/partner name, name, and role of key contact(s), contact details (email and/or telephone),

■   Information on learners, including: name, email address, contact telephone number, type of training you’re involved in.

IES will use this information to invite you to take part in a telephone interview about your experiences of Multiply. If you are a learner, we may also ask you about your ethnicity, sex, your previous qualifications, whether you have any learning difficulties or disabilities, and your age. This is to ensure the research is capturing views from a diverse range of learners. There is no obligation to provide any of this information.

IES will visit London Multiply providers to understand better how training is being delivered. If you are a learner at one of the providers visited, you may be invited by your training provider to take part in a focus group led by IES to share your views and experiences of the training. In the focus group we will not ask you for any personal data, however you may share this if you choose to if it is relevant to how you have experienced Multiply.

Learners may also be invited to take part in an online survey, via their provider. The survey may ask you to provide personal data such as ethnicity, age, previous qualifications, information about learning difficulties and disabilities, and criminal convictions. This survey will remain anonymous, meaning it will not ask for your name, address or date of birth. There is no obligation to provide any of this if you choose to complete the survey. The purpose of this survey is to understand how Multiply provision is experienced by groups with similar characteristics.

Personal data collected through any of the above methods will only be processed for the purposes of completing this research, under the direction of the GLA. Participation in any element of the research is completely voluntary – if you decide after consenting that you no longer want to take part you can decline the invitation without having to give a reason.

Who will have access to my personal data?

All personal data shared with IES to invite providers and community partners to surveys, and to invite providers, wider partners and learners to telephone interviews will be stored on an encrypted server, with access restricted solely to members of the research team.

If you agree to take part in a research survey, interview or focus group, any information you provide will be summarised in an anonymised format – this means we will remove any information that could be used to identify you.

How will my data be treated?

If you are invited and choose to take part in a survey, interview, or focus group the information you give will only be used for purposes of this study. IES will produce a report summarising the main findings from across all the research activities. This will be shared with operational leaders, at the GLA. It may also be published and made publicly available on the london.gov.uk and IES website. Individuals will not be named in the reports, nor will any information be included that could reveal their identity.

Data protection law requires that personal data are kept for no longer than is necessary. We will anonymise the information you provide as soon as we practically can (i.e. within 2 weeks of the interview date). The personal data we used to contact you will be securely deleted from the IES systems six months after the project is complete (currently estimated to be June 2025).

Who can I contact if I would like to withdraw my interview data?

You have rights under data protection law to make the following requests about the personal data that is held about you, which is being processed for this research, including:

■   to request access to this data

■   to amend any incorrect or inaccurate information

■   to restrict or object to your data being processed

■   to destroy this data

■   to move, copy or transfer your data.

You have the right to withdraw the information you have provided as part of the interviews or focus groups up to 2 weeks after the interview date. After this point the information will have been anonymised and will no longer be treated as personal data.

If you have taken part in an interview but would like your data withdrawn, please contact: billy.campbell@employment-studies.co.uk.

Who can I contact with a query about how my data will be used?

If you have any questions about how your data will be used, please contact Billy Campbell, Project Manager at IES: billy.campbell@employment-studies.co.uk.

Who can I contact with a complaint?

Further information on the rights available to you is also available from the Information Commissioner’s Office - the independent body responsible for regulating data protection within the UK. They can also deal with any complaints you may have regarding our use of your data:

■   Tel: 0303 123 1113

■   Email: casework@ico.org.uk

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