Skills Bootcamps Privacy Notice for employers

Purpose and Scope

This privacy notice explains how data containing your personal information is collected on behalf of the Department for Education by our contracted provider and how it is shared and processed for the following purposes:

• Processing supplier invoices
• Counter fraud and gaming cross checks
• Verifying employer contributions paid towards the Skills Bootcamp
• Quality checking
• Market Research and Engagement 
• Programme tracking to understand which employers are involved, how we can improve the programme etc
• Research and evaluation purposes including surveys and interviews as part of the process and impact evaluation and User Centred Design research interviews and processes
• Any other purpose that may be required that promotes the robust evaluation and continuous improvement of the Skills Bootcamp programme, mitigates against fraud and gaming and ensures we achieve maximum value for money for the taxpayer. 

Who we are

For the purposes of relevant data protection legislation, the Department for Education (DfE) is the data controller for personal information processed. 

This means that DfE sets out for contracted suppliers what data they must collect from employers, how they must collect and share it and the specific purposes for which this data will be processed.

The nature of your personal data we will be using 

The categories of your personal data that we will be using for this project are:

• your business name 
• your full name
• your work email address
• your work telephone number

You should note that our use of your personal data is limited to processing for the purposes listed above in relation to you in your role as an employer or your role working for an employer in relation to the Skills Bootcamp.

How we expect providers to collect your data 

When suppliers contracted to DfE or any of their delivery partners contact employers, we expect them to email this privacy notice to you and to read to you a summary script to outline what data we will collect, why and for what purposes and to secure your agreement to collect and share the data in the ways set out. Furthermore, we expect suppliers to confirm to DfE that they have secured your agreement to collect and share your data and to allow DfE to process it, prior to sharing the data with us.

Why we ask providers to collect your personal information on our behalf 

Processing supplier invoices

This data is used to check if the participants who are registered on the course are genuine, that they complete the course, that the interviews with employers listed are evidenced and that employers who recruit from the programme are identified. This ensures that DfE pays the correct amount of funding on each payment milestone to suppliers. We ask for the contact details (business name, contact person, email address and telephone number) of the employers listed so that we can cross check the information that the supplier has provided. This is done through sampling surveys or a telephone call to some of the employers listed. 

Counter fraud and gaming cross checks

This same process as in 2a feeds into our counter-fraud strategy as this cross checking allows us to identify potentially fraudulent activity and to follow up any irregularities that we find. 

Verifying employer contributions paid towards the Skills Bootcamp

As part of the Skills Bootcamp programme, where an employer wants to train their own employees on the Skills Bootcamp, we expect an employer contribution of 30% from employers (from April 2023 for any new contracts, this reduced to 10% for small medium sized enterprises (SMEs). We use the employer data submitted on the data collection sheets to check which Skills Bootcamps should include an employer contribution in order to pay the correct (reduced amount) to the supplier. 

Quality checking

A part of our quality assurance processes, our Quality Assurance team will access the employer contact details we hold to ask employers to participate in sample interviews to check that the Skills Bootcamps suppliers are delivering the quality we expect. This is especially important as Skills Bootcamps is a new programme and not yet under the Ofsted inspection regime.

Market Research, engagement and programme tracking to understand which employers are involved, how we can improve the programme etc

As part of policy development, we use the employer contact details we hold to support our ongoing employer engagement activity to understand the needs of employers and how we can optimise the design of Skills Bootcamps. We also use the contact details to invite employers to events such as roundtables and market engagement.

Research and evaluation purposes including surveys and interviews as part of the process and impact evaluation and User Centred Design interviews and processes

We are collecting data on Skills Bootcamp employers to help the DfE understand how well the courses are working and if they are achieving their outcomes. This is important because it allows us to be transparent about how government spends public money and measures the impact that policies are having, as well as helping us make improvements to future training courses.

We may also request your participation in interviews and surveys as part of the evaluation of the programme. 

• From time to time, there may be other purposes that we need to process your data. This includes any other purpose that may be required that promotes the robust evaluation and continuous improvement of the Skills Bootcamp programme, mitigates against fraud and gaming and ensures we achieve maximum value for money for the taxpayer. We will only process your data where data protection legislation allows us to do so.

Our legal basis for collecting your personal information

When we collect personal information we only collect only the minimum level of data required. In order for our use of your personal data to be lawful, we need to meet conditions in the data protection legislation. We must have a legal basis for collecting your personal information. The lawful basis we use is:

Article 6 (1)(f): processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by DfE as the data controller.

How we use your personal information 

Personal information collected from employers is treated as confidential and collected only for the purposes set out in point 5. Any information shared publicly will be anonymised so you cannot be identified.

DfE (and its contracted research organisation) will use the data for policy development and to help improve education services. We may publish the findings for use by other relevant organisations and for the purposes of transparency in how we are using public funds. None of your individualised data will be identified.

Who we will make your personal data available to

We sometimes need to make personal data available to other organisations. These include contracted partners whom we may employ to process your personal data on our behalf and/or other organisations (with whom we need to share your personal data for specific purposes, including research and evaluation).

Where we need to share your personal data with others, we ensure that this sharing complies with data protection legislation. For the purposes of this project, we need to share your personal data with external evaluators working for DfE under contract who may:

• Contact you directly to invite you to take part in research (e.g. qualitative interviewsand/or surveys) to understand your experience with Skills Bootcamps. Participation in the research is voluntary. If you do not want to participate in these interviews/surveys, you can request this from our 3rd party contractor if you are contacted. 

How long we will keep your personal data

We will keep your personal data in its original format for a maximum of 7 years, after which point it will be securely destroyed. A pseudonymised version of your personal data to be used for research purposes will be kept for a maximum of 20 years. We will conduct reviews every 5 years to test if it necessary to still retain this data. For qualitative interviews, DfE (or its contracted research supplier) will review the notes, recordings and other research data after the session. Voice recordings will be deleted by the research contractor as soon as they are transcribed and no later than one year after the interview has taken place. 

Request to access, rectify or erase your information

If employers decide they do not want their data to be used by DfE, you can notify the department and withdraw from further involvement. No further data will be collected/linked on that employer beyond that point. 

Your data protection rights

More information about how the DfE handles personal information is published on the government website. 

Under the Data Protection Act 2018, you are entitled to ask if we hold information relating to you and ask for a copy, by making a ‘subject access request’.

For further information and how to request your data, please use the contact form. 

Further information about your data protection rights appears on the Information Commissioner’s website.

Contact information 

If you have any questions about how your personal information will be used, please contact us at https://www.gov.uk/contact-dfe and enter Skills Boot Camp as a reference. For the Data Protection Officer (DPO) please contact us via gov.uk and mark it for the attention of the ‘DPO'.

Last updated 

We may need to update this privacy notice periodically so we recommend that you revisit this information from time to time. This version was last updated February 2022