Future Quest Data Privacy Notice

Plain English Data Privacy Notice 

Who are we

Future Quest is a Bristol area outreach partnership of universities and colleges, that form the Uni Connect Programme. Funded by the Office for Students (OfS), we aim to widen access to local progression pathways through collaboration, creating a landscape of opportunities and connections from early years to adulthood. We work with various funders to deliver projects targeting specific groups of students less likely to progress into Higher Education (HE).

Future Quest is run by the University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE Bristol), and UWE Bristol will be the Data Controller. This means that UWE Bristol will make decisions on how your data is used and why.

Purpose of the Privacy Notice

This privacy notice explains how Future Quest at UWE Bristol collects, manages, and uses personal data for the purpose of managing Future Quest Activities.  ‘Personal data’ means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (the data subject).

This privacy notice adheres to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) principle of transparency. This means it gives information about:

How and why personal data will be used;

Rights under GDPR;

How to contact UWE Bristol in relation to questions, concerns or exercising your rights regarding the use of your personal data; and

Child safety notice

Why are we processing your personal data?

Future Quest is undertaking and helps to deliver a wide range of outreach activity in schools and colleges to help young people better understand their future educational and employment choices. As part of this you may attend workshops, take part in a mentoring scheme, or be provided with information relating to other activities such as open days and school events.

We also work directly with schools to understand if we are meeting our objectives, and how this helps students’ educational outcomes and future employment.

As a data controller UWE Bristol are committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal data in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 (or any successor legislation) and any other legislation directly relating to privacy laws that apply (together “the Data Protection Legislation”). General information on Data Protection law is available from the Information Commissioner’s Office (https://ico.org.uk/). 

How do we use your personal data?

We use your personal data to:

  • Evaluate the effectiveness of our widening participation activities
  • Evaluate activity and progression to gain a better understanding of what young people think about Higher Education and higher skills training
  • Track your educational journey to measure the impact of Future Quest
  • Conduct surveys for Future Quest and where required, other delivery Partners and Organisations
  • Produce reports for funders and partners as part of our contractual obligation
  • Plan and run activities and keep participants safe (if you do attend a Future Quest activity)
  • Monitor and report on participation in Future Quest activities
  • We will also work closely with the Widening Access team at UWE to deliver sustained and progressive programmes of targeted outreach activity
  • We will only process your personal data when the law allows us to. In addition, we will always comply with UWE Bristol’s policies and procedures in processing your personal data. Our lawful basis for using your personal data for the above activities is as follow:
  • Personal data is processed under the condition of Public task.
  • Where special category personal data is used such as racial or ethnic origin, personal information about health, for research or statistical purposes, we rely on the lawful basis under Article 9(2)(j) in accordance with Article 89(1) of the UK GDPR and Schedule 1 part 1(4) of the Data Protection Act 2018.

You can find out more information about lawful bases here.

We do not use automated decision making when processing your personal data.

What data do we collect?

As well at the information we collect when taking part in Future Quest activities, we will also collect a range of demographic and personal data about you. This includes your name, date of birth, post code, school email address, school you attend, Gender, receipt of free school meals, In Care and young carer status, and your educational history.

We also collect special category sensitive data which includes disability status and racial or ethnic origin.

We collect this data through the following channels:

  • When you attend any Future Quest activities and events.
  • Direct from your school or college
  • Through the completion of online surveys to support the wider goal of Future Quest and its delivery partners.

Please note, your data is collected as part of the overall delivery aim of Future Quest as mentioned in this privacy notice even if you do not attend any of our activities.

Who do we share your data with?

The personal data that we process about you will be linked to your information held in national data sets so that we can see whether our activities influence your later educational and employment outcomes. Where we are required to share your information, we will ensure only the relevant and minimum data is shared i.e., anonymised where possible. Recipients of data include:

  • The Office for Students (OfS): Ofs are the national funder of Uni Connect. We share information as part of our regular reporting activities. The Ofs privacy notice is available here Uni Connect - Office for Students
  • Higher Education Access Tracker (HEAT): This is the secure monitoring and evaluation service we use to store your data and carry out some analysis. Use of this service is a requirement of the work we do for the Office for Students, and we use the reports generated by the system to help us evaluate all areas of our work. More information on how HEAT processes your data is available on the HEAT website.
  • The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA/JISC) – This organisation collects data from universities and FE colleges about who is registered on programmes of study and also surveys graduates about their future employment outcomes.
  • University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) – a charity who manages University and HE applications.

We also share information we collect with deliver partners in the following way:

  • NHS England: If you take part in the Routes into Medicine and Allied Health Professions or the Nursing Pathway programmes, we will use your data to produce regular reports of participation. These reports may include data such as ethnicity and disability, but we will not share any information which might allow you to be identified.
  • Wessex Inspiration Network (WIN): We work with the WIN as a delivery partner of the Routes into Medicine and Allied Health Professions programme. We may share some personal information with the WIN to allow us both to carry out essential work.
  • Your school/college: We receive your personal data from your school/college, and we use this information to share how many young people have engaged with Future Quest. We may share specific information with your consent or if we are required to do so under another legal basis (see above).

We will work with many delivery partners over time who all contribute to the aims and goal of Future Quest, and this list will be updated depending on the sharing requirements.

How do we keep your data secure?

We take a robust approach to protecting your information with secure electronic and physical storage areas for data with controlled access. Access to your personal data is strictly controlled on a need to know basis and data is stored and transmitted securely using methods such as encryption and access controls for physical records where appropriate.

Alongside these technical measures there are comprehensive and effective policies and processes in place to ensure that those who process your personal information are aware of their obligations and responsibilities for the data they have access to.

By default, people are only granted access to the information they require to perform their duties. Mandatory data protection and information security training is provided to staff and expert advice available if needed.

How long do we keep your data for?

Future Quest is using the Higher Education Access Tracker (HEAT) to help us link to large administrative datasets. Once the Future Quest programme has come to an end, we will retain a copy of your data in HEAT so UWE Bristol and partners of HEAT can continue to follow your progress. We will keep students’ data in accordance with HEAT’s privacy notice, for up to 15 years or until the student turns 30.

Please see our University Records Management Policy and Records Retention Schedules for more detailed information. These are available by contacting our Data Protection Office at dataprotection@uwe.ac.uk

Child safety notice

Because we work with students from primary school to college, we have strict procedures in place to make sure everyone’s personal information is kept safe. Get in touch at the address below if you would like more information.

Your Rights and how to exercise them

Under the Data Protection legislation, you have the following qualified rights:

  • The right to access your personal data held by or on behalf of the University;
  • The right to rectification if the information is inaccurate or incomplete;
  • The right to restrict processing and/or erasure of your personal data;
  • The right to data portability;
  • The right to object to processing;
  • The right to object to automated decision making and profiling;
  • The right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

To protect your privacy and the privacy of others, we will verify your identity before giving effect to your rights. To exercise any of your rights please contact the Data Protection Officer.

How to contact us

We will always respond to concerns or queries you may have. If you wish to exercise your rights or have any other general data protection queries, please contact UWE Bristol’s Data Protection Officer (dataprotection@uwe.ac.uk).

If you have any questions about the information above, email future.quest@uwe.ac.uk.