Dudley College of Technology - Protecting your privacy and personal data

Dudley College of Technology is committed to protecting your privacy and personal data.

This Privacy Notice informs you of what data we collect, why we collect it and what we do with it, so you can be confident that your personal data is in safe hands. It will also let you know the rights you have, and the choices that you can make to ensure control over your personal data.

Information that we collect

Applicants and members of the public

We collect your personal information when you enquire about or apply for a course at Dudley College either using our website or a paper application form, or through an external website such as UCAS. This will include your name, title, birth date, age and gender as well as contact details including address, email address and phone number, as well as information relevant to the course you have applied for.
If you are required to attend an interview for a course, we will take notes of any relevant information such as your interests, prior qualifications and working hours.
Visitors to the college will be asked to register their name and car registration at reception.

Learners

When you enrol at the college, we will create a record in our student records system, allocate you a unique student number that will be used in all of our systems to identify you, and take a photograph to be stored and used on your ID badge. We capture information including:
- Personal details including name, date of birth, contact details, National Insurance number, gender and ethnicity.
- Details of next of kin.
- Details of parent/guardian for learners under 18.
- Details of previous qualifications.
- Details of any health or medical conditions, including whether you have a disability or learning difficulty.
- Details about criminal convictions.
When you are studying at college, we will capture personal information such as:
- Your progress, attendance and any support needs identified.
- Logs of your use of IT systems such as email, internet access, virtual learning, door access.
- Logs of certain words when using college computer that may trigger IT filters, such as swear words.
Information about your personal circumstances, such as household income, bank details, evidence of benefits, payslips, birth certificates to assess your suitability for a bursary.
We use your information to lookup or create a Unique Learner Number (ULN) on a government database called Learning Records Service (LRS).
International learners will be required to give us additional information such as passports and financial information in accordance with UK Visa and Immigration guidelines.

Employees

We will collect personal information form you when you apply for a job with us. This will include your: name, address, telephone number, e-mail, date of birth, DofE number, NI number, current employment details including job title, start and end dates, current salary, notice period, reason for leaving, all past employment details, education details, whether you are related to any personnel of the college or Governing body, references, special arrangement details for interview, criminal record details, disclosure and barring service check, check of barred list.

We will collect personal information from you when you are a new starter and become an employee of the college. This will be your: name, marital status, previous surname (s), e-mail addresses, NI number, start date, next of kin and contact details, bank details, pension details, statement about employment, student loan details, offer letters, employment terms and conditions, changes to your terms and conditions, certificates/qualifications, disciplinary, grievance, capability, job descriptions, sickness absences, maternity/paternity/adoption information, accidents and injuries at work, working time information, annual leave records, recruitment information, photo, payroll details, gender, flexible working, exit interviews, return to work notifications, parental leave request forms, performance management reviews, bank account number, sort code, disqualification information, sickness absences, medical information.

Employers

We will store contact information including name, email and telephone for employers in our Customer Relationship Management and finance databases.

Website users

We capture information from our website using cookies that can be placed on your computer to enable us to offer a better experience for web users, and to track visitor numbers to our website. This information tells us how many times you visit a page, how long you viewed it and the search engine and search terms used, as well as the geographical location. For more information on cookies see our website.

CCTV

CCTV recordings are used and retained for a limited period to ensure the safety of our learners, staff and visitors to our college. Signage is used to make sure that individuals are aware that CCTV is being recorded. Access to view these recordings are limited to the appropriate staff. CCTV images may be passed on to the police in for the purposes of crime detection or prevention.

Full details can be found in our Security Policy (reference POL_017).

How we use information that we collect

Applicants

When you enquire or apply for a course, we will store the information in order to contact you with appropriate course information, in some cases to arrange for an interview and to send you joining instructions. For applicants to our Sporting Excellence programme we work closely with Swim England and its associated disciplines and will share information with them where appropriate in order to check eligibility for the programme.

If you consent, we may send you information relating to other courses and events happening at the college.

Learners

We use your information to create a student record, and in the following ways:

Teaching and learning
- Creating timetables and registers to plan your learning and record attendance.
- Providing a virtual learning environment, e-learning portfolio, and e-ILP.
- To facilitate assessment, diagnostics, examinations.
- To inform you of lessons, examinations and attendance issues via email and SMS.
- To support student discipline in line with our Student Code of Conduct and Learning Agreement, and deal with grievances.
To provide IT, library and information services, including booking student computers and monitoring their use in accordance with our IT Acceptable Usage Policy.
Support services
- To support students with additional learning support needs, including assessment planning and recording activity.
- To support applications to our bursary funds where there is financial hardship for low income learners.
- To provide confidential counselling services for students.
- To support student safeguarding activity.
- For the safety and security of learners, for example using CCTV.
- We may use bank details you provide to make bursary and refund payments to you.
To maintain student records
- Make data returns to the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) for funding and monitoring purposes in line with our regulatory and legal obligations.
- Make data returns to Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) for our HE learners for funding and monitoring purposes.
- Produce management information including monitoring of equal opportunities and disadvantage learner participation.
Administering finance, taking fees giving refunds.
Making payments to delivery partners under franchise arrangements.
Using images in our publications and marketing materials with consent.
Promoting our services, such as courses or events that may be of interest.
To contact you in relation to your course or to complete destination surveys.
International learner data may be shared with UK Visas and Immigration in accordance with their guidelines.

Employees

We will use your personal information as follows:

For the recruitment process and for carrying our pre-employment checks.
For the safeguarding and welfare of both staff and students, preventing and detecting criminal acts.
For checking your identity and right to work in the UK.
For checking your qualifications.
To keep an audit trail of the checks we have made and our relationship with you in case of employment claims.
To set up payroll and pension and to reimburse expenses.
For dealing with HMRC.
For communicating with you, including for marketing purposes.
For carrying out our role as your employer or potential employer.
For using images in our publications and marketing materials, also for staff ID cards.
For research purposes e.g. surveys.
For IT services, acceptable usage policy and telephone directory information.

Employers

We use contact information in our Customer Relationship Management and finance databases in order to:

Carrying out day-to-day customer relationship activity.
Promoting our services, such as courses or events that may be of interest.
Contact you in relation to work undertaken for you or to complete surveys.
Contact you to discuss employee progress on training programmes.
Carry out finance and credit management tasks.

Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) Privacy Notice

This privacy notice is issued by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), on behalf of the Secretary of State for the Department of Education (DfE). It is to inform learners how their personal information will be used by the DfE, the ESFA (an executive agency of the DfE) and any successor bodies to these organisations. For the purposes of relevant data protection legislation, the DfE is the data controller for personal data processed by the ESFA.

Your personal information is used by the DfE to exercise its functions and to meet its statutory responsibilities, including under the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 and to create and maintain a unique learner number (ULN) and a personal learning record (PLR). Your information will be securely destroyed after it is no longer required for these purposes.

Your information may be shared with third parties for education, training, employment and well-being related purposes, including for research. This will only take place where the law allows it and the sharing is in compliance with data protection legislation. The English European Social Fund (ESF) Managing Authority (or agents acting on its behalf) may contact you in order for them to carry out research and evaluation to inform the effectiveness of training.

Further information about use of and access to your personal data, details of organisations with whom we regularly share data, information about how long we retain your data, and how to change your consent to being contacted, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esfa-privacy-notice

Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)

Information on how HEFCE use the personal data we submit for our Higher Education learners can be found here: https://www.hefce.ac.uk/privacy/

Learning Records Service (LRS)

The information you supply will be used by the Skills Funding Agency, an executive agency of the Department for Education (DfE), to issue you with a Unique Learner Number (ULN), and to create your Personal Learning Record. For more information about how your information is processed and shared refer to the Extended Privacy Notice available on Gov.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/lrs-privacy-notices

You are in control of your information

Access your information

You can have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold on you. If you would like a copy of some or all of your information, please email records@dudleycol.ac.uk or write to:

Data Protection Officer
Dudley College
The Broadway
Dudley College DY1 4AS

The college will respond to your request as quickly as possible, no longer than 1 month.

Updating your records

It is important that your details are accurate and up to date. Please visit one of our sites with your ID badge to make changes to your details.

Consent

Where we use your data on the basis of consent, for example to send you details of courses that you may be interested in, or to use your image on our website or brochures we will always ask for clear affirmative consent. You can withdraw consent just as easily as it is given, by contacting the college by email: records@dudleycol.ac.uk.

Right to be forgotten (erasure)

You have the right to request that we delete all of the information that we hold on you. We can only do this where we do not have a legal or contractual obligation to keep your records.

If you are a learner, or former learner we have a legal obligation to retain the information we hold on you that relates to your studies.

Right to object

Under some circumstances, you have the right to object to the college processing your data. This includes direct marketing.

Transferring data to third parties

The college submits learner and enrolment data to a number of third parties:

To the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) on a monthly basis.
To Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE).
To RCU Market Intelligence Data Exchange (MiDES) to provide statistical analysis and benchmarking of our performance against other providers.
To external verifiers.
To delivery partners under franchising arrangements.
To Awarding Organisations.
To schools who checking for destinations of leavers.
To organisations requesting references.
To the Police for crime prevention or detection.
To End point Assessment Organisations for Apprentices.
To send routine progress and performance information to the parents of learners aged 16 and 17.

We work with a number of partners, ranging from software suppliers to external security; sometimes it is necessary for the partner to host and process information on our behalf.

Employees

The college may share the personal information for employees or formal employees with the following organisations for the following purposes:

To the college pension scheme providers to enable them to administer your pension.
To organisations requesting references.
To HMRC to enable them to administer your tax.
The department of education to provide statistical analysis.
To external verifiers and awarding bodies for them to confirm your qualifications and CPD requirements
To office of national statistics to provide statistical analysis.
To Association of College to provide statistical analysis and benchmarking against other providers.
To the college’s recognised Trade Unions to provide details of your membership payments and statistical analysis.

Why we use your data (the basis for processing)

Full details on the lawful basis for processing of your data can be found in the college’s Information Asset Register, details of which are available from the Data Protection Officer. Learners

The college acts as a controller and a processor for student data. Most of the data we hold on learners will be sent to the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) acting on behalf of the Department for Education (DfE) in accordance with our legal duties, and our contractual obligations with the ESFA. The college will also make use of this data to perform our primary public task, which is providing education and training.

Public and applicants

Applications and enquiries are processed on the basis of consent. The college performs other duties such as CCTV in the public interest.

Employees

We collect and use your personal information on the basis that it is necessary for performing our employment contract with you, or it is necessary to take steps before entering into the contract with you. We also collect and use your personal information on the basis that we need to do so in order to comply with our legal obligation.

Where we collect your special category personal information, we do this on the basis that it is necessary for the purposes of carrying out our obligations in the field of employment law. Special categories of personal data are personal data that reveal a person’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religions or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, physical or mental health, sexual life or sexual orientation and criminal records.

We will not keep your personal information for longer than we need it for the purposes we have explained above.

When you apply for a job with us, but your application is unsuccessful, we will keep your personal information for 12 months.

When you are an employee, we will keep your personal information for as long as you work with use and then after you leave, we will keep your personal information for 7 years.

Use of personal images

Images of specific individuals and groups are considered to be personal data and as such consent is required to use it. Generally, you will be asked to complete a written consent form, which will clearly explain how the images will be used and for how long. It may not always be practicable to obtain written consent, especially for larger group photos, or at live college events, however the college photographer will make it clear that your images will be stored and could be used online or for marketing purposes.

Images of large crowds or where an individual appears inadvertently in the background are unlikely to be considered as personal data.

You can withdraw consent for the college to use your images at any time, this should be made in writing to the data protection officer. Once your consent is withdrawn, we will not use your images in any new material or publications, however it may not always be possible to recall publications or materials where your image has already appeared.

Complain

Dudley College aims for the highest standards when collecting and using your personal data. If you would like to complain to the college, please access the form called “How Are We Performing?” using the following link: https://www.dudleycol.ac.uk/About-Us/Policies-Procedures/Complaints-Compliments

The form is also available from any of our college campus receptions, Learner Services or from the Standards and Performance Department.

Once the form is completed it should be returned to the Standards Assurance Co-ordinator at sharon.hayward@dudleycol.ac.uk or by post to Sharon Hayward, Dudley College of Technology, The Broadway, Dudley, West Midlands, DY1 4AS who will ensure the complaint is investigated and responded to in accordance with the procedure on "How Are We Performing?". You can also contact her by telephone on Dudley (01384) 363287.

Complain to the Information Commissioner (ICO)

If you believe that we have not complied with data protection law, you can complain to the Information Commissioner: https://ico.org.uk

Data Protection Officer

To contact the Data Protection Officer for Dudley College email: records@dudleycol.ac.uk

Or write to:
Data Protection Officer
Dudley College
The Broadway
Dudley College DY1 4AS