Introduction
Data Protection Legislation, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), UK GDPR, the UK Data Protection Act 2018 and applicable e-privacy legislation, applies to all information relating to an identified or identifiable living individual. This is defined as personal data within data protection legislation.
Think Tank Academy Ltd takes the protection of all personal information extremely seriously and is committed to a policy of protecting the rights and freedoms of individuals with respect to the processing of their personal information. Think Tank Academy will therefore follow procedures that aim to ensure that all employees, employers, consultants, partners and learners of Think Tank Academy who have access to any personal data held by or on behalf of Think Tank Academy, are fully aware of and abide by their duties and responsibilities.
At Think Tank Academy, we collect and process information about individuals (i.e., ‘personal data’) for business purposes, including employment and HR administration, provision of our services, marketing, and business administration. This includes personal data relating to our staff, learners, suppliers and other third parties.
Compliance with data protection law is essential to ensure that personal data remains safe, our business operations are secure, and the rights of individuals are respected. Think Tank Academy is a controller under data protection law, meaning it decides how and why it uses personal data. This Policy explains our procedures for complying with data protection law in relation to personal data. It also sets out your obligations whenever you are processing any personal data in the course of your employment.
If you routinely handle individuals’ personal data, you will be given specific training/instructions regarding data protection procedures in relation to your role/department.
There will also be other policies which will impact on how you deal with personal data and data protection, and we expect you to comply with these where relevant.
This Policy does not give contractual rights to any Employees. It may be updated at any time.
Who does this Policy apply to?
This Policy applies to all Think Tank Academy employees, workers, [contractors, agency workers, consultants, interns, volunteers, partners and directors], (together referred to as ‘Employees’ or ‘you’).
Who is responsible for data protection at Think Tank Academy Ltd?
The Board of Directors is responsible for Think Tank Academy’s compliance with applicable data protection law. Think Tank Academy has appointed a Data Protection Lead who is responsible for overseeing advising Think Tank Academy on and administering compliance with this Policy and data protection law.
All Employees at Think Tank Academy have some responsibility for ensuring that personal data is kept secure and processed in a lawful manner although certain Employees will have responsibilities, of which they will be aware and in respect of which they may receive specific instructions.
If you are in any doubt about how you should handle personal data, or if you have any concerns or questions in relation to the operation (or suspected breaches) of this Policy, you should seek advice from the Data Protection Lead.
Why is data protection compliance important?
Data protection law in the UK is regulated and enforced by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Failure to comply with data protection law may expose Think Tank Academy and, in some cases, individual Employees to serious legal liabilities. These can include criminal offences and fines of up to EUR20 million (approximately £18 million) or 4% of total worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher. In addition, an individual may seek damages from us in the courts if we breach their rights under data protection law. Breaches of data protection law can also lead to considerable damage to our brand and reputation.
In addition to the legal liabilities, failure to comply with your obligations under this Policy could lead to disciplinary action and, in serious cases, it could result in the termination of your employment.
What is personal data?
Personal data means any information relating to any living individual (also known as a ‘data subject’) who can be identified (directly or indirectly) in particular by reference to an identifier (e.g., name, NI number, employee number, email address, physical features). Relevant individuals can include your colleagues, consumers, members of the public, business contacts, etc. Personal data can be factual (e.g., contact details or date of birth), an opinion about a person’s actions or behaviour, or information that may otherwise impact on that individual. It can be personal, or business related.
Personal data may be automated (e.g., electronic records such as computer files or in emails) or in manual records which are part of a filing system or are intended to form part of a filing system (e.g., structured paper files and archives).
What does ‘processing’ personal data mean?
‘Processing’ personal data means any activity that involves the use of personal data (e.g., obtaining, recording, or holding the data, amending, retrieving, using, disclosing, sharing, erasing, or destroying). It also includes sending or transferring personal data to third parties.
Data Protection Obligations
Think Tank Academy is responsible for and must be able to demonstrate compliance with data protection law. To ensure that Think Tank Academy meets its responsibilities, it is essential that its Employees comply with data protection law and any other Think Tank Academy policies, guidelines or instructions relating to personal data when processing personal data in the course of their employment.
We have set out below the key obligations under data protection law and details of how Think Tank Academy expects Employees to comply with these requirements.
1. Process personal data in a fair, lawful, and transparent manner
Legal grounds for processing
Data protection law allows us to process personal data only where there are fair and legal grounds which justify using the information.
Examples of legal grounds for processing personal data include the following (at least one of these must be satisfied for each processing activity):
Where consent is relied upon, it must be freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous, and Think Tank Academy must effectively demonstrate that consent has been given.
In line with ICO guidance regarding the employer/Employee relationship, Think Tank Academy does not use consent as a legal ground for processing Employee data unless the data processing activities concerned are genuinely optional.
In most cases, consent is also not required for other standard business activities involving use of customer or supplier data, but it may be needed for activities which are not required to manage the core business relationship, such as direct marketing activities.
Transparency
Data protection law also requires us to process personal data in a transparent manner by providing individuals with appropriate, clear, and concise information about how we process their personal data.
We usually provide individuals with basic information about how we use their data on forms which collect data (such as application forms or website forms), and in longer privacy notices setting out details including: the types of personal data that we hold about them, how we use it, our legal grounds for processing the information, who we might share it with and how long we keep it for. For example, we provide information about our processing of Employees’ personal data in the Think Tank Academy Employee Privacy Notice.
We supplement these notices, where appropriate, with reminders or additional information at the time particular processing activities take place or become relevant for an individual (for example when they sign up for a new service or event).
What you need to do:
By processing personal data only in accordance with your lawful job duties and Think Tank Academy instructions, ordinarily, you will be processing personal data fairly and lawfully.
The standard privacy notices and statements that we issue, for example, to Employees, learners, and the public, should normally be sufficient to ensure that individuals have appropriate information about how you are handling their personal data in the course of your employment. However, you should consider whether reminders or additional information may be appropriate at the time particular processing activities take place. This is particularly important if you think that individuals may need further assistance to understand clearly how their data will be used as part of such activities.
Any new forms which collect personal data, and any proposed consent wording must be approved in advance by the Data Protection Lead.
If you have any concerns about the legal grounds for processing personal data or if you are unsure whether individuals have been provided with appropriate information (in relation to any new processing activities), please check with the Data Protection Lead.
2. Take extra care when handling sensitive or special categories of personal data
Some categories of personal data are ‘special’ because they are particularly sensitive. These include information that reveals details of an individual’s:
Where special category personal data is concerned, data protection law requires us to have (as well as one of the legal grounds described in section 1), an additional legal ground to justify using this sensitive information. The appropriate legal ground will depend on the circumstances.
Additional legal grounds for processing special category data include the following. Those marked with an asterisk (*) would be particularly relevant to processing Employees’ special category personal data:
What you need to do:
If you are handling special category personal data in the course of your employment, you need to take extra care regarding compliance with data protection law. In particular, try to ensure that:
If you are routinely handling special category data as part of the requirements of your role and job duties, Think Tank Academy will ordinarily have put in place procedures which ensure that your processing activities satisfy the requirements above.
However, if alternative circumstances apply (e.g., you are involved in a new project or updating an existing system which involves new types of processing of special category data), please contact the Data Protection Led to ensure that the correct compliance procedures are followed.
Similarly, if you have any concerns over the legal grounds that apply when you are processing special category data or the appropriate information to be provided to individuals, please contact the Data Protection Lead.
3. Only process personal data for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes
Think Tank Academy will only process personal data in accordance with our legitimate purposes to carry out our business operations and to administer employment and other business relationships.
What you need to do:
You must only use the personal data that you process in the course of your duties for Think Tank Academy’s legitimate and authorised purposes. You must not process personal data for any purposes which are unrelated to your job duties.
Processing personal data for any incompatible or unauthorised purposes could result in a breach of data protection law (e.g., using the company contacts database to find out a colleague’s home address for private, non-work-related purposes). This may have potentially damaging consequences for all parties concerned, including disciplinary action.
If you find that you need to process personal data for a different purpose from that for which it was originally collected, you must check whether the individuals have been informed and, if not, consider whether the additional purpose is legitimate (in the context of Think Tank Academy’s business activities) and compatible with the original purpose.
If you are unsure about whether the purposes for processing are legitimate, you should contact the Data Protection Lead before going ahead with processing the data for the additional purpose.
4. Make sure that personal data is adequate, relevant, and limited to what is necessary for your legitimate purposes
Data protection law requires us to ensure that, when we process personal data, it is adequate, relevant to our purposes and limited to what is necessary for those purposes (also known as ‘data minimisation’). In other words, we ask for the information we need for our legitimate business purposes, but we won’t ask for more information than we need in order to carry out our business operations.
What you need to do:
You should try to ensure that you only acquire and process the personal data that you actually need for Think Tank Academy’s legitimate and authorised purposes within the scope of your role.
You must ensure that you have sufficient personal data needed to be able to use it fairly and to take into account all relevant details.
If you are creating forms that collect personal data, you should be able to justify why each specific category of data is being requested.
You must also comply with Think Tank Academy’s instructions about data retention and storage, ensuring that personal data is only kept for as long as it is needed for any intended purpose.
5. Keep personal data accurate and (where necessary) up to date
Think Tank Academy must take steps to ensure that personal data is accurate and (where necessary) kept up to date. For example, we request that Employees provide us with any change in contact details or personal information via My HR Toolkit. We also take care that decisions impacting individuals are based on accurate and up-to-date information.
What you need to do:
When you process individuals’ personal data in the course of your employment, you must make reasonable efforts to be accurate and, where necessary, keep the relevant information updated.
When collecting any personal data, try to confirm its accuracy at the outset. If you subsequently discover any inaccuracies in the personal data that you are handling, these need to be corrected or deleted without delay.
Personal data should be held in as few places as possible to avoid the risk that duplicate copies are not updated and become out of sync. You should not create additional copies of personal data but should work from and update a single central copy where possible (in accordance with standard Think Tank Academy procedures on retention and storage of records).
6. Keep personal data for no longer than is necessary for the identified purposes
Records containing personal data should only be kept for as long as they are needed for the identified purposes. Think Tank Academy has in place data retention, storage and deletion policies and internal processes/guidelines regarding several types of company records and information that contain personal data.
We take appropriate steps to retain personal data only for so long as is necessary, considering the following criteria:
What you need to do:
Please familiarise yourself with our retention policies, processes, guidelines, and instructions that are relevant to your job. Ensure that, where it falls within your responsibility, you destroy or erase all information that you no longer require in accordance with these.
If you are not sure what retention guidelines/instructions apply to you in your role, or you are unsure of how to apply them to a particular type or item of personal data, please contact the Data Protection Lead.
7. Take appropriate steps to keep personal data secure
Keeping personal data safe and complying with Think Tank Academy security procedures to protect the confidentiality, integrity, availability, and resilience of personal data is a key responsibility for Think Tank Academy and its workforce.
Think Tank Academy also has an ICT Policy setting out protocols for Employees on use of technology and communications systems, which also help to ensure appropriate security of personal data stored or communicated using such systems. This policy also sets out its organisational and technical security measures to protect information, including personal data.
We regularly evaluate and test the effectiveness of these measures to ensure the security of our personal data processing activities.
What you need to do:
To assist Think Tank Academy in maintaining data security and protecting the confidentiality and integrity of the personal data you handle in course of your employment, we require you to comply with this Policy, our ICT Policy and any Think Tank Academy instructions regarding the processing and security of personal data. We require you to:
8. Take extra care when sharing or disclosing personal data
The sharing or disclosure of personal data is a type of processing, and therefore all the principles described in this Policy need to be applied.
Internal data sharing
Think Tank Academy ensures that personal data is only shared internally on a ‘need to know’ basis.
External data sharing
We will only share personal data with other third parties where we have a legitimate purpose, and an appropriate legal ground under data protection law which permits us to do so. Commonly, this could include situations where we are legally obliged to provide the information (e.g., to HMRC for tax purposes) or where necessary to perform our contractual duties to individuals (e.g., provision of information to our pension providers).
We may appoint third party service providers (known as processors) who will handle information on our behalf, for example to provide data storage or other technology services.
Think Tank Academy remains responsible for ensuring that its processors comply with data protection law and this Policy in their handling of personal data. We must assess and apply data protection and information security measures prior to and during the appointment of a processor. The extent of these measures will vary depending on the nature of the activities, but will include appropriate risk assessments and reviews, and contractual obligations.
Details of the recipients or categories of recipients of personal data (including processors and other third parties) should be set out in privacy notices as described in section 1 above.
What you need to do:
You may only share or disclose the personal data we hold internally with an Employee, agent, or representative of Think Tank Academy if the recipient has a job-related need to know the information.
You may only disclose the personal data we hold to service providers or other third parties (including group entities) where:
Routine disclosures of personal data to established recipients (e.g., payroll providers or group entities) which form a normal and regular part of your role and job duties will ordinarily satisfy the above requirements. You should always ensure you comply with any particular Think Tank Academy instructions you are given. However, if you are in any doubt as to whether you can share personal data with anyone else, first contact the Data Protection Lead.
9. Do not transfer personal data to another country unless there are appropriate safeguards in place
An overseas transfer of personal data takes place when the data is transmitted or sent to, viewed, accessed or otherwise processed in, a different country.
To ensure that data protection is not compromised when personal data is transferred to another country, Think Tank Academy assesses the risks of any transfer of personal data outside of the UK and puts in place additional appropriate safeguards where required.
We do not currently transfer personal data outside the UK.
What you need to do:
If you are required to transfer individuals’ personal data outside of the UK in the course of your employment, adequate safeguards will need to be in place. Where these overseas transfers are a normal part of your role and job duties, Think Tank Academy’s current safeguards are likely to provide the required levels of data protection.
However, if you are transferring personal data overseas in alternative circumstances (e.g., for new types of processing activities which haven’t previously formed part of your job scope and activities, or to countries with which you haven’t previously dealt) you should contact the Data Protection Lead for further guidance before going ahead with the transfer.
10. Report any data protection breaches without delay
Think Tank Academy takes any data protection breaches very seriously. These can include lost or mislaid equipment or data, use of inaccurate or excessive data, failure to address an individual’s rights, accidental sending of data to the wrong person, unauthorised access to, use of or disclosure of data, deliberate attacks on Think Tank Academy’s systems or theft of records, and any equivalent breaches by Think Tank Academy’s service providers.
Where there has been a breach of security leading to the accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure of or access to individuals’ personal data, Think Tank Academy will take immediate steps to identify, assess and address it, including containing the risks, remedying the breach, and notifying appropriate parties (see below). Think Tank Academy has a Breach Management Procedure which sets outs its procedures for identifying, assessing and addressing security breaches.
If Think Tank Academy discovers that there has been a personal data security breach that poses a risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals, we will report it to the ICO within 72 hours of discovery.
We also keep an internal record of all personal data breaches regardless of their effect and whether we report them to the ICO.
If a personal data breach is likely to result in a considerable risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals, we will tell affected individuals that there has been a breach and provide them with information about its likely consequences and the mitigation measures we have taken.
What you need to do:
If you become aware of any breach (or suspected breach) of this Policy (including, in particular any security breach), you must report it to the Data Protection Lead/ via and take any other required steps in accordance with our Breach Management Procedure]to ensure that the breach is effectively assessed and addressed, and that we comply with Think Tank Academy’s data breach reporting obligations.
11. Integrate data protection into operations
Data protection law requires Think Tank Academy to build data protection considerations and security measures into all of our operations that involve the processing of personal data, particularly at the start of a new project or activity which may impact on the privacy of individuals. This involves considering numerous factors including:
We also seek to assess data protection risks regularly throughout the lifecycle of any project or activity which involves the use of personal data.
What you need to do:
If you are involved in the design or implementation of a new project or activity that involves processing personal data, you must give consideration to all the principles of data protection set out in this policy.
You should assist the Data Protection Lead with regular reviews of projects or activities to ensure data protection risks continue to be addressed.
A useful tool for assessing data protection and privacy considerations is a Data Protection Impact Assessment or ‘DPIA’. A DPIA will consider the necessity and proportionality of a processing operation and assess the risks to individuals and the measures that can be put in place to mitigate those risks. A DPIA must be carried out if a data processing operation is likely to give rise to a high risk to individual rights and freedoms.
If you are involved in the design or implementation of a new project that involves processing personal data, you must check whether it is necessary to conduct a DPIA or similar risk or compliance assessment by contacting the Data Protection Lead. They will also be able to advise you on how we expect you to conduct, or otherwise contribute to, a DPIA or similar risk assessment.
12. Sharing of Information – Safeguarding and Prevent
Think Tank Academy recognises that in line with the Prevent Duty it must not be involved in any covert activity against people or communities. The sharing of personal information may need to take place in order to ensure, for example, that a person at risk of radicalisation is given appropriate support (for example in line with Channel). Information sharing will be assessed on a case-by-case basis and is governed by legislation to ensure the rights of individuals are fully protected. When considering sharing personal information, in relation to Safeguarding and Prevent, Think Tank Academy will take account of the following:
Necessity and proportionality – personal information is only shared where it is strictly necessary to the intended outcome and proportionate to it. Key to determining the necessity and proportionality of sharing information will be the professional judgement of the risks to an individual or the public.
Consent – wherever possible the consent of the person concerned is obtained before sharing any information about them.
Power to share – the sharing of data by public sector bodies requires the existence of a power to do so, in addition to satisfying the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Human Rights Act 1998.
Data Protection Act and the Common Law Duty of Confidentiality – in engaging with non-public sector bodies, Think Tank Academy will ensure that it is aware of its own responsibilities under the Data Protection Act and any confidentiality obligations that exist.
There may be some circumstances where Think Tank Academy, during Prevent related work, identifies someone who may already be engaged in illegal terrorist-related activity. People suspected of being involved in such activity will be referred to the Police.
Think Tank Academy keeps and maintains appropriate safeguarding records in line with its duty and in line with the Think Tank Academy Company Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy and Think Tank Academy Company Prevent and Safeguarding Policy.
Individual Rights and Requests
Under data protection law, individuals have certain rights when it comes to how we handle their personal data. For example, an individual has the following rights:
We are required to comply with these rights without undue delay and, in respect of certain rights, within a one-month timeframe.
Individuals also have rights to complain to the ICO about, and to act in court to enforce their rights and seek compensation for damage suffered from, any breaches.
What you need to do:
If you receive a request from an individual seeking to exercise a right in relation to their personal data, or making an enquiry or complaint about our use of their personal data, you must forward the request, enquiry or complaint to the Data Protection Lead immediately so that it can be dealt with appropriately and within the applicable time limit in accordance with Think Tank Academy’s individual personal data rights procedures. Your assistance may be needed to address and respond to the request, enquiry, or complaint.
Record Keeping
To comply, and demonstrate our compliance, with data protection law, Think Tank Academy keeps various records of our data processing activities. These include a Record of Processing which must contain, as a minimum: the purposes of processing; categories of data subjects and personal data; categories of recipients of disclosures of data; information about international data transfers; envisaged retention periods; general descriptions of security measures applied; and certain additional details for special category data.
What you need to do:
You must also comply with our applicable processes/guidelines and any specific instructions you are given concerning the keeping of records about our processing of personal data.
If you are processing individuals’ personal data in the course of your employment and you collect any new types of personal data or undertake any new types of processing activities, either through the introduction of new systems or technology or by amending existing ones, please inform the Data Protection Lead so that we can keep our records up to date.
Training
We require all Employees who hold specific roles involving the use of personal data to undertake Data Protection training to ensure employees’ knowledge and understanding of what is necessary for compliance in the context of their role is up to date. Attendance at such training is mandatory and will be recorded.
Departures from this Policy
There are some extremely limited exemptions from data protection law, which may permit departure from aspects of this Policy in certain circumstances.
You will be given specific instructions if any exemptions are relevant to your role.
If you think you should be able to depart from this Policy in any circumstances, you must contact the Data Protection Lead before taking any action.
This Policy will be reviewed on an annual basis or sooner in line with legislative or business requirements