Last updated: 20/12/2023
This policy applies to data submitted by respondents who have completed or are about to complete the Crime Survey for England and Wales. For the privacy policy relating to individuals visiting www.crimesurvey.co.uk who wish to find out more about the Crime Survey for England and Wales, please follow this link.
This research is conducted by Verian, the Data Processor, on behalf of The Office for National Statistics (ONS), the Data Controller. We ask you to read this privacy policy carefully. For the purpose of this Policy, the definition of ‘personal data’ is information which relates to and can identify a living individual.
This Policy explains how we collect, store and use the personal data you provide when taking part in a face to face, online, postal or telephone social research survey for us.
When we conduct research, our interviewers/invitations/platforms and questionnaires clearly identify us and explain the purpose(s) of our contact and if applicable, the purpose for our collecting your personal data. You may decline to answer any questions or withdraw from participation in a survey at any time.
When we contact you, generally in person, by telephone, by email or by post, we do so for one of the following purposes:
| Case | Purpose | Data collected / processed | Legal Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inviting you to participate in our surveys | To provide the opportunity for a representative sample of individuals to participate in our surveys. | Dialled phone number, postal address, email address | Processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the Data Controller. |
| Surveys | To understand your views about certain products and services or to understand your behaviour in different situations. To validate answers you gave in a recent survey we conducted. Administer prize draws and incentives. Recontact participants e.g. for ongoing and follow-up surveys. | Unique identifier, contact details, email address, voice, image, opinion, special category personal data |
Processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the Data Controller. Processing of special category data is necessary for statistical purposes. |
| Survey Participation Uniqueness | Prevention of multiple entries in surveys by the same individuals. | IP address, browser specifications, device specifications | Processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the Data Controller. |
| Data Matching and Enrichment | We may enrich the data we hold on file about you by matching your personal data with other data sources and third parties who specialise in data management. | Unique identifier, contact details, email address, social login, cookie, mobile device ID, special category personal data |
Processing is necessary in the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the Data Controller. Processing of special category data is necessary for statistical purposes. |
| Managing survey opt-outs | When an individual has requested not to be contacted again, we hold their details to enable this. | Name, postal address, telephone number | Processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the Data Controller. |
When you participate in our research, we may ask you for a range of information, including, for example, your personal opinions, and demographic information, such as your age and household composition. You may decline to answer any questions or withdraw from participation in a study at any time.
We will never misrepresent ourselves or what we are doing. If you receive an email that concerns you, purporting to be from us, please let us know as shown below in ‘How to contact us’.
We have contacted you to participate in a survey by telephone, post, face-to-face or online by:
You can be assured that we will protect your privacy.
Your personal data may be collected, stored, transferred or processed by companies within the Verian, or 3rd party service providers for research-related purposes, such as data processing, and fulfilment of incentives both within and outside the UK and the EEA. They are all contractually bound to keep any information they collect and disclose to us or, we collect and disclose to them, confidential and must protect it with security standards and practices that are equivalent to our own.
If your personal data has been transferred to, stored, or otherwise processed to a territory outside the UK or EEA (as applicable) and that territory has not been recognised as providing an adequate level of protection of personal data, we will put in place an appropriate legal safeguard. For example, standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission and other relevant authorities, working with parties that have implemented binding corporate rules or other intra-group processes, obtaining your consent to transfer personal data, where the transfer is necessary for the performance of a contract between us or where a contract was entered into on your behalf, or where the transfer is necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
We have appropriate technological and organisational measures in place to protect your personal data and take all reasonable steps to ensure your personal data is processed securely. All information you provide us is stored in secure servers and environments.
All our third party contractors, site service providers and employees are contractually obliged to follow our policies and procedures regarding confidentiality, security and privacy.
We adhere to the following industry requirements:
Cookies are small text files stored on your computer or device by a website that assigns a numerical user ID and stores certain information about your online browsing. They are used by web developers to help users navigate their websites efficiently and perform certain functions. The website sends information to the browser which then creates a text file. Every time the user goes back to the same website, the browser retrieves and sends this file to the website's server.
We do not use cookies on standard online surveys. Where cookies are required by a partner’s platform, this is notified by the platform privacy notice/policy.
For behavioural tracking surveys, we use optional cookies / software applications, but only if you have given your explicit consent to such cookies / applications.
As is true of most online surveys, we gather certain information automatically and store it in survey data files. This information may include things like Internet Protocol address (IP address), browser type, Internet Service Provider (ISP); referring/exit pages, operating system and date/time stamp.
We use this automatically collected information to analyse trends such as browser usage and to administer the site, e.g. to optimise the survey experience depending on your browser type. We may also use your IP address to check whether there have been multiple participations in the survey from this IP address.
We take all reasonable steps to keep personal data in our possession or control, which is used on an ongoing basis, accurate, complete, current and relevant, based on the most recent information available to us by you and/or by our client. If you would like to update your personal data, please contact us using the details provided below.
We rely on you to help us keep your personal data accurate, complete and current by answering our questions honestly and you are responsible for ensuring that the Data Controller is notified of any changes to your personal data.
In our survey we may request to collect personal data that is classified as “special categories” of personal data. This includes racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person, data concerning health or data concerning a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation. You will always be able to choose whether or not to provide this data to us to be used as described.
To request access to personal data that we hold about you, you should submit your request in writing to the e-mail address or postal address shown below in ‘How to contact us’.
If you contact us using an email address or contact details which we do not hold a record of, you will also need to provide a copy of a valid government issued or official identification (such as a driving licence or passport).
You have the following rights in relation to your personal data (we may not be required to comply if the data are being held for statistical purposes only):
If necessary, we will notify any other parties such as our suppliers or service providers to whom we have transferred your personal data of any changes that we make on your request. Note that while we communicate to these third parties, we are not responsible for the actions taken by these third parties to answer your request. You may be able to access your personal data held by these third parties and correct or amend it where it is inaccurate.
Personal data will be retained only for such period as is appropriate for its intended and lawful use, in this case Verian shall retain data for no longer than 2 years, unless otherwise required to do so by law.
Where you have agreed to be recontacted by Verian about taking part in future research, we need to retain your data for up to 2 years as this enables us to collect an adequate number of people who have agreed to be recontacted for further research about certain topics.
Where you have agreed to be recontacted about any questions we may have in relation to this survey, it takes a year to complete all the interviews for the survey. Analysis and data validation could take place up to a year after data collection. If an issue was discovered at this point, we may need to recontact participants from the previous year to validate responses.
ONS hold the least amount of personal data possible and have measures in place to delete personal data or make them anonymous, where appropriate.
The law allows that information held for statistical purposes only, such as information from your questionnaire, may be kept for longer periods. ONS may recontact you about taking part in other surveys.
Personal data that is no longer required will be disposed of in ways that ensure their confidential nature is not compromised.
As part of the Company Business Continuity plan and as required by ISO 27001, ISO 9001, ISO 20252 certifications where held, and in certain instances by law, our electronic systems are backed up and archived. These archives are retained for a defined period of time in a strictly controlled environment. Once expired, the data is deleted and the physical media destroyed to ensure the data is erased completely.
We keep our privacy policy under regular review and it may be amended from time to time. We will always have the most up-to-date policy on this web page. We will record when the policy was last revised.
Date created: 13/06/11
Last revised: 20/12/2023
In certain circumstances we shall carry out automated decision making or profiling about you. However, in the majority of cases this will not result in any legally significant decisions being made about you. You have the right to appeal if any automated decision made about you is legally significant. If you have any questions about this please contact us.
Questions regarding this policy or complaints about our practices should be directed to the Quality and Information Security Team via email at uk-compliance@veriangroup.com or in writing to Compliance Officer, Verian., 4 Millbank, Westminster, London SW1P 3JA.
We will investigate all complaints and attempt to resolve those that we find are justified. If necessary, we will amend our policies and procedures to ensure that other individuals do not experience the same problem.
If you have any questions or comments you may contact Verian’s Data Protection Officer, please email uk-compliance@veriangroup.com or the Office for National Statistics Data Protection Officer:
Data Protection Officer,
Office for National Statistics,
Segensworth Road, Titchfield,
Fareham,
Hampshire.
PO15 5RR
Telephone: 0845 601 3034
If you are not satisfied with how we handle and protect personal data, you have the right to complain to the Data Protection Authority.
In the UK, this is the ICO and their contact details are
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate)
Email: icocasework@ico.org.uk
We are Verian. Our registered name and address is Verian., 4 Millbank, Westminster, London SW1P 3JA (company number 13663077)