Frequently Asked Questions - Apprenticeship Evaluation Surveys (AEvS) 2021 What is the Apprenticeship Evaluation Surveys (AEvS) 2021 programme about? The aim of this research is to explore whether the apprenticeships programme is meeting the needs of its end users (apprentices and employers); consistently delivering professionally recognised qualifications and skills; and delivering value for money. The research will involve surveys of apprentices and employers to ask about their opinions and experiences of apprenticeships in England. These interviews are important since there is no other source of information available to the Department for Education (DfE) on learners' and employers' views and experiences of Apprenticeships. What personal Information (data) will IFF Research receive from the ILR? The research contractor (IFF Research) will receive the following from the ILR: your full name, email address, telephone number, unique identifiers used on DfE datasets, address, gender, age, ethnic origin, the existence (but not details) of any disability, learning difficulty or special educational needs, prior employment status, prior educational attainment, details regarding any apprenticeship learning you have taken part in since March 2019. This data will be used in order to contact you for the purposes of the research, analyse the performance of apprenticeships in terms of equalities (e.g. by ethnic origin), analyse the performance of apprenticeships for learners of different educational and employment backgrounds, and analyse the performance of different types of apprenticeship. Your name, address, phone number and email will not be sent to DfE in combination with survey data. With your express permission, which you may give or refuse at the end of the survey, DfE may be provided with a unique identifier to link the data to other data about you held by DfE. Without this, DfE will not be able to attribute the answers you give in the survey to you or your organisation. What personal Information (data) do I need to share during the survey? The research contractor (IFF Research) will call you to ask you some survey questions about your personal experience and personal views on apprenticeships. With your express permission, which you may give or refuse at the end of the survey, DfE may be provided with a unique identifier to link your responses to other data about you held by DfE. Without this, DfE will not be able to attribute the answers you give in the survey to you or your organisation. Even if consent to linking is given, DfE will not publish any information you give in a form which would allow you to be identified. What lawful basis are you relying on? In order for our use of your personal data to be lawful, IFF Research and DfE need to meet one (or more) conditions in the data protection legislation. For the purpose of this project, the relevant conditions are: Substantial Public interest based in law (Article 9(2)(g)) - processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest, on the basis of Union or Member State law which shall be proportionate to the aim pursued, respect the essence of the right to data protection and provide for suitable and specific measures to safeguard the fundamental rights and the interests of the data subject. Legislation within Section 122 of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 allows the sharing of learner data to a person providing services to the Secretary of State (i.e. DfE commissioned / contracted) to enable or facilitate the exercise of any function of the Secretary of State relating to education or training. Will my information be secure? Yes. Your personal data will be held on IFF Research's secure servers in the UK. IFF Research is ISO27001 accredited for data security, and a member of the Market Research Society (MRS) and must follow its Code of Conduct. Who is my information shared with? Your information will be shared with the Department for Education, but not in combination with your name, address, telephone number or email address. With your express permission, which you may give or refuse at the end of the survey, DfE may be provided with a unique identifier to link your responses to other data about you held by DfE. Without this, DfE will not be able to attribute the answers you give in the survey to you, nor able to tell if you have taken part or not. Neither DfE nor IFF Research will publish or make generally available any data which would allow a third party to determine how you answered the survey or whether you took part. What does the Department for Education do with the information? The Department for Education will use reports and data based on the survey results to measure how apprenticeships are performing, and to improve how they are designed and delivered. This will have public benefit, as it will provide the Department for Education with the evidence it needs to make evidence-based policy decisions. Understanding the views and experiences of apprentices and employers will help the Department better support families' and children's education. How long will you store my information? What will they do with it at the end? Unless you agree to be contacted for future follow-up research during the survey, all personal data used to contact you (your name, address, telephone number, email), or stored in combination with that information, will be deleted within 12 months of the end of the research. The research is expected to conclude in October 2021. We will retain contact details of those willing to take part in further research for up to five years to allow for future follow-up research. With your express permission, which you may give or refuse at the end of the survey, DfE may be provided with a unique identifier to link the data to other data about you held by DfE. Otherwise, DfE will keep an anonymised version of your personal data for future analysis, as per the GDPR exemption on retaining personal data used for scientific, or historical research purposes in accordance with Article 89(1). What are your Data Protection rights? You have the right: to ask us for access to information we hold about you to rectify any errors regarding your personal data, if it's inaccurate or incomplete to request the deletion or removal of your personal data where there is no compelling reason for its continued processing to restrict our processing of your personal data (for example, permitting its storage but no further processing) to object to direct marketing (including profiling) and processing for the purposes of scientific/historical research and statistics to be treated fairly and without bias, whereby no automated decisions will be made about you based on your personal data or special category data If you have a data protection query, please contact IFF Research via their web page at www.iffresearch.com/gdpr, where you can find more information and an online form to request any of the above.