Introduction

ASDAN complies with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and is committed to maintaining the highest standards when handling personal information. Centres are required to have their own privacy notice and to ensure that all learners are aware of how and when their data may be used by others.

We may share your personal information with education organisations that regulate our services or provide assistance in the delivery of our services.

The information we collect

Information we collect may include your name, job title, address, contact details, credit card details, details of courses you have delivered and data collected as part of any documents you complete.

We may collect and process the following personal information such as information you provide by filling in forms for us; records of communication between us, including emails; and information about your email preferences.

If you provide us with personal information about another person, you must ensure that you have their agreement to do so and that they are aware of the ways in which we use personal information as set out in this privacy notice.

The information we hold on learners

ASDAN holds candidate registration and achievement data for the purposes of administering, verifying and awarding qualifications. The information we hold on qualifications candidates is their:

• forename
• surname
• gender
• date of birth
• ethnicity
• disabilities
• unique learner number
• Scottish candidate number (where applicable)

We may also hold the above information in relation to the administration of our programmes.

The above information is inputted into the ASDAN members area by the registered centre.

The information we hold on staff in ASDAN registered centres

Staff who have obtained logins to the ASDAN website are asked to input the following information to their centre account in our members area:

• forename
• surname
• email address
• telephone number

What we do and don’t do with data

We may use your personal information:

• to fulfil the requirements of any contracts with our customers
• to comply with our legal obligations and with requirements from regulatory bodies such as Ofqual
• to make our centres aware of changes to our services and to respond to queries for staff training to enhance customer service
• to analyse our services and marketing activity and to carry out market research

We use legitimate interest as the legal basis for processing your data. On this basis we will communicate with you via email or telephone to service your membership, for example communicating information about moderations, training, changes to our courses, and to seek feedback from you on our offer.

Your personal information may be used by our employees, contractors or agents, and disclosed to third parties, in order to comply with instructions from regulatory bodies (such as Ofqual) or any legal obligation (including in connection with a court order).

We may also use your personal information to enforce or apply the terms of any agreements we have with you or that concern you (including agreements between you and us); or to protect our rights, property or safety or those of our customers, employees or other third parties.

At no time will any personal data held by ASDAN be passed to organisations for marketing or sales purposes.

In the event of alleged malpractice or maladministration, your personal data may be shared with other awarding organisations and regulators, in accordance with ASDAN’s malpractice and maladministration policy.

How long we hold your information

We will retain your personal data for the duration of any contract between us, and for a period of six years following its termination or expiry, to ensure we are able to comply with any contractual, legal, audit and other regulatory requirements, or any orders from competent courts or authorities.

Where you have consented to marketing communications, you may change your preferences or unsubscribe from marketing communications at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in an email from us.

Working with education bodies

ASDAN will pass candidate achievement data to the organisations listed below in line with timescales specified and agreed in individual agreements with each organisation. Once this information is shared with these organisations, ASDAN is no longer the data controller but does remain the authoritative source of the achievements.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency

The Education and Skills Funding Agency delivers the government’s skill priorities. Learner information supplied to them by providers (centres) will be used by the chief executive of skills funding to issue a unique learner number (ULN) and to create a personal learning record (PLR). The PLR is a central record of qualification achievement which learners can share with education providers and employers.

ASDAN submits learner achievement data to the PLR when the learner achievement has been verified and where a ULN has been provided by the centre. The PLR is managed by the Learner Records Service (LRS).

Further details of how this information is processed and shared can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/lrs-privacy-notices

The Department for Education (DfE)

The DfE uses registration and achievement data for research and statistical purposes to inform and improve educational policy.

ASDAN submits achievement data annually to government departments or agencies acting on their behalf to support school performance tables.

UCAS

UCAS is the organisation responsible for managing applications to higher education courses in the UK. ASDAN qualifications that have UCAS tariff points mean they are recognised as contributing to entry to university.

ASDAN reports the achievement of our qualifications annually to UCAS directly. If you wish to learn more about how this data is stored and protected please view the UCAS privacy policy.

Regulators

The regulators process personal data that has been provided by ASDAN for the specific purpose of meeting their regulatory objectives. ASDAN provides qualification award data which may be used for research and statistical purposes to enable the regulators to fulfil their regulatory duties.

If you wish to learn more about the data collected by the regulators in England, Wales, Northern Ireland or Scotland please contact:

• Ofqual’s protection officer at: Ofqual, Spring Place, Coventry Business Park, Herald Avenue, Coventry, CV5 6UB
• Qualifications Wales data protection officer at: Q2 Building, Pencam Lane, Imperial Park, Coedkernew, Newport, NP10 8AR
  Email: enquiries@qualificationswales.org
• CEA, data protection officer at: Clarendon Dock, 29 Clarendon Road, Belfast BT1 3BG Email: info@ccea.org.uk
• Education Scotland, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way, Livingston EH54 6GA
  Email: enquiries@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk

Emailing our centres

ASDAN co-ordinators must provide an email address for us to send them essential information about the delivery of the course they are responsible for in their centre. This essential information includes:

• the policies and procedures you must provide to meet regulatory requirements for delivering qualifications
• moderation requirements
• new resources and updates to courses you are delivering
• details on support meetings and mandatory training for qualifications

Promotional emails

From time to time, ASDAN would like to email promotional content to our registered centres as well as people from non-registered centres who have signed up for one of our mailing lists. We will send emails on topics including:

• updates on new courses and resources
• information days and other promotional events
• news, blogs and education sector analysis

Staff from registered ASDAN centres can opt in and opt out of these emails through the members area of the website (see 'contact preferences') and unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email.

People who have signed up to one of our mailing lists but are not currently working at one of our registered centres can opt out of our emails at any time by clicking on unsubscribe at the bottom of the email. 

How ASDAN ensures the security of personal information

ASDAN regularly reviews its information security policies and procedures to ensure the data we hold is robustly protected. ASDAN ensures that where personal data is stored using third party cloud services, those services are GDPR compliant.

Use of cookies

We use cookies to personalise content, to provide social media features and analyse our traffic. We also use cookies to personalise your experience, providing greater convenience when interacting with our services. We may share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics services (Google Analytics and Hotjar), who may combine it with other information that you’ve provided to them or that they’ve collected from your use of their services. You can accept, customise or reject the various types of cookies we collect via our cookie banner. Please direct any queries to info@asdan.org.uk with the subject line ‘Data Protection – cookies’.

Your right to access data

Learners and staff from ASDAN registered centres have the right to request ASDAN to provide the information we hold on you. This can be done by emailing your request to info@asdan.org.uk

Lodging a complaint

If you wish to make a complaint about the way in wish ASDAN has handled your data, you can do so through the Information Commissioner’s Office. Please visit https://ico.org.uk/