About this Privacy Notice

This University of South Wales (“USW”, “The University”) is the “controller” with regard to the information submitted via the Report and Support platform and is committed to protecting the rights of individuals in line with its statutory requirements. The University has a Data Protection Officer who can be contacted through [email protected].

Please read this privacy notice carefully – it describes why and how we collect and use personal data in the context of the Report and Support tool and provides information about your rights.

This privacy notice applies to personal data provided to us both by individuals themselves or by third parties and supplements the following wider USW Privacy Notices.

We keep this privacy notice under regular review. We may supplement or amend this notice by additional policies and guidelines from time to time.

What is personal data?

'Personal data' means any information which identifies you as an individual. It may include your name but it may also be other information such as your date of birth, nationality and gender which when combined identify you.

It does not include information which does not relate to an identified or identifiable individual, or to personal data rendered anonymous in such a manner that the individual is not or no longer identifiable.

‘Sensitive personal data’ or 'special categories of personal data' such as information about racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs or other similar beliefs, trade union membership, physical or mental health and sexual life, are subject to additional safeguards under data protection law.

Personal data relating to criminal convictions and offences are also treated as requiring additional protections.

USW’s data protection obligations

Under current data protection laws USW is a controller, as we determine the purposes for which, and the manner in which, any personal data is, or is likely to be, processed. This means that we are legally responsible for the personal data collected and held about you via the Report and Support platform.

One of our responsibilities is to tell you about the different ways in which we use your personal data – what information we collect (and our legal basis for doing so), why we collect it, where we collect it from and whether (and with whom) we will share it. We also need to tell you about your rights in relation to the information. This notice provides further details about all of these issues in respect of the Report and Support tool.

About the Report and Support tool at USW

The Report and Support tool at USW provides staff and students with a portal to report and also seek support in respect of issues of bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct.

Reports may be made by USW staff and students and may be either:

(a) anonymous, whereby no names or other information that could be used to identify the individual making the report are provided.; or

(b) named, whereby the names and contact details of the individual making the report are included,

Further detail on the data collected and how we will use that data in each of the above circumstances is set out below.

Please note that where you make a report through the Report and Support tool, USW will disclose information to relevant staff members on a need to know basis only. We will not generally take steps such as investigating the complaint, initiating disciplinary or other formal proceedings (including litigation) or passing information on to third parties in order to take the report further unless: (a) you have made a named report; and (b) you agree to this action.

However, there are certain circumstances in which USW may take steps such as those listed above even where: (a) an anonymous report is received (in which case action will be taken on a 'no names' basis); or (b) you have made a named report but you do not wish to take your report further. This is usually where there are real concerns for your safety or another person’s safety.

Report and Support tool is not designed to be used when reporting potential safeguarding or other issues to USW which may relate to an individual's criminal convictions and offences. If you become aware of a safeguarding issue, please follow the procedures set out in USW’s safeguarding policies here

What information do we collect?

The only information we collect about you, is the information you have chosen to share with us when you submit a report via Report + Support. In a named report, you have chosen to provide us with your name (first name and surname), contact details (this could be your telephone number for example) and student or staff number where relevant. In an anonymous report, you have chosen not to provide us with any of the above information. In both a named report and anonymous report, you will be asked to provide the following but you are not required to submit any information that you don’t want to:

• Your status (student or member of staff)
• If you experienced or witnessed the incident
• The University campus where you study or work
• Course title or work department
• The nature of the incident (e.g. hate crime)
• The option to provide further information about the nature of incident (e.g., date and time and any other relevant information).

We will also process the names and other details of any third parties who are involved in the issues reported. Where you name a member of staff, student or third party within the report then this information may be used to start one of our formal processes if you choose to do so, or for the University to take action if we have safeguarding concerns.

In both a named report and anonymous report, you will be asked to provide the following special category data:

Protected characteristics information (e.g. Age, Disability, Gender reassignment, Marriage and civil partnership, Pregnancy and maternity, Race, Religion and belief, Sex, Sexual orientation)

It is your choice to provide this information to us; a ‘prefer not to say’ option is available

What happens if you withhold information when making a report?

Use of Report and Support is entirely voluntary and you can provide as much or as little information as you choose. However, it is important to note that when you submit a report, the information you provide may enable us to better support you and others in the University as well as helping us prevent bullying, harassment, sexual misconduct or any other inappropriate and unwelcomed behaviour, making the University a safer place to study and work.

The information that you provide, both in a named report and anonymous report, is therefore valuable to us in terms our future decision making. By providing us with your contact details you will enable us to provide support and request further information if necessary.

You do not have to provide protected characteristics information, this is entirely voluntary. By providing this information you will help us monitor the use of the platform across the various characteristics.

The lawful basis for processing

Data protection laws require us to meet certain conditions before we are allowed to use your data in the manner described in this notice, including having a "legal basis" for the processing. Where we process special category (sensitive) personal data, we are required to establish an additional legal basis for processing that data. The lawful bases that we use in order to legally process the information provided via this platform are:

For personal information:

• Performance of a task in the public interest The University will be processing personal data in its capacity as a public authority in connection with its core purposes of education, research and innovation, and its responsibility to its staff and students in relation to its core purposes
• Performance of a contract Where a report is made by or about a USW member of staff or student, USW may process personal data in order to fulfil its obligations under our contract with that staff member or student.
• Consent Where you have made a report and we cannot rely upon any other appropriate legal basis, we will generally seek to obtain your consent to the processing of your personal data when reviewing and processing that report and sharing with any relevant party.

For special category personal information:

• Equality of opportunity or treatment We process certain types of special category data in order to monitor equality of opportunity/treatment.
• Employment law obligations We may also process certain special category data where this is necessary so that we can meet our obligations in the field of employment law.
• Statutory and government purposes We may process special category data in order to fulfil our duties under the Equality Act 2010.
• Safeguarding of children and of individuals at risk We may process special category data in order to safeguard children or individuals at risk.
• Preventing or detecting unlawful acts We may process special category data in order to prevent or detect an unlawful act.
• Establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims It may be necessary to process your special category personal data in relation to establishing, exercising or defending legal claims.
• Legal obligation: processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the University is subject.

Some of the above grounds for processing will overlap and there may be several grounds which justify the use of personal information.

Third parties with whom we may share your personal data

For the purposes detailed above, the University may have to share personal data with the following:

• Law enforcement or other government and regulatory agencies: The University may be required by law to disclose certain information to the police or another relevant authority in circumstances e.g. where it is considered that an individual is at serious risk of harm
• USW’s consultants and professional advisors -Depending on the circumstances, UCL may need to share details of reports made with its consultants and other professional advisors, such as solicitors.
• Courts and tribunals - In the event that a report results in legal proceedings being issued, UCL may share personal data with the relevant courts and tribunals
• Periodically requests are received from third parties with authority to obtain disclosure of personal data. Such requests will only be fulfilled where the University is permitted to do so in accordance with applicable law or regulation

Further information

Note that the list of third parties in this section is not exhaustive – data may also be shared in accordance with the privacy policies listed at section 1 above, as applicable.

Culture Shift, the company who host the platform, are unable to view the reports submitted.

Overseas data transfer

All data collected from the Report and Support platform is processed in the UK.

Information security

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. We have established procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where it is appropriate.

Only members of staff who need access to information will be authorised to do so. Information held electronically will be subject to password and other security restrictions, while paper files will be stored in secure areas with controlled access.

Some processing may be undertaken on the University’s behalf by an organisation contracted for that purpose. Organisations processing personal data on the University’s behalf will be bound by an obligation to process personal data in accordance with Data Protection legislation and under strict instruction from the University.

Retention periods

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for and to satisfy including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements, and in accordance with the University’s Retention Schedule.

We will keep full records of all reports, both anonymous and named, for 6 years from case closure on the ‘Report and Support’ system following which, all personal data will be deleted.

Your rights

Subject to certain conditions, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

• Right 1: A right to be informed about how your personal data might be used
• Right 2: A right to access personal data held by us about you.
• Right 3: A right to require us to rectify any inaccurate personal data held by us about you.
• Right 4: A right to require us to erase personal data held by us about you. This right will only apply where, for example, we no longer need to use the personal data to achieve the purpose we collected it for and there is no other legal basis that justifies the continued retention of the personal data
• Right 5: A right to restrict our processing of personal data held by us about you. This right will only apply where, for example, you dispute the accuracy of the personal data held by us; or where you would have the right to require us to erase the personal data but would prefer that our processing is restricted instead; or where we no longer need to use the personal data to achieve the purpose we collected it for, but we require the data for the purposes of dealing with legal claims.
• Right 6: A right to receive personal data, which you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format. You also have the right to require us to transfer this personal data to another organisation.
• Right 7: A right to object to our processing of personal data held by us about you.
• Right 8: A right to ask us not to use information about you in a way that allows computers to make decisions about you and ask us to stop.

In certain circumstances, we may need to restrict your rights if an exemption applies. The exemptions are set out within the Information Commissioner’s website

If you wish to exercise any of the above rights, please contact us using the details set out at section 12 below.

Who to contact if you have any questions or concerns about the use of your personal data

Any queries, concerns, requests or objections should be made in writing to the University’s Data Protection Officer:-

University Secretary’s Office,
University of South Wales
Pontypridd,
CF37 1DL

Email: [email protected]

Individuals who are unhappy with the way in which their personal data has been processed may in the first instance contact the University Data Protection Officer using the contact details above.

Individuals who remain dissatisfied have the right to contact the Information Commissioner with concerns. The Information Commissioner regulates the use of personal information and can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner’s Office,
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wilmslow,
Cheshire,
SK9 5AF

www.ico.org.uk