Privacy notice

1. Information we collect

We collect personal information from you:

• through the use of forms, which may be on paper or on our Websites, such as when you login to access our Services, signup to receive our newsletters, register for information, make a purchase or commence a course of study;
• when you create an account on our Websites and provide us with information about any special requirements, such as dietary requirements, that you may have;
• if you choose to provide us with information when you use any of our Website or access our Services;
• when you communicate with us for any reason, including by email, postal mail or telephone, and when you use our Services;
• we may also process your data in relation to COVID-19 or within other crisis management activities; and
• when you attend teaching activities that involve the recording of content that captures your personal data. You will be made aware when recording is being undertaken including at the start of lectures and/or seminars.

Reference to “personal information” or “personal data” in the Privacy Policy means any recorded information that is about you and from which you can be identified, whether directly or indirectly. It does not include anonymous data where your identity has been removed.

Generally, the personal data we collect about you depends upon the particular services we provide to you. It may include, although is not limited to:

• your name and contact information, such as your address, email address, telephone number and company details
• information to check and verify your identity, e.g. your date of birth, ID photograph
• your sex and gender identity
• information about your household income, marital status, nationality, details of dependants; Funding and financial support information
• Emergency contact information (where you have got the necessary consent to share)
• National Insurance number (where you have voluntarily provided it)
• Visa, passport and immigration information
• Education and employment information (including, but not limited to, the school(s), sixth and/or other form college(s) or universities you have attended. This includes any courses you have completed, dates of study and examination results, and places where you have worked)
• Other personal and socio-economic background information collected during the admissions process or during your studies with us, For example, but not limited to, whether you have been in care, have caring responsibilities, your socio-economic classification,
• Admission records including information in relation to any tests or interviews undertaken
• Examination records
• Information about your attendance record and use of facilities provided (both online and on site)
• Photographic data taken at events which may be live steamed and/or recorded for teaching and/or publicity and/or other purposes (such as monitoring and audit)
• your billing information, transaction and payment card information
• your personal or professional interests
• your professional online presence, eg LinkedIn profile
• information to enable us to undertake credit or other financial checks on you
• information about how you use our website, IT, communication and other systems
• your responses to surveys, competitions and promotions
• your image contained in videos and pictures
• audio data which relates to you including within contributions made by other students or third parties

Certain personal data is considered to be more sensitive and is treated as a special category to which additional protections apply under data protection law. Special category data includes information about your racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or similar beliefs, trade union membership, physical or mental health conditions, sexual life, sexual orientation, biometric or genetic data. Special Category data is dealt with in more detail below.

We collect this information for the purposes described in this privacy notice.

2. Information that we collect automatically

When you visit our Websites, we may collect certain information automatically from your device. The information we collect automatically may include information like your IP address, device type, unique device identification numbers, browser-type, broad geographic location (e.g. country or city-level location) and other technical information. We may also collect information about how your device has interacted with our Website, including the pages accessed and links clicked.

Collecting this information enables us to better understand the visitors who come to our Website, where they come from, and what content on our Website is of interest to them. We use this information for our internal analytics purposes and to improve the quality and relevance of our Website to our visitors.

Some of this information may be collected using cookies and similar tracking technology, as explained further under the heading ‘Cookies’, below.

3. Information we obtain from third party sources

We may receive personal information about you from third party sources (such as your employer or other third parties if they enrol you on a course or create an account on your behalf), or agencies if you apply for study or employment, but only where we believe that these third parties either have your consent or are otherwise legally permitted or required to disclose your personal information to us. We collect only the minimum amount of information required from these third parties to enable us to provide the requested service or process any application you send to us (for example, your educational or employment history). We only use the information we receive from these third parties as set out in this Privacy Notice.

4. Use of your information

The information that we collect and store relating to you is primarily used to enable us to provide our Services to you. In addition, we may use the information for the following purposes:

• to provide you with information or Services you request from us;
• teaching, academic assessment, supervision and support services such as welfare, libraries, accommodation
• to ensure that all students are able to access learning materials in a virtual environment including the provision of recorded classes, lectures and seminars
• to allow us to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act, including the provision of recorded material for those students who are unable to attend in person
• the administration of our (and our partners where appropriate) policies and procedures including in relation to admissions, complaints, appeals, academic integrity etc.
• efficiency, training and quality control;
• to provide information on other QA products and Services which we feel may be of interest to you, in accordance with your communications and consent preferences;
• to meet our contractual commitments to you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract;
• to act on your behalf where third party involvement is available and appropriate – for example through a third party specialist training provider or certification/awarding body;
• to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations, including but not limited to, applicable legislation surrounding COVID-19 test and trace or other crisis management schemes;
• to obtain additional personal information to secure funding and financial support or satisfy statutory legal or Government scheme requirements – for example through an Apprenticeship scheme or at the request of ESFA to provide data and information to such entity or government organisation;
• operational reasons, such as improving efficiency, training, delivery and quality control;
• marketing our services (and those of selected third parties) to: (i) existing and former customers, (ii) third parties who have previously expressed an interest in our services and (iii) third parties with whom we have had no previous dealings;
• to monitor and analyse trends, usage and activities in connection with our Websites/Services; and
• as necessary to prevent or detect crime.

We may also monitor or record telephone calls for training, customer service and quality assurance purposes, and to detect or prevent crime. These recordings will be retained for a maximum of 6 months.

In general, we will use the information we collect from you for the purposes described in this Privacy Notice or for purposes that we explain to you at the time we collect such information. However, we may also use your personal information for other purposes that are not incompatible with the purposes we have disclosed to you (such as statistical purposes and research purposes) if and where this is permitted by applicable data protection laws.

We set out below the grounds on which it may be necessary for us to process your personal data:

entering into or the performance of a contract to which you are a party;
where we need to comply with a legal obligation;
protecting your vital interests;
the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in us or in a third party to whom the data is disclosed;
where it is necessary to meet our legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party

There may be circumstances in which we ask for your consent to process data. For example, if you do not want us to use your data for any marketing purposes, you will have the opportunity to withhold your consent to this when you provide your details to us.

Consent can be varied online via our consent portal at cp.qa.com