Contact us

How to make an FOI request

1. Read about the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and how to make a request
2. Check our previous releases to see if we’ve already answered your question
3. Make a new request by contacting us at:

The Procedural review process

Personal information charter

Our personal information charter contains the standards you can expect from the Institute when we ask for and hold your personal information. These are in line with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act (2018).

Overview

We collect personal information to enable us to carry out our functions as a non-departmental crown public body.

Your privacy

If we ask for your personal information, we will:

• tell you the reasons we’re asking for it
• only ask for the information we need
• make sure we don’t keep it for longer than necessary
• protect it and make sure only the appropriate people have access to it
• let you know if we’ll share it with other organisations
• keep it up to date where necessary
• consider privacy risks when we’re planning to change the way we use or hold it
• train our staff to ensure we use and protect it properly

Your rights

Under the new General Data Protection Regulation, you have:

• the right to be informed about any information we hold on you
• the right of access to your information
• the right to rectify or erase information
• the right to restrict processing of your data
• the right to data portability; and
• the right to object

However, there some exemptions to these rights which can be found in article 89 of the GDPR text.

How to find out what personal information we hold about you

Under the terms of the Data Protection Act 2018, you are entitled to ask us:

• if we’re processing your personal data
• for a description of the data, we hold about you
• the reasons we’re holding it and any recipient we may disclose it to, for example, public bodies, government departments, and or relevant stakeholders.
• for a copy of your personal data and any details of its source

How we process your personal data

All staff receive training on how to handle personal information confidentially. The staff that handle large volumes of personal data receive in-depth training.

When we share personal information

We may get information about you from other people such as public bodies, government departments, and or relevant stakeholders.

We may share information we hold about you with certain organisations where the law allows it, or if we have a legal obligation to do so.

There may be some circumstances where we’ll need to share information about you with others without your consent. For example, this might be to prevent or detect a crime, to comply with our obligations under safeguarding laws, and to carry out a public task. In all cases, we’ll comply with all data handling legislation including the Data Protection Act 2018.

Your correspondence will be forwarded to the relevant public bodies, government departments, and or relevant stakeholders to respond if your query is not for this Institute unless you tell us otherwise.

How long we’ll keep your information

We will only keep your information for as long as necessary, after which point we will securely destroy it.

There are circumstances where we may keep your information for research and statistical purposes. We have measures to safeguard this information.

You’re also entitled to ask us to change the information we hold about you if it’s wrong. Please let us know as soon as possible if there are any changes to your personal information.

Contact us

The Institute’s data protection officer is Rob Nitsch.

If you want to view your personal data, you should make a ‘subject access request’. If you want more information about how we process your personal data or have any questions or concerns relating to your data, then please contact the data protection officer using the following email address: Enquiries.IFA@education.gov.uk.

View our guidance on making a complaint

For employee whistleblowing advice you can find it on GOV.UK

You can alert the Institute to any malpractice within apprenticeships

Email enquiries.ifa@education.gov.uk

Please send emails with the subject heading: Making a disclosure