Data Privacy Notice – August 2023

What is the purpose of a privacy notice?

A privacy notice sets out the standards that you can expect from Judicial HR when we request or hold personal information (personal data) about you; how you can access your personal data; and what you can do if you think the standards are not being met.  

Who are we?

We are Judicial HR and are part of the Judicial Office. The Judicial Office is an Arm’s Length Body of the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) which is made up of civil servants who together provide services for the Judiciary of England and Wales. The Judicial Office is the data controller for your personal data.

We will ensure that we process your personal data:

  • fairly and proportionately;
  • in line with any current guidance and other publications of the Information Commissioner;
  • only in ways that are relevant for the purposes for which it is to be used;
  • accurately, so that it is complete and kept up to date;
  • so that it is kept for no longer than is necessary for its declared purpose;
  • protected by reasonable security safeguards against such risks as loss or unauthorised access, destruction, use, modification or disclosure;

Our right to change our Privacy Notice

We may make changes to our Privacy Notice from time to time. When we do so we will place our changed Privacy Notice on the Judicial Careers Portal. We will make clear any changes we have made to our changed Privacy Notice. We will always put the date and version of our Privacy Notice in its heading so that you can easily find this information.

What is your personal data?

Personal data is any information about a living individual that can be used to identify them. It includes identifiers such as Name, Date of Birth, Personal characteristics such as gender and ethnic group and qualifications.

It may also include what are known as special categories of personal data. This includes information concerning: racial or ethnic origin and social backgrounds.

Identification can be by the information alone or in conjunction with any other information in our possession or likely to come into our possession.

What do we mean by processing?

The processing of personal data is governed by the UK General Data Protection Regulation (the UK GDPR) and by the Data Protection Act 2018. When we refer to processing, we mean any activity we perform on or with your personal data such as collection, storage, adaptation, or other use.

How do we process your personal data?

We will process your data in accordance with the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018. This means we will keep personal data up to date; store and destroy it securely; not collect or retain excessive amounts of data; protect it from loss, misuse, unauthorised access and disclosure; and ensure that appropriate technical measures are in place to protect personal data.

On what basis do we process your personal data?

We will only use and process your personal data when and how the law allows us to.

The law allows us to process your personal data as it is necessary for us to do so in the public interest. The public interest is the proper administration of justice.

The law also allows us to process your data with your explicit consent. Where we do so we will ask you for that consent before we process your data. You are under no obligation to give consent if we ask for it. If you give consent you may withdraw it at any time.

How we collect your personal data

We will collect your personal data in a number of ways, for example:

  • when you apply for the Judicial Work Shadowing and/or Judicial Mentoring schemes as well as when you register for any events or initiatives;

How we use your personal data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

  • the administration and management of the Judicial Work Shadowing and Judicial Mentoring schemes and for making improvements to these schemes;
  • enabling the monitoring of diversity of applicants to the Judicial Work Shadowing and Judicial Mentoring schemes and for when applicants register for any events or initiatives;

We will collate, process, disseminate and publish statistics based on an aggregation of data held on the information system used to manage the schemes, provided the data relating to any individual scheme participant may not be identified from the resulting analysis.

Sharing your personal data

We will share your personal data with:

  • HMCTS (for arranging placements for participants of the Judicial Work Shadowing and Judicial Mentoring scheme);
  • Judiciary (only share name and contact details of participants of the Judicial Work Shadowing and Judicial Mentoring scheme or participants of any events or initiatives.
  • MoJ Judicial Statistics Analytical Services (for producing diversity statistics);
  • Judicial Appointments Commission for monitoring the success of diversity initiatives.

We will not share your data with third parties for example organisations outside of the Judicial Office and MOJ without your consent unless we are under a legal obligation to do so, for example with HRMC and the police.

Updating your personal information

You can update your personal data in the following ways:

  • via the on-line Judicial Work Shadowing application portal for change/update of any personal information
  • via the judicial HR Diversity team on judicialworkshadowingscheme@justice.gsi.gov.uk for all Judicial Work Shadowing and Judicial Mentoring scheme matters as well as for any queries regarding events or initiatives.

Processing of special categories of personal data

Where the processing of special categories of personal data is concerned we may process it either with your explicit consent or where it is necessary for us to do so for reasons of substantial public interest, such as the Lord Chief Justice’s duty under section 137A of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 to take such steps as he considers appropriate for the purpose of encouraging diversity.  

In order to meet the Lord Chief Justice’s duty under section 137A of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 we will process:

(a) Racial or ethnic origin and gender data

This will be processed strictly for statistical purposes in connection with “diversity monitoring’. We will also collect data on social mobility, legal background and potentially in the future other diversity characteristics.

Further processing

We may wish to use and process your personal data for a new purpose not set out in this Privacy Notice. Should we do so we will contact you to let you know about how we wish to use your personal data and where necessary we will seek your prior explicit consent to the new processing.

Restriction of Access to Personal Data and Personnel Records

Access to your data will only be granted to the following users and only for specific and legitimate purposes:  

  • Judicial Office staff employed in the Judicial HR Policy and Diversity team (for general administration and management of the schemes;
  • MoJ Judicial Statistics Analytical Services (for producing diversity statistics relating to the schemes);
  • Any specified and contracted third party e.g. EnCircle Solutions Ltd (for providing technical support to the on-line system used to administrate the schemes).

Evaluation based on Automated Processing of Data

We will not conduct any automated processing of your data for evaluation purposes.

Security

The security of your Personal Data is very important to us. We will ensure that we have in place appropriate technical and organisational measures to prevent unauthorised or unlawful processing of Personal Data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to Personal Data.

Your rights and your personal data – the subject information rights

Unless subject to an exemption – in respect of your personal data you have a number of subject information rights. These are:

  • the right to request that we correct any personal data if it is found to be inaccurate or out of date;
  • the right to request your personal data is erased where it is no longer necessary for us to retain such data;
  • the right to withdraw your consent to the processing of sensitive information at any time;
  • the right, where there is a dispute in relation to the accuracy or processing of your personal data, to request a restriction is placed on further processing;
  • the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Access to personal information

You can find out what personal data we hold about you by making a ‘subject access request’. If you wish to make a subject access request please contact:

Disclosure Team

Post Point 10.25

102 Petty France

London

SW1H 9AJ

Email: data.access@justice.gsi.gov.uk

Exemptions from your subject information rights in respect of your personal data

In some circumstances your personal data is exempt from the subject information rights.

Exemptions apply where the personal data is processed for the purposes of assessing your suitability for judicial office or in relation to the conferral of an honour by the Crown. Exemptions may also apply where use of the subject information rights is likely to prejudice judicial independence or judicial proceedings.

Retention and Destruction of Personal Data

Your personal data will not be kept longer than it is necessary.

Contact details and further information

Please contact us if you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or how we handle your personal data. We can be contacted on judicialworkshadowingscheme@justice.gsi.gov.uk  

For more information about how the Judicial Office handles data please contact the Judicial Office Data Privacy Officer

Ministry of Justice

102 Petty France

London, SW1H 9AJ

Email: JODataPrivacyOfficer@judiciary.uk

Complaints

When we ask you for information, we will keep to the law. If you consider that your information has been handled incorrectly, you can contact the Information Commissioner for independent advice about data protection. You can contact the Information Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Tel: 0303 123 1113

www.ico.org.uk

Further information on the protection of data can also be found on the Information Commissioner’s Office website https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection