Guidance

FCDO privacy notice: consular research

Updated 20 February 2023

What a privacy notice is

The General Data Protection Regulation requires that data controllers provide information to people whose personal information they process. Processing information means how we use it, store it, and share it, how long we keep it and how we destroy it.

This privacy notice includes:

• who we are
• what information we collect about you and how
• how we use your information
• why we collect personal information about you
• who we share your information with and why
• our lawful basis for processing
• how long we keep your personal information for
• your rights
• how to contact us
• how to make a complaint

Who we are

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) pursues UK national interests and projects the UK as a force for good in the world. We promote the interests of British citizens and provide consular services overseas, safeguard the UK’s security, defend our values and tackle global challenges with our international partners. To do this effectively we must collect, store, share and use personal information.

The Consular Customer Insight team is part of the FCDO. We gather and respond to feedback from consular customers so that we can improve both policy and service delivery. You can contact us using our consular research contact form.

What information we collect about you and how

We may collect personal information from you. This personal data includes your full name, email address, telephone number and the consular service you received. In some cases this data may also include special category data if, for example, you have disclosed a health condition in relation to consular assistance you received overseas.

This data will have been collected by one of the following ways:

• online on the basis of self-entry in order to complete an online emergency travel document or legalisation service and you selected that you were content to share your personal data for the purpose of being contacted for feedback
• online on the basis of self-entry in order to book a consular appointment at a UK consulate, high commission or embassy overseas and you selected that you were content to share your personal data for the purpose of being contacted for feedback
• on paper on the basis of self-entering data into a birth/death/marriage registration form and you selected that you were content to share your personal data for the purpose of being contacted for feedback
• on the basis of telephoning a consular contact centre in order to receive support to enter details for an online service and had a statement read out to you about your personal data and agreed to share your personal data for the purpose of being contacted for feedback
• over the phone or face to face as the result of receiving consular assistance and had a statement read out to you/discussion with a member of consular staff about your personal data and agreed to share your personal data for the purpose of being contacted for feedback
• over the phone or face to face as the result of receiving consular assistance and received an email/letter/SMS text about your consular assistance experience and agreed to share your personal data for the purpose of being contacted for feedback

How we use your information

If you provide your explicit consent, we will pass your name, email address, telephone number and the name of the service you received/reason you contacted a consular team overseas to our partner research agency, IFF Research. Our partner agency then selects a representative range of the different customers that contact the FCDO and ask them to participate in an interview about their experiences of the FCDO service they received. That feedback is anonymised, so that customers cannot be identified and it is then used to inform and improve our Consular services. Even if you give consent, therefore, you may or may not be contacted to participate in such an interview.

We will nor share your personal data with our partner agencies for the purpose of feedback without your explicit consent.

Why we collect personal information about you

The Consular Customer Insight Team processes personal data for the purposes of collecting anonymised feedback in order to improve services.

Who we share your information with and why

We share your information with IFF Research, our partner research agency. As their servers are based in the UK, no information is transferred outside the country.

There may be other circumstances in which we may lawfully share your data with third parties. For example, we may be required to do so by law, by court order, or to prevent fraud or other crimes. Where we share data, however, we shall do so in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

Our lawful basis for processing

We process this data because you have given explicit consent for this data to be shared with our partner agency for the purpose of being contacted for feedback. We may process special category data and so we need consent to be explicit to satisfy Art.9(2) as well as Art.6(1)(a) of the General Data Protection Regulation.

You are under no obligation to consent to share your data for the purpose of gathering feedback. You may withdraw your consent at any stage by making this request using our consular research contact form. Alternatively, you can send your withdrawal notice addressed to:

Consular Customer Insight Team 
Consular Directorate 
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office 
King Charles Street 
London
SW1A 2AH

How long we keep your personal information for

Once we have passed your data to our partner agency they will retain your personal data for a period of 12 months. Your personal data will be destroyed securely in line with FCDO retention and disposal policy.

Your rights

There are 8 rights that you have when the Consular Customer Insight Team is using your personal information. If you have any questions about these rights, you can contact the Data Protection Officer for more information.

• right to be informed: you have the right to be informed about what we do with your personal data
• right of access: you have the right to request a copy of any personal information we hold about you and what we do with it. This is known as a Subject Access Request. You can make a request by emailing [email protected]
• right to rectification: you have the right to request that any inaccurate personal data we hold is corrected or have incomplete personal information completed
• right to erasure: you have the right to request that your personal data is erased. This only applies in certain circumstances
• right to restrict processing: you have the right to request that we limit the use of your personal data. This only applies in certain circumstances
• right to data portability: you have the right to move, copy or transfer personal information from one IT system to another in a safe and secure way. This right only applies to certain information in certain circumstances
• right to object: you have the right to object to the use of your information, which means that we would have to stop using your personal information. This right only applies to certain information in certain circumstances
• rights related to automated decision making including profiling: if a decision is being made without human involvement in the decision making, you have the right to challenge and request a review of any decisions made

If your personal data is processed on the basis of consent, you have the right to withdraw consent to the use of your personal data at any time.

How to contact us

If you have any questions about this notice, consider that your personal data has been misused or mishandled, or would like to exercise any of your rights, you can contact us using our consular research contact form.

You can also contact the Data Protection Officer at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office:

Data Protection Officer
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
King Charles Street
London
SW1A 2AH

Email: [email protected]

Tel: 020 7008 5000

How to make a complaint

You may also make a complaint to the Information Commissioner, who is an independent regulator. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

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

Email: [email protected]

Tel: 0303 123 1113

Changes to this privacy notice

We encourage you to reread this privacy notice occasionally as we aim to update it regularly, to keep you informed about how we use your personal information.

This privacy notice was last updated on 20 February 2023.