Academi Seren Data Collections Privacy Notice

In accordance with Data Protection Act 2018 and UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) (‘the data protection legislation’), this notice sets out what the Welsh Government does with your personal data that it receives as part of Academi Seren Data Collections.

The information in this notice will remain under review to incorporate any further changes. If we change the way we process and/or use your data this privacy notice will reflect those changes. The updated version will be available on Seren Space.

This privacy notice was last updated in September 2026.

Background

Academi Seren collects and processes the personal data of Seren learners and affiliated members/partners to:

i. Provide access to Seren’s registration and information portal, Seren Space

ii. Monitor learner engagement and participation in Seren activities for programme management and administration

iii. Review and evaluate programme interventions and outcomes

Academi Seren data collections include Seren Space Online Registration Data, Ongoing Programme Management and Administration Data, and Evaluation Data.

Seren Space is the registration portal for the Academi Seren programme. If you register on the Seren Space portal, we will need to process certain personal information about you to make the necessary registration on the platform. As part of your participation of Seren, we may also need to collect attendance data and information from feedback and outcomes surveys to support the administration of programme activities and ongoing evaluation of Seren.

This privacy notice explains how we use the personal information we collect about you whether you register as:

An Academi Seren learner

An affiliated member/partner:
- Seren Graduate
- Seren Manager
- Seren Practitioner
- Seren Mentor

Welsh Government will be the data controller for this information, and we will process it in line with our public task and the official authority vested in us to enable you to register within the Seren portal and access its offering. Where the information amounts to special category data (e.g., ethnicity, disability etc.) we will process it in the substantial public interest of ensuring equality of opportunity and treatment.

Equal Education Partners will be data processor for this information. Equal Education Partners is the Welsh Government appointed contractor who delivers educational activities on behalf of Academi Seren. If you attend events, Equal Education Partners will carry out its function as the data processor, and will need to process some personal information about you in order to make the necessary registration and attendance access for you to take part in online/in-person activities together with the monitoring of your progress on the Seren programme.

This Privacy Notice will cover the contract period.

PRIVACY NOTICE

What personal data do we hold and where do we get this information?

Personal data is defined under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) as ‘any information relating to an identifiable person who can be directly or indirectly identified by reference to an identifier’.

Academi Seren collects this information via the following data collection points:

1. Seren Space Online Portal registration

2. Online attendance surveys (Learners only)

3. Online outcomes and feedback surveys (Learners only)

Learner Data:

Personal and special category data collected about young people as part of Seren data collections includes, but is not limited to, those listed below. For a list of learner data items collected as part of the Academi Seren’s data collections, please see Annex 1.

Personal data: First Name, Last Name, Postcode, Date of Birth, Email Address, Gender Identification, Language Preference and Proficiency, Preferred Pronouns, School, Seren Manager, Free School Meal Eligibility and Educational Maintenance Allowance, Refugee or Asylum Seeker Status, Care Experience, School Year Group, Careers Wales Advisor Status, Parental Higher Education Status, GCSE Grades, A Level Subject Choices, Preferred University and Subject Choice, Preferred Seren Pathway Choice, Photo/video Consent and Parent/Carer Email Address.

Special Category data: ethnicity, disability, information on any additional learning needs and medical conditions,

Activity Attendance Survey data, to include Seren interventions registered for, participated in and completed

Activity Registration data to include interested activities and subject streams for Academi Seren interventions

Feedback and outcomes survey data for Seren interventions.

Seren Graduates:

Personal Data: First name; Last Name; Preferred Pronouns; School/College Attended; GCSEs; A-Levels; Year of Graduation from Seren; University Attending(ed); Degree Subject Studied; Year of Graduation from University; Language Preference; Email Address; Seren Hub or Seren Manager

Seren Manager:

Personal Data: First Name; Last Name; Preferred Pronouns; Language preference; Email Address

Seren Practitioner:

Personal Data: First Name; Last Name; Preferred Pronouns; Name of professional institution; Professional role within institution; Language Preference; Email Address; Seren Manager

Seren Mentor:

Personal Data: First name; Last Name; Preferred Pronouns; Gender; School/College Attended; A-Levels; Year of Graduation from University; University Attending(ed); Degree Subject Studied; Language Preference; Welsh Medium Education; Email Addresses

What is the lawful basis for using your data?

The Welsh Government relies on the legal basis, as set out in the Education (Information about Individual Pupils) (Wales) Regulations 2007 (as amended), when receiving the data. The Welsh Government relies on the lawful basis for processing data received under Article 6(1)(e) of UK GDPR; the data is processed in line with our public task and in the official authority vested in us to undertake the core role and functions of the Welsh Government. Some of the data the Welsh Government receives classed as ‘special category data’ (in this case ethnicity and additional learning needs). For this, the Welsh Government relies on Article 9(2)(g) – the data is processed for purposes of substantial public interest in line with regulatory requirements.

What will we do with your data?

In the Welsh Government’s remit as the data controller, the data received is used for the below purposes. These purposes are necessary to enable the Welsh Government to carry out its public task and in the exercise of its official authority.

Your personal information will be used for:

i. Registration Purposes for Seren’s online portal, Seren Space

ii. Programme Management Purposes to facilitate arrangements for Seren interventions/activity elements

iii. Research Purposes to evaluate engagement, participation and impact of Seren interventions and programme as a whole

The personal data collected during registration may be used to measure the impact of the programme on selected groups of learners. If at any point you wish for us to stop sharing this information, please contact us at seren@gov.wales.

Registration, Attendance and Programme Management Purposes:

To facilitate and organise sufficient provision for each Seren activity/intervention

To confirm learners’ active participation in Academi Seren to process the Academi Seren Certificate of Achievement

Attendance and participant data collected during Seren activities will be linked to Seren Space data to confirm participants are Seren learners

Attendance data will be used for attendance and registration purposes and identifiable data will be shared back with the school/ college and/or local authority

Statistical analysis and research purposes (carried out in a way that ensures individual children and young people cannot be identified):

To monitor the performance and assess the quality of our education policies and services so that they can be improved

To help monitor and target funding effectively

For statistical analysis and research purposes which will help to inform, influence and improve education policy for people in Wales

To link with other datasets, including non-educational data sets, in order to inform wider education and social policies

By research companies commissioned by the Welsh Government to undertake evaluations of the Seren programme. This may include contacting learners past and present to take part in surveys, although you will always have the option to take part or not in the survey if contacted.

Publication purposes (carried out in a way that ensures individual children and young people cannot be identified):

For publication purposes, which includes a range of statistical outputs on the Welsh Government website. A full list of statistical publications can be viewed at https://gov.wales/statistics-and-research

For research purposes wider than education, the Welsh Government will use techniques that ensure the data are anonymised before any research takes place.

Who do we share your data with?

Information held by the Welsh Government about children and young people will be shared, upon request and where there is specific purpose, with organisations for example those linked to education and training, where specified in Regulations made under section 537A of the Education Act 1996. Persons or organisations with whom the Welsh Government will share your personal information are as follows. Please see Annex 2 for details on who and why we share your data.

The Local Authority that maintains the school/college at which you are or were registered

The school/college at which you are registered

Any persons conducting research into the educational achievements of pupils and who require individual pupil information for that purpose

Information collators which, for the purposes of or in connection with the functions of the Welsh Ministers relating to education, are responsible for collating or checking information relating to pupils

The Welsh Government will only share your data with third parties for a specific purpose and for a limited time. The third party will be required to sign a confidentiality agreement in relation to your data, to show that they operate satisfactory information security procedures, that they will only use your information in prescribed ways and that they will destroy their copies of your data when the time-limited agreement expires. Any analysis produced must follow the Welsh Government’s disclosure rules to ensure that individuals are not identifiable. For research purposes wider than education, the Welsh Government will use techniques to anonymise the data before any research takes place.

Third party organisations with whom the Welsh Government will share your personal information are as follows. Please see Annex 2 for details on who and why we share your data.

Aberystwyth University
Bangor University
Cardiff University
Cardiff Metropolitan University
Equal Education Partners
University of Cambridge
University of Oxford
University of South Wales
University of Wales Trinity St David
Swansea University
Wrexham University

How secure is your personal data?

All partners and contractors will securely transfer your personal information using accredited and agreed data transfer facilities.

When conducting surveys, Equal Education Partners use a survey software programme called Typeform.

Equal Education Partners has procedures to deal with any suspected data security breaches. If a suspected breach occurs, Equal Education Partners will report this to the Welsh Government who will notify you and any applicable regulator where we are legally required to do so.

Where is your data stored?

Your personal data will be kept securely within approved information systems.

How long do we keep your personal data?

We will retain learner data in accordance with Welsh Government requirements for a minimum of 12 years from the end of the current funding period of 2026. If you no longer wish to be part of the Seren programme and its graduates, contact the Seren Team for your data to be erased.

Individual rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights in relation to the personal information you provide as part of this programme:

Access a copy of your own data

Require us to rectify inaccuracies in that data

To object to or restrict processing (in certain circumstances)

For your data to be ‘erased’ (in certain circumstances) and

To lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) who is our independent regulator for data protection.

Under data protection legislation, you have the right:

to be informed of the personal data Welsh Government holds about you and to access it
to require us to rectify inaccuracies in that data

to (in certain circumstances) object to or restrict processing

for (in certain circumstances) your data to be ‘erased’

to (in certain circumstances) data portability

to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) who is our independent regulator for data protection.

For further information about the information which the Welsh Government holds and its use, or if you wish to exercise your rights under the UK GDPR, please write to us using the details below: