Privacy Notice

Who are UCQ?

University Centre Quayside (UCQ) is an independent education and training provider, delivering high-quality further and higher education programmes since 2008.  The website is www.ucq.ac.uk and is provided and controlled by UCQ.

UCQ is the data controller for personal information collected through this website and through the education and training services it provides.

Data and Privacy Policy

UCQ recognises and respects the importance of the privacy of visitors to our websites. Our Data and Privacy Policy sets out how we use and protect your personal data, your privacy rights and how you are protected by law.  We wish to ensure all visitors feel safe when using the website and we are committed to ensure your privacy is protected.  If you have any concerns, or you wish further clarification, please contact our Data Protection Officer, Guy Parkin, at dataprotection@ucq.ac.uk

We will ensure we:

• Keep your data safe
• Only use your data for the reason it was provided
• Never sell your data to third-party organisations
• Abide by data protection legislation

Personal data will not be disclosed to anyone outside of UCQ without your consent unless permitted or required under applicable legislation.

We delete, in accordance with our Data Retention Schedule, when it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected and subsequently processed.

If you have submitted personal data to us, e.g. when registering for a newsletter, enquiring about a course, you have a number of rights under data protection legislation, subject to legal limitations.

These include the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you
• Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information
• Request erasure of your personal data in certain circumstances
• Restrict or object to the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances
• Request transfer of your personal data where applicable
• Withdraw consent where consent is the lawful basis for processing
• Lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)

We have implemented appropriate organisational and technical security measures to protect your personal data. We adopt appropriate data collection, storage and processing practices and security measures to protect unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure or destruction of your personal information.  We store personal data on servers with limited access located in secured facilities, and our security measures are tested and evaluated on an ongoing basis. Servers are protected by a range of measures including anti-virus software and firewalls.  UCQ have also been achieved Cyber Essentials certification and regularly reviews its technical and organisational security measures to ensure they remain effective and proportionate to the risks associated with processing personal data.

Data Protection Law

As well as through our Data and Privacy Policy, your privacy is protected by law.

UCQ processes personal data in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018, and other applicable data protection legislation.

The law requires organisations to process personal data fairly, lawfully and transparently and to ensure that data is collected for specific purposes, kept secure, accurate and retained only for as long as necessary.

The law states we may collect and use your personal data only where we have a lawful basis for doing so.  These bases include:

• Consent
• Performance of a contract
• Compliance with a legal obligation
• Protection of vital interests
• Public task
• Legitimate interests

In terms of the information we hold for you as a training provider, this is no different to that held by other educational institutions including schools, colleges and universities.

Personal Identification Information

We may collect personal identification information from users in a variety of ways, including but not limited to, website visitors, enquiries, enrolments, subscription to newsletters and in connection with other activities, services and resources we make available on our site.  The personal information we may collect and hold includes:

• Personal information: name, date of birth, NI numbers, address, email, telephone, emergency contact, benefit evidence
• Special categories of data where relevant, including information relating to racial or ethnic origin, health, disability, religion or belief and other categories protected under data protection legislation
• Progression information: employment; courses; qualifications
• Employment information: business name, contact, job description, working hours, salary
• Financial information: bank details

Our websites are intended for a general audience.  UCQ provides education and training services to learners aged 16 and above.  Where we collect personal data relating to individuals under the age of 18, we do so in accordance with applicable data protection legislation and safeguarding requirements.

Users may visit our site anonymously.  We will only collect personal identification information from users if they voluntarily submit such information to us.  Users can refuse to provide personal information, although it may prevent them in engaging in site-related activities/enquiries/courses.

We process personal data for the following purposes:

• Enquiries and provision of UCQ services, courses and products
• Accommodation of your requests and enquiries
• Provision of newsletters and other information offered by UCQ
• The purposes listed in the below cookie section

Organisations with whom we may share your personal information

UCQ will never sell your data.  We will only share information where we are required or permitted to do so by law, contract, funding requirements or regulatory obligations associated with the delivery of education and training services.  These may include:

• The Department for Work and Pensions (DwP)
• The Department for Education (DfE)
• The Apprenticeship Service
• The National Apprenticeship Service
• The Learner Records Service
• Apprenticeship Certification England
• Awarding Organisations
• Prime Contractors
• Devolved Authorities
• Employers
• Ofsted
• Office for Students (OfS)
• Quality Assurance Agency (QAA)
• Open University (OU)
• Office for the Independent Adjudicator (OIA)
• The Student Loans Company
• Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA)

We may also share personal information with trusted third-party providers who provide services on our behalf, such as IT systems, cloud hosting, software providers, auditors, professional advisors and regulatory bodies where necessary.  We require all third parties to respect the security of personal data and process it in accordance with applicable data protection legislation.

Where personal data is transferred outside the United Kingdom (UK), UCQ will ensure that appropriate safeguards and lawful transfer mechanisms are in place.

Marketing

Once you have opted to receive marketing information from UCQ, we may use your personal information to inform you of relevant opportunities.  For learners this may be a vacancy with an employer that may be suitable, or for the opportunity to progress to higher or additional qualifications. For employers this may be to survey your training needs, or to match suitable candidates or training programmes to your business.  You can ask us to stop contacting or update your choices at any time by contacting us.

Where marketing communications are based on your consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.

Post Enrolment

We keep information in accordance with our Data Retention Schedule.  We will collect data while you are studying with UCQ.  This includes your achievement and progression data.  We collect this data initially for our funding partners.

Your Rights and Making a Complaint

Requests relating to your personal data can be submitted by contacting the Data Protection Officer at dataprotection@ucq.ac.uk

If you are dissatisfied with the way UCQ has handled your personal information, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s independent authority for data protection.

Further information can be found on the ICO website at www.ico.org.uk 

Working at UCQ

While employed at UCQ we will keep your application information; right to work evidence i.e. passport, birth certificate; qualifications and certification; health information; and CPD data to enable us to administrate your contract of employment.

We may also share your CV/CPD information with funding and awarding organisations.

We will retain this information in accordance with our Data Retention Schedule.

Website

UCQ makes all reasonable efforts to ensure that the information on the website is correct and current. Please note that content may change.

All materials on the website are copyright of UCQ or reproduced with permission from copyright holders. All rights are reserved. The materials on the website may be retrieved and downloaded solely for personal use.  No materials may otherwise be copied, amended, published or reproduced without prior permission of UCQ.

Cookies

Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, however you can block or remove cookies yourself by altering your settings.

UCQ uses a cookie consent management tool which allows visitors to manage cookie preferences.  Non-essential cookies will only be deployed where consent has been provided.  You may change or withdraw your cookie preferences at any time using the cookie settings available on our website.

Functional cookies remember your preferred settings and credentials or allow you to share information with other websites with which you may have an account e.g. Facebook/X.  You can block or remove cookies by changing your account settings, although some functionality may not work if cookies are blocked.

We use the following performance cookies:

• Google Analytics (provided by Google Inc) enable us to: perform statistical analyses of e.g. number of visitors, information on gender, age, location, interests and the like to learn about our visitors and; improve the website friendliness and usability, e.g. on the basis of website traffic measurements
• Google Ads (provided by Google Inc) enables us to see which pages led to our users submitting contact forms to us, which allows us to create a more effective marketing campaign and make better use of our paid search budget.
• Vimeo (provided by Vimeo Inc.) to store session preferences (e.g. language) and suggest other content based on your previous uses (only activated when you are logged in to Youtube when visiting our website and only when clicking the YouTube button)
• Facebook (provided by Facebook, Inc.) to identify users logged in to Facebook for the purpose of sharing content on Facebook (only when you are logged in to Facebook when visiting our website and only when clicking the Facebook button)
• LinkedIn (provided by LinkedIn Corp.) to enable the “follow” and “share” features of LinkedIn (only when you are logged in to LinkedIn when visiting our website and only when clicking the LinkedIn button).
• X (formerly Twitter) to enable the “follow” and “share” features of Twitter (only when you are logged in to Twitter).

You may delete cookies if you no longer wish to store them on your computer. However, please note that the high quality of our website may be reduced as a consequence thereof. Please refer to the help guide for your browser for further guidance.

For more information about how UCQ handles personal data, please contact the Data Protection Officer at dataprotection@ucq.ac.uk