Participation Survey Privacy Notice
Source: gov.uk (2025-08-19)

This Privacy Notice explains who is processing your data, the personal data we collect, how we use it, who we share it with, and what your legal rights are.

Update to the Participation Survey

Participation Survey fieldwork stopped on 30th September 2025 and has been replaced by the Community and Engagement Survey. This privacy notice only applies to the Participation Survey. If you have any questions about this privacy notice please contact us at xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx).

This Privacy Notice explains who is processing your data, the personal data we collect, how we use it, who we share it with, and what your legal rights are.

The Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) commissioned Verian Group (“Verian”) to carry out the Participation Survey.

The survey asks questions on a wide range of topics relating to your engagement in culture, media and sports (please click the following link for the full list (https://www.participationsurvey.co.uk/surveycontent.html)). We also collect demographic data, please see the “Sensitive data collection (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/participation-survey-privacy-notice#Sensitive_data_collection)” section for more details.

The main responsibility for the survey will lie with DCMS, as specified in this privacy notice.

Please see the “Who will DCMS share your data with? (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/participation-survey-privacy-notice#Who_we_share)” section for more detail on any potential data sharing.

Who is the data controller?

The Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS), is the data controller of personal data provided by respondents to the Participation Survey. The DCMS postal address is:

Department for Culture, Media and Sport 100 Parliament Street Westminster London SW1A 2BQ

You can contact DCMS’s Data Protection Officer by email at: xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx)

Who is the data processor?

We use a third-party data processor, Verian. Verian administers the Participation Survey on our behalf and carries out statistical analyses of the survey results in accordance with our instructions. We have a contract in place with Verian. This means that they cannot do anything with your personal data unless we have instructed them to do it. Verian will not share your personal data with any organisation apart from DCMS, except where we authorise them. Verian’s postal address is:

Verian 4 Millbank Westminster London SW1P 3JA

Email address for queries about the Participation Survey: xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx).

What is the legal basis for collecting and processing data?

DCMS is the government department responsible for delivering government policy on arts and culture, communications and media, sport, and tourism. Our activities are based on the exercise of executive and statutory powers.

DCMS has an obligation to compile and publish Official Statistics relating to the policy areas we cover. Publishing Official Statistics derived from the Participation Survey is intended to:
- inform the public about social and economic matters surrounding DCMS sectors
- assist in the development and evaluation of public policy, to refine and provide better services to the public
- regulate quality and inform changes to improve support for and development of DCMS sectors
DCMS’s legal basis for processing personal data on the Participation Survey is that it is necessary for the performance of a task in the public interest, as the information gathered helps DCMS to monitor the policies it oversees.

When Verian conducts surveys, their invitations/platforms and questionnaires clearly identify them and explain the purpose(s) of their contact and if applicable, the purpose for collecting your personal data. You may withdraw from participation in a survey at any time. If you do not wish to receive any further reminder mailings, you can either: call the survey helpline on xx-xxxx-xxxx (mailto:0800%20904%207726) or email Verian at xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx).

Please be ready to provide your reference number, address and postcode so we can opt you out of further communication related to this survey. The reference number is located on the top of the letter.

When Verian has contacted you on behalf of DCMS by post or email, they have done so for the following purposes:

Verian will never misrepresent themselves or what they are doing. If you receive an email that concerns you, purporting to be from Verian, please contact Verian at xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx).

Verian has contacted you to take part in a survey by post by randomly selecting your address through Royal Mail’s publicly accessible Postcode Address File (PAF).

Sensitive data collection

In our survey we request to collect personal data that is classified as “special categories” of personal data. This includes racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, data concerning health, or data concerning a person’s sexual orientation. This information is needed for research about equity and equality of engagement in culture, media and sports. Our goal for gathering detailed demographic data is to help DCMS to monitor the policies it oversees, and to improve specificity in policy-making. Therefore, this is needed for reasons of substantial public interest for the exercise of the function of a Government department (DCMS). You can choose not to provide that information.

The survey will also ask for your consent to be re-contacted to participate in further research related to this survey. In order to recontact you, you will be asked for:
- Your name
- Your contact information, including phone number and email address
This information will be collected by Verian on behalf of DCMS.

You will always be able to choose whether or not to provide this data.

Who will Verian share your data with?

We have authorised Verian to share your personal data with:
- McLays (printing suppliers): address level information is provided to McLays to print survey invitations and questionnaires. Data is erased from their records after 30 days.
- Greens Ltd (scanning paper questionnaires): Paper questionnaires are returned to Greens Ltd. Questionnaires are stored securely for a maximum of 12 months and confidentially destroyed.
- Merit Incentives (“Merit”) (corporate incentive supplier): Signing up to receive an incentive through the Merit portal is optional. Merit will hold the personal data you provide them, such as your email address, for a maximum of 2 years in Europe. Merit hold this information in case of any issues you may have with your incentive.
- Bright Marketing Research (BMR) (data collection and processing partner): provides survey scripting, sample uploads, and data processing services for this research.
McLays, Greens Ltd, BMR, and Merit have contracts in place with Verian which prevent them from using your personal data except as instructed by Verian.

Aside from the four suppliers above, the only exceptions when Verian may disclose your personal data or survey responses to other third parties are:
- Where continuity of survey delivery may be interrupted. Such disclosure will occur under the condition that the third-party processor is contractually obliged to maintain confidentiality and use the information solely for their contracted purposes.
- In some circumstances Verian may be legally obliged to share information - for example under a court order.
Verian will not share your information with any third parties for the purposes of direct marketing.

Will my data be published?

DCMS will publish Official Statistics derived from the Participation Survey data on gov.uk. The published information will not contain your name, address, telephone number or email address.

A pseudonymised dataset containing answers from the survey will be available to researchers via an end user agreement licence or special licence on the UK data service, a national data service that provides research access to a range of social and economic data collections.

A controlled dataset will also be deposited in UK Data Service Secure Lab, which provides approved researchers with controlled access to sensitive or confidential data, enabling researchers to access and use datasets in a secure and responsible way. This data set can only be accessed remotely via the Five Safes Framework by registered, approved (by DCMS) and trained users.

The deposited datasets will not contain your name, address, telephone number or email address.

Who will DCMS share your data with?

DCMS may share data collected in the Participation Survey with other government departments or the Office for National Statistics for research and statistical purposes. This data will not include information that can identify you, such as your name, address, telephone number or email address.

From the data DCMS shares with other organisations, it may still be possible to identify individuals by combining several fields of data together. Therefore, DCMS views this data as being pseudonymised.

How long will we process your personal data?

Verian will retain your personal data for no longer than 18 months, unless otherwise required to do so by law or in the following cases, where they will retain the personal information for up to 2 years.
- Where you have agreed to be re-contacted to take part in further research related to this survey on behalf of the government or a charity
- Where you have agreed that your name and contact details and information from this survey can be passed on to another research agency so that they can contact you regarding follow up research
As part of Verian’s Company Business Continuity plan and as required by their ISO 27001, ISO 9001, ISO 20252 certifications, and in certain instances the law, Verian’s electronic systems are backed up and archived. These archives are retained for a defined period of time in a strictly controlled environment. Once expired, the data is securely deleted and the physical media destroyed to ensure the data is erased completely.

How will your personal data, including survey responses, be used?

Responding to this survey is entirely voluntary.

Verian will keep all personal data and responses in strict confidence in accordance with this Privacy Policy. We can assure you that you will NOT be identifiable in any published results.

Verian, DCMS and other recipients of this data who have signed data sharing agreements will use your personal data and responses solely for research purposes to produce anonymous, statistical research findings and insights.

Contact details and other information provided to the technical helpline will be used only for the purpose of dealing with the query raised.

Email addresses are used to validate responses and for the purpose of sending details of how to claim an incentive.

How will we ensure your personal information is secure?

Verian has appropriate technological and organisational measures in place to protect your personal data and takes all reasonable steps to ensure your personal data is processed securely. All information you provide is stored in secure servers and environments. Unfortunately, no data transmission can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while Verian strives to protect your personal data, they cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to Verian or from their online products or services, and you do so at your own risk. Once Verian receives your transmission, they will take reasonable steps to ensure their systems are secure.

All Verian’s third-party contractors, site service providers and employees are contractually obliged to follow policies and procedures regarding confidentiality, security and privacy.

Verian adheres to the following industry requirements:
- The UK GDPR, UK Data Protection Act 2018, the EU GDPR, and any subsequent legislation, which may be amended from time to time
- Verian holds Market Research Society (MRS) Company Partner certification
- Verian follows the MRS and ESOMAR professional Codes of Conduct
Your rights

To request access to personal data that Verian holds about you, please contact Verian at:

Compliance Officer 4 Millbank Westminster London SW1P 3JA

Email: xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx).

When you make a request, you should indicate your survey identifier.

If you contact Verian using an email address or contact details for which they do not hold a record of, you will also need to provide a copy of a valid government issued or official identification (such as drivers licence or passport).

You have the following rights in relation to your personal data:
- Right to change your mind and to withdraw your consent
- Right to access your personal data
- Right to rectify your personal data
- Right to restrict processing of your personal data
- Right to object to the processing of your personal data
- Right to not be discriminated against for exercising any of the rights available to you under applicable data protection laws
If necessary, Verian will notify any other parties such as suppliers or service providers who have been transferred your personal data of any changes made when you make a request. Note that while Verian communicates with these third parties, Verian is not responsible for the actions taken by these third parties to answer your request. You may be able to access your personal data held by these third parties and correct, amend or delete it where it is inaccurate.

Cookies

Cookies are small text files stored on your computer or device by a website that assigns a numerical user ID and stores certain information about your online browsing. They are used by web developers to help users navigate their websites efficiently and perform certain functions. The website sends information to the browser which then creates a text file. Every time the user goes back to the same website, the browser retrieves and sends this file to the website’s server.

Verian does not use cookies on standard online in-house surveys. However, where cookies are required for the functionality of the platform of one of the partners involved in this work (for instance, Merit, our incentive partner), then this will be notified through the partner’s platform’s privacy notice.

As is true of most online surveys, Verian gathers certain information automatically and store it in survey data files. This information may include things like Internet Protocol address (IP address), browser type, Internet Service Provider (ISP); referring/exit pages, operating system and date/time stamp.

Verian uses this automatically collected information to analyse trends such as browser usage and to administer the site, for example, to optimise the survey experience depending on your browser type.

Where will data be held and processed?

Verian collects and processes personal data for the purposes described above, but do not share or sell your personal data to any third parties, unless it is required by law, or you have agreed otherwise.

Your personal data may be collected, stored, transferred or processed by companies or 3rd party service providers for survey-related purposes, such as data processing, and fulfilment of prize draws or other incentives both within and outside the UK and the EEA. All parties are contractually bound to keep any information they collect and disclose to Verian or, Verian collects and discloses to them, confidential and must protect it with security standards and practices that are equivalent to Verian’s own. If your personal data has been transferred to, stored, or otherwise processed to a territory outside the UK or EEA (as applicable) and that territory has not been recognised as providing an adequate level of protection of personal data, Verian will put in place an appropriate legal safeguard. For example, this may include:
- using standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission and other relevant authorities
- working with parties that have implemented binding corporate rules or other intra-group processes
- obtaining your consent for the transfer of personal data where necessary for the performance of a contract with Verian or where a contract was entered into on your behalf, or where the transfer is necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
Accuracy

Verian takes all reasonable steps to keep your personal data accurate, complete, current and relevant, based on the most recent information provided to them. If you would like to update your personal data, please contact Verian.

We rely on you to help us keep your personal information accurate, complete and current by answering our questions honestly. You are responsible for ensuring that Verian is notified of any updates or changes to your personal data.

Children’s data collection

Verian never knowingly invite children under the age of 16 years to participate in surveys without consent and participation in this survey is intended for those aged 16+ years.

Complaints

How can I contact DCMS about the Participation Survey and/or my personal data?

For general information on how DCMS handles personal data, please read DCMS’s personal information charter (https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-digital-culture-media-sport/about/personal-information-charter). If you have any data protection queries, complaints, or if you’d like to exercise your data protection rights you can do so by contacting the DCMS Data Protection Officer (DPO), mentioning the Participation Survey, using the details below:

Data Protection Officer Department for Culture, Media and Sport 100 Parliament Street London SW1A 2BQ

Email: xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:%xxx@xxx.xx)

Phone: xx-xxxx-xxxx (mailto:0800%20202%204971) (free)

If you are not satisfied with how we handle and protect personal information, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. In the UK, this is the ICO and their contact details are:

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

Email: xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:%xxx@xxx.xx)

Phone: xx-xxxx-xxxx (mailto:0303%20123%201113) (local rate)

Notification of material changes

We keep our privacy policy under regular review, and it may be amended from time to time. We will always have the most up-to-date policy on this web page. We will record when the policy was last revised.