As required by law, the purpose of this data privacy notice (DPN) is to explain what personal data we want to collect about you, as a parent or carer, for the purposes of a research study called: Use of family services and the Family Information Service in Essex (“the research”).
The research is looking to understand how parents and carers in Essex find out about local family services and the Family Information Service, and whether the right information and support is available to you.
Section 12 of the Childcare Act 2006 requires local authorities to establish and maintain a Family Information Service (FIS) which provides information on the provision of childcare in the local authority area (including the provision of childcare suitable for disabled children) and any other services which might benefit parents, prospective parents or children and young people.
We hope that this project will help to improve access to services and support for other families in Essex.
Coram Family and Childcare will be the only organisation involved in this research and are the data controller for this project. We (“we”, “us”, “our”) are committed to protecting the privacy and security of the personal data we collect about you and your child(ren) (“you/your”) in this research study.
We are asking parents and carers to consent to taking part in the research.
Please read this data privacy notice carefully. It provides important information about your rights and how we handle your personal information. It should be read with the consent information provided as part of the online survey.
How and what information we collect about you
If you decide to take part in the research, we will collect personal data solely through an online questionnaire. This questionnaire will ask you about how you use local family services, how you find out about local family services and how effective you think the Family Information Service is in Essex. It will also include a section that asks questions about you and your child, such as your location, ethnicity, and gender. This will only be used to make comparisons between different groups of people, or between different areas. We will ask for your name, but only if you wish to enter the draw to win a shopping voucher, or to take part in a further discussion group. You do not need to give your name if you do not want to. We will not ask the name of your child. The data you provide will only be used for the purposes of this research study, and you do not have to answer any of the questions about you or your child’s characteristics if you do not want to.
These questions about you and your child’s characteristics will ask:
- Your child’s age
- Whether your child has a special educational need or disability
- If you are a single parent
- Your employment status
- The area of Essex you live in
- Your ethnicity
Purposes for which we use personal information and the lawful basis
Some of the data above is special category data, a type of personal data that is considered sensitive and requires additional protection (for example data about racial or ethnic origin). We will process your data for the purposes of this research study under these lawful bases:
- Personal data will be processed under the basis of Consent under UK General Data Protection Regulation Article 6.1(e).
- Special category personal data being processed for research purposes is under GDPR Article 9.2(j) and DPA18 Schedule 1 Part 1.4(a), (b)&(c) for special category data including data considered to be a protected characteristic under the UK Equality Act 2010.
What will you do with my data
Answers from the online questionnaire that you complete will only be used by the survey team at Coram Family and Childcare. We will only use data from this study for research purposes. It will be used to write a report about how effective the Family Information Service is in Essex.
Your name, email address, and telephone number will only be used to enter you into a draw to win a shopping voucher, or to register your interest in taking part in a further discussion group, if you choose to give them. You do not have to do so if you do not want to. We will not identify anybody by name in any report, and names and email addresses will be deleted as soon as the discussion group is completed, the draw has taken place, and the winner has been contacted.
Sharing your data
Your data will not be shared with anyone else outside the research team at Coram Family and Childcare, and we will not share your personal data outside of the UK. There may be scenarios where we have a legal obligation to disclose or share your personal data for safeguarding reasons, as required by law. This is if we believed you or someone you mention is at risk of harm (for example they were going to be attacked). We will only ever disclose your personal data to these third parties to the extent we are required to do so by law. In the very rare occasion this might happen, we would always aim to talk to you about what information would be shared as well as how and when they are going to share this with others.
How long we keep your data
We will keep your personal information for the least amount of time necessary and reduce the amount of personal information to the minimum required for our survey. If you leave your name and email address to be entered into the prize draw, we will delete this data as soon as the draw has taken place and the winner has been contacted. This will be no later than two working weeks after the survey deadline.
After the data has been anonymised and you are no longer identifiable from your name, email address, or postcode, we intend to keep the rest of the data indefinitely. As your data will be anonymised, it will not be possible for anyone, including people in the survey team, to identify you from any of the data we store in this manner.
How we protect your data
We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your data that we process from unauthorised disclosure, use, alteration or destruction. Your information is securely stored on a dedicated drive that can only be accessed by staff at Coram Family and Childcare.
Your rights and options
Your rights relating to your personal data include:
- You have the right to access your personal data and can request copies of it and information about our processing of it
- If the personal data we hold about you is incorrect or incomplete, you can ask us to rectify or add to it
- Where we are using your personal data with your consent, you can withdraw your consent at any time
- Where we are using your personal information you can object to us using it this way
- We are not using your personal information for direct marketing purposes
Contact us
If you have any questions, or wish to exercise any of your rights, then you can contact:
Project: Use of family services and the Family Information Service in Essex
Organisation: Coram Family and Childcare
Address: 41 Brunswick Square, London, WC1N 1AZ
Email: info@coramfamilyandchildcare.org.uk
Alternatively, you can contact Coram’s Data Protection Officer, Chris Kelly, Director of People and Compliance at christine@coram.org.uk.
How to complain
You can lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office:
Address: Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Helpline phone number: 0303 123 1113
ICO website: https://ico.org.uk/concerns
Changes to this privacy notice
We may update this notice (and any supplemental privacy notice), from time to time as shown in the footer. We will notify you of the changes where required by applicable law to do so.
Version: 1 (02.03.2026)