Privacy notice

About this notice

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal data.  

The occupational maps service available at Occupational-maps.instituteforapprenticeships.org is provided by IfATE. IfATE collects and uses (or ‘processes’) personal data through this service. This means that IfATE is a ‘data controller’ under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 1998 (‘data protection law’). 

IfATE is the data controller for webpages starting with occupational-maps.instituteforapprenticeships.org - for example, occupational-maps.instituteforapprenticeships.org/privacy-policy/ and the associated public API occupational-maps-api.instituteforapprenticeships.org. A data controller determines how and why personal data is processed.  

As a data controller, we are required to inform you of our privacy rules and your rights pertaining to your personal data. This privacy notice describes how your personal data is processed in accordance with data protection law.  

Data Processors 

PDMS, as host for our occupational maps website, is a data processor for personal data collected or stored via the occupational maps service. A data processor processes personal data on behalf of the data controller. You can see PDMS’ privacy policy at PDMS | Our Privacy & Data Protection Policies. 

Cognito forms are used for the feedback and API forms for our occupational maps service and is a data processor of personal data collected or stored. A data processor processes personal data on behalf of the data controller. You can see Cognito Forms privacy policy at Privacy Policy - Cognito Forms. 

Who does this notice apply to?

This notice applies to any individual whose personal data is processed through the occupational maps service on our website.  

If you are not clear what personal data we process about you, or why, or you have any other questions about our use of your personal data you can contact us at [email protected]. 

Individuals whose personal data will be processed through the occupational maps service on our website include: 

• individuals working for employers of all sizes and industries, including micro, small, medium and large employers 
• staff of stakeholders relevant to our work including employers, awarding organisations, training and education providers in schools, Further and Higher Education and Independent Training providers, Institutes of Technology, HEIs, professional bodies, sector bodies, regulatory services and Local Enterprise Partnerships 
• stakeholders affiliated with IfATE, including trailblazer group members, route panel members, and stakeholders involved in the development of Higher Technical Qualifications, post-16 qualifications and T Levels.  
• route panel members 
• external experts, consultants and advisers 

• employees of partner organisations with an interest in technical education, including other government departments and stakeholders external to government 
• employees of stakeholders with an interest in developing products using IfATE’s occupational maps data through the API 
• students, learners and apprentices career professionals and advisors who work with individuals to provide careers advice and guidance 
• suppliers and service providers  
• individuals who make (or are otherwise named in) enquiries 

• journalists and the media  
• event or conference attendees  
• members of the public 
• IfATE staff 
• Any user with a stake in technical education 

What personal data do we hold?

We collect certain information or data about you when you use the occupational maps service on our website. 

We collect: 

• your IP address, and details of which version of which web browser you used  

If you create an account on the occupational maps service, we collect:  

• your email address and a password   

If you fill out the feedback form on the occupational maps service, we collect through our data processor Cognito Forms:  

• your name  

• your email address 

If you request an API key using our online form for the occupational maps service, we collect through our data processor Cognito Forms:  

• your name  
• your email address 

If you interact with IfATE outside of our occupational maps website, additional information may be collected and for additional purposes, please refer to our general privacy notice (https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/privacy/). 

We also collect information about how you use our website using cookies and page tagging techniques. You can find out more about our use of cookies here https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/terms-and-conditions/.  

How do we use your personal data and what is our lawful basis for doing so?

We are required to ensure that we have a lawful basis for any processing of personal data that we carry out. Article 6 of the UK GDPR allows us to process personal data where it is necessary to perform a public task or for official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law.  

We use the data we collect to support the effective delivery of our occupational maps service. Personal data entered into the occupational maps service is stored by PDMS. PDMS then report data outcomes to IfATE as anonymised information. IfATE has statutory responsibilities in relation to the determination and publication of occupations (in relation to which it may be appropriate for people to undertake apprenticeships or obtain qualifications) and groups of occupations, and the publishing of information showing those occupations and groups as well as the categories to which the occupations and groups have been allocated. It is necessary to collect the data for the effective discharge of these responsibilities. The data collected can be viewed by authorised people at IfATE and PDMS, to improve the site and IfATE services and products by monitoring its use. 

PDMS also provides the contact details of data subjects who consent to their contact details to be passed to IfATE to enable IfATE to contact them to support the development of the occupational maps service. Article 6 of the UKGDPR also allows us to process personal data where a data subject has consented to us doing so.  

Consent may be withdrawn at any time by contacting [email protected]. 

Change of purpose​​​​​​​

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated or new purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so. 

Please note that we may, if necessary, process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with this notice, where this is required or permitted by law. 

Data storage

Your data is stored on secure servers in the European Economic Area (EEA) and in the Isle of Man, a jurisdiction that has an adequacy agreement with the EEA. The servers that store your data are hosted on our behalf by PDMS – you can learn more about how PDMS protects your information in PDMS’ privacy policy (https://www.pdms.com/privacy-data-protection-policies/). 

If you use the feedback form or request an API key, your data is collected by Cognito Forms and stored in the United States. You can learn more about how Cognito Forms protects your information in Cognito Forms’ privacy policy (https://www.cognitoforms.com/legal/privacy). 

Data security

Sending information over the internet is generally not completely secure, and we can’t guarantee the security of your data while it’s in transit.  

The occupational maps service has procedures and security features in place to keep your data secure once we receive it. 

Data retention

We only keep personal data for as long as is necessary.  

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements. In some circumstances we will anonymise your personal information so that it can no longer be associated with you, in which case we will use such information without further notice to you.  

Links to other websites

Our website contains links to other websites. This privacy notice only applies to our website and does not apply to those websites. If you go to another website from this one, you should read the privacy notice on that website to find out how your information is used. 

If you come to our website from another website, we may receive information from the other website. We don’t use this data. You should read the privacy notice of the website you came from to find out more about this. 

Ensuring your personal data is accurate and current

It is important that the information we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your working relationship with us. 

You can find out what information we hold about you, and ask us not to use any of the information we collect. 

Your data protection rights

Under data protection law, you have rights. The rights available to you depend on our reason for processing your information. 

Request access to copies of your personal data (commonly known as making a ‘data subject access request’).  

Request correction of any of your personal data that you think is inaccurate or incomplete.  

Request erasure of your personal data in certain circumstances. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us to continue to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have exercised your right to object to processing (see below). 

Object to processing of your personal data in certain circumstances e.g., where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and you wish to object to processing on this ground.  

Request the transfer of your personal data to another party, in certain circumstances 

Please contact us at [email protected] if you wish to make a request or object to the processing of your personal data. 

You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your data protection rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you. 

If you’ve created an account for the occupational maps service, a function to self-service the removal of your personal data is available. 

How to contact us

Our Data Protection Officer is responsible for ensuring compliance across our data processing activities. If you: 

• have any questions or concerns about how we process your personal data,  
• have any issues accessing the self service removal function, or 

• want to make a subject access request to view your personal data 

You can contact our Data Protection Officer: 

Simon Love 

[email protected] 

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you are unhappy with how we have used your data. 

The ICO’s address:             

Information Commissioner’s Office 

Wycliffe House 

Water Lane 

Wilmslow 

Cheshire 

SK9 5AF 

Helpline number: 0303 123 1113 

ICO website: https://www.ico.org.uk 

Changes to this privacy notice  

This privacy notice was last updated on 30 March 2023. We reserve the right to update this privacy notice at any time, and we will provide you with a new privacy notice when we make any substantial updates. We may also notify you in other ways from time to time about the processing of your personal data.  

If this privacy notice is updated, the ‘last updated' date at the bottom of this page will also change. Any changes to this privacy policy will apply to you and your data immediately. 

If these changes affect how your personal data is processed, we will take reasonable steps to let you know.