Putting Communities First survey: Information sheet & Privacy Notice

What is the survey for?

The National Lottery Community Fund (the Fund) is starting a conversation about how it can best support UK communities to prosper and thrive in the future. This short survey is part of the first phase of our Strategy Renewal process. We will use the information you provide to help inform decisions about how we can make the biggest difference with and for communities in the future.

Who is carrying out the survey?

The Fund is carrying out this survey. As our Strategy Renewal process progresses we may commission an external partner to work with us and share the survey responses with them. They would be under contract with us to only use the responses for the originally intended purposes.

Why am I being invited to take part?

The survey is open to anyone who would like to take part.

What will the survey involve?

It is a short online survey made up of five free text questions about your community and some contextual questions, including about any of the communities of interest you may be responding about in your answers.

Do I need to take part?

No, you do not have to take part. Participation is completely voluntary. If you choose not to take part, it will not affect any dealings you have with The National Lottery Community Fund.

How we collect and use your personal information

We are not collecting any personal information in the survey. We ask that you not give your name or other personal details. However, should you choose to disclose identifiable information in your open text responses, the disclosure of this information will be based on your consent (as per Article 9(2)(a) of the UK General Data Protection Regulations).

Collection of special category data

Special category data is personal data that needs more protection because it is sensitive. It includes information such as racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, and health. Because we are not collecting any information that would personally identify you, anything you tell us about these kinds of things remains anonymous.

We want to let you know about this for three reasons:

• If you are answering the survey on behalf of an organisation, or as an individual who wants to tell us about their community of interest, we will ask for information about the community or communities of interest you represent.  You may also choose to tell us about special category information in your survey responses because you feel it is relevant to the feedback you want to give. In both circumstances, the disclosure of this special category information is anonymous.
• If you disclose identifiable information in your free text responses, this makes the special category data you provided identifiable. This is your choice, and the disclosure of this information will be based on your consent (as per Article 9(2)(a) of the UK General Data Protection Regulations). 
• If you do volunteer personal data and you later choose to withdraw your consent, we will take all practicable steps to identify and remove the information provided. However, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to identify individual returns as the survey is intended to be anonymous.

Your data protection rights and how we protect your personal information

The rights you have are set out in the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) as it applies in the UK, tailored by the Data Protection Act 2018. Further information about your rights.

As stated above, it is not our intention to collect personal identifiable data. We are sharing this information about your data rights in case you do share personal data with us in your responses.

The Fund will have direct access to the response that you provide to the survey. The survey responses will be analysed by a limited number of staff at the Fund.

The Fund may publish or share findings from this survey, but it will not be possible to identify individuals or organisations within reports that are publicly available. Anonymous information will be used for internal and external reports, publications and presentations.

How to contact us

If you have any concerns or questions about the survey please contact puttingcommunitiesfirst@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk.

For more information or to exercise your data protection rights please contact the Data Protection Officer at The National Lottery Community Fund, Apex House, 3 Embassy Drive, Birmingham, B15 1TR or data.protection@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk

Your right to complain

If you are unhappy about how your personal data has been used please contact the Fund. You can also contact the Information Commissioner’s Officer via their website or at In-formation Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF