Privacy Policy

1. Introduction 

1.1 This Policy or Privacy Standard sets out how Nationwide Energy Training Services Limited (we, our, us, the Company) handle the personal data of our customers, Learners, suppliers, employees, workers and other third parties 

1.2 This Privacy Standard applies to all Company Personnel (you, your). You must read, understand and comply with this privacy standard when processing personal data on our behalf. This privacy standard sets out what we expect from you in order for the Company to comply with applicable law. Your compliance with this privacy standard is mandatory. Any breach of this privacy standard may result in disciplinary action and, where data processors and sub-processors are concerned, termination of our relationship 

2. Scope 

2.1 We recognise that the correct and lawful treatment of personal data will maintain confidence in the Company and will provide for successful business operations. Protecting the confidentiality and integrity of personal data is a critical responsibility that we take seriously at all times 

2.2 The DPO is responsible for overseeing this Privacy Standard. The DPO is Paul Conroy who can be contacted by phone on 07855 868 353, email at confidential@nationwideets.co.uk or in writing to Martland House, Kilbuck Lane, Haydock, St Helens, Merseyside, WA11 9XJ 

2.3 Please contact the DPO with any questions about the operation of this privacy standard or data protection or if you have any concerns that this privacy standard is not being or has not been followed 

3. Interpretation  

For those who are not familiar with the terminology used under data protection laws, we have set out below a number of definitions of terms used in this policy 

3.1 Automated Decision-Making (ADM): when a decision is made which is based solely on Automated Processing (including profiling) which produces legal effects or significantly affects an individual. The GDPR prohibits automated decision-making (unless certain conditions are met) but not automated processing 

3.2 Automated Processing: any form of automated processing of personal data consisting of the use of personal data to evaluate certain personal aspects relating to an individual, in particular to analyse or predict aspects concerning that individual’s performance at work, economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, behaviour, location or movements. Profiling is an example of automated processing 

3.3 Company name: Nationwide Energy Training Services Limited 

3.4 Company Personnel: all employees, workers, independent contractors, agency workers, consultants, directors, agents and others 

3.5 Consent: agreement which must be freely given, specific, informed and be an unambiguous indication of the Data Subject’s wishes by which they, by a statement or by a clear positive action, signify agreement to the processing of personal data relating to them 

3.6 Controller: the person or organisation that determines when, why and how to process Personal Data. It is responsible for establishing practices and policies in line with the GDPR. We are the Controller of all Personal Data relating to our Company Personnel and Personal Data used in our business for our own commercial purposes 

3.7 Criminal Convictions Data: means personal data relating to criminal convictions and offences 

3.8 Data Subject: a living, identified or identifiable individual about whom we hold Personal Data. Data Subjects may be nationals or residents of any country and may have legal rights regarding their Personal Data  

3.9 Data Privacy Impact Assessment (DPIA): tools and assessments used to identify and reduce risks of a data processing activity. A DPIA can be carried out as part of Privacy by Design and should be conducted for all major system or business change programs involving the Processing of Personal Data 

3.10 Data Protection Officer (DPO): the person required to be appointed in specific circumstances under the GDPR. This can be an individual or a company. The Company has appointed Paul Conroy as the DPO 

3.11 EEA: the 28 countries in the EU, and Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.  

3.12 Explicit Consent: consent which requires a very clear and specific statement (that is, not just action) 

3.13 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): the General Data Protection Regulation ((EU) 2016/679). Personal Data is subject to the legal safeguards specified in the GDPR 

3.14 Personal Data: any information identifying a data subject or information relating to a data subject that we can identify (directly or indirectly) from that data alone or in combination with other identifiers we possess or can reasonably access. personal data includes special categories of personal data and pseudonymised personal data but excludes anonymous data or data that has had the identity of an individual permanently removed. Personal data can be factual (for example, a name, email address, location or date of birth) or an opinion about that person’s actions or behaviour 

3.15 Personal Data Breach: any act or omission that compromises the security, confidentiality, integrity or availability of personal data or the physical, technical, administrative or organisational safeguards that we or our third-party service providers put in 

place to protect it. The loss, or unauthorised access, disclosure or acquisition, of personal data is a personal data breach 

3.16 Privacy by Design: implementing appropriate technical and organisational measures in an effective manner to ensure compliance with the GDPR 

3.17 Privacy Policies or Privacy Notices: separate notices setting out information that may be provided to data subjects when the Company collects information about them. These notices may take the form of general privacy statements applicable to a specific group of individuals (for example, employee privacy notices or a learner privacy policy) or they may be stand-alone, one-time privacy statements covering processing related to a specific purpose 

3.18 Processing or Process: any activity that involves the use of personal data. It includes obtaining, recording or holding the data, or carrying out any operation or set of operations on the data including organising, amending, retrieving, using, disclosing, erasing or destroying it. Processing also includes transmitting or transferring personal data to third parties 

3.19 Pseudonymisation or Pseudonymised: replacing information that directly or indirectly identifies an individual with one or more artificial identifiers or pseudonyms so that the person to whom the data relates cannot be identified without the use of additional information which is meant to be kept separately and secure 

3.20 Special categories of personal data: information revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or similar beliefs, trade union membership, physical or mental health conditions, sexual life, sexual orientation, biometric or genetic data 

4. Data Protection Principles  

4.1 We adhere to the principles relating to Processing of Personal Data set out in the GDPR which require personal data to be:  

(a) Processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner (lawfulness, fairness and transparency) 

(b) Collected only for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes (purpose limitation) 

(c) Adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which it is processed (data minimisation) 

(d) Accurate and where necessary kept up to date (data accuracy) 

(e) Not kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the data is processed (storage limitation) 

(f) Processed in a manner that ensures its security using appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage (security, integrity and confidentiality) 

(g) We are responsible for and must be able to demonstrate compliance with the data protection principles listed above (accountability)  

5. Lawfulness, Fairness, Transparency  

Lawful and fair processing  

5.1 Personal data must be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject 

5.2 You may only collect, Process and share personal data fairly and lawfully and for specified purposes. The GDPR restricts our actions regarding personal data to specified lawful purposes. These restrictions are not intended to prevent Processing but ensure that we process personal data fairly and without adversely affecting the data subject.  

5.3 The GDPR allows processing for specific purposes, some of which are set out below:  

(a) the Data Subject has given his or her consent  

(b) the Processing is necessary for the performance of a contract with the data subject 

(c) to meet our legal obligations 

(d) to protect the data subject’s vital interests 

(e) to pursue our legitimate interests for purposes where they are not overridden because the Processing prejudices the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of data subjects. The purposes for which we process Personal Data for legitimate interests need to be set out in applicable privacy notices 

Consent  

5.4 Where Consent is the lawful basis for processing, we recognise that under the GDPR, there are stricter rules about how this is obtained. If we do need to obtain Consent, we will ensure that: 

(a) the Data Subject either by a statement or positive action gives their consent 

(b) consent is not inferred by silence 

(c) pre-ticked boxes are not used as a means of obtaining consent 

(d) consent is separated from other documents such as terms and conditions or contracts 

(e) data subjects are able to withdraw consent to processing at any time 

5.5 The above rules ensure that data subjects give their consent freely, understand what they are consenting to and can change their mind should they wish to do so 

5.6 We will keep appropriate records evidencing how we obtain consent 

Transparency (notifying data subjects) 

5.7 The GDPR requires Data Controllers to provide detailed, specific information to data subjects depending on whether the information was collected directly from data subjects or from elsewhere. Such information must be provided through appropriate privacy notices which must be concise, transparent, intelligible, easily accessible, and in clear and plain language so that a data subject can easily understand them 

6. Purpose Limitation  

6.1 Personal Data must be collected only for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes. It must not be further processed in any manner incompatible with those purposes  

6.2 We will not use personal data for new, different or incompatible purposes from that disclosed when it was first obtained unless we have informed the data subject of the new purposes and they have consented where necessary  

7. Data Minimisation  

7.1 We will ensure that the personal data which we process is adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which it is processed. We will achieve this in the following ways:  

a) Personnel will only Process Personal Data when performing job duties which require its use.  

b) Personnel will not collect excessive data by only processing data that is necessary to complete a task.  

c) When we no longer require the data, we will delete it in accordance with our retention procedures.  

8. Accuracy  

8.1 We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that personal data that we hold is accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date. Where we identify inaccuracies, we will correct or delete it without delay 

8.2 We will check the accuracy of any personal data at the point of collection and at regular intervals afterwards.  

9. Storage Limitation  

9.1 We recognise that personal data must not be kept in an identifiable form for longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the data is processed 

9.2 We will maintain retention policies and procedures to ensure personal data is deleted after a reasonable time for the purposes for which it was being held, unless a law requires such data to be kept for a minimum time 

9.3 We will take all reasonable steps to destroy or erase from our systems all personal data that we no longer require in accordance with our records retention schedules and policies 

10. Security Integrity and Confidentiality  

Protecting Personal Data  

10.1 We recognise that personal data must be secured by appropriate technical and organisational measures against unauthorised or unlawful processing, and against accidental loss, destruction or damage 

10.2 We will develop, implement and maintain safeguards to ensure that personal data which we process is kept secure and confidential. We will evaluate and test the effectiveness of those safeguards to ensure security of our processing of personal data 

10.3 Personnel will follow all procedures and technologies we put in place to maintain the security of all personal data from the point of collection to the point of destruction 

10.4 We will maintain data security by protecting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the  

Personal Data is defined as follows:  

(a) Confidentiality means that only people who have a need to know and are authorised to use the Personal Data can access it 

(b) Integrity means that personal data is accurate and suitable for the purpose for which it is processed 

(c) Availability means that authorised users are able to access the personal data when they need it for authorised purposes 

Reporting a Personal Data Breach  

10.5 The GDPR requires Controllers to notify any personal data breach to the applicable regulator and, in certain instances, the data subject 

10.6 We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify data subjects or any applicable regulator where we are legally required to do so 

10.7 If you know or suspect that a personal data breach has occurred, do not attempt to investigate the matter yourself. You must immediately contact the DPO if you suspect a breach. You should preserve all evidence relating to the potential personal data breach 

11. Transfer Limitation  

11.1 We recognise that the GDPR restricts data transfers to countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA) in order to ensure that the level of data protection afforded to individuals by the GDPR is not undermined 

11.2 We will only transfer personal data outside the EEA if one of the following conditions applies:  

(a) the European Commission has issued a decision confirming that the country to which we transfer the personal data ensures an adequate level of protection for the data subjects rights and freedoms 

(b) appropriate safeguards are in place such as binding corporate rules (BCR), standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission, an approved code of conduct or a certification mechanism 

(c) the Data Subject has provided explicit consent to the proposed transfer after being informed of any potential risks 

(d) the transfer is necessary for one of the other reasons set out in the GDPR 

12. Data Subject’s Rights and Requests  

12.1 Data Subjects have rights when it comes to how we handle their personal data. These include rights to:  

(a) withdraw consent to processing at any time 

(b) receive certain information about the data controller’s processing activities 

(c) request access to their personal data that we hold 

(d) prevent our use of their personal data for direct marketing purposes 

(e) ask us to erase personal data if it is no longer necessary in relation to the purposes for which it was collected or processed or to rectify inaccurate data or to complete incomplete data 

(f) restrict processing in specific circumstances 

(g) challenge processing which has been justified on the basis of our legitimate interests or in the public interest 

(h) request a copy of an agreement under which personal data is transferred outside of the EEA 

(i) object to decisions based solely on automated processing, including profiling (ADM)  

(j) prevent processing that is likely to cause damage or distress to the data subject or anyone else 

(k) be notified of a personal data breach which is likely to result in high risk to their rights and freedoms 

(l) make a complaint to the supervisory authority 

(m) in limited circumstances, receive or ask for their personal data to be transferred to a third party in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable forma 

12.2 You must verify the identity of an individual requesting data under any of the rights listed above (do not allow third parties to persuade you into disclosing personal data without proper authorisation) 

12.3 You must immediately forward any data subject request you receive to the DPO 

13. Accountability  

Accountability 

13.1 The Controller must implement appropriate technical and organisational measures in an effective manner, to ensure compliance with data protection principles. The Controller is responsible for, and must be able to demonstrate, compliance with the data protection principles 

13.2 The Company must have adequate resources and controls in place to ensure and to document GDPR compliance including: 

(a) appointing a suitably qualified DPO or data protection manager 

(b) implementing privacy by design when processing personal data and completing DPIAs where processing presents a high risk to rights and freedoms of data subjects 

(c) integrating data protection into internal documents including this privacy standard, or privacy policies 

(d) regularly Training Services Company Personnel on the GDPR 

(e) regularly testing the privacy measures implemented and conducting periodic reviews and audits to assess compliance, including using results of testing to demonstrate compliance improvement efforts 

13.3 The GDPR requires us to keep full and accurate records of all our data processing activities  

13.4 These records should include, at a minimum, the name and contact details of the Controller and the DPO, clear descriptions of the personal data types, data subject types, processing activities, processing purposes, third-party recipients of the personal data, personal data storage locations, personal data transfers, the personal data’s retention period and a description of the security measures in place 

Training 

13.5 We will provide Personnel with appropriate and relevant training to enable them to comply with data privacy laws 

Privacy by Design and Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) 

13.6 We will implement privacy by design measures when processing personal data by implementing appropriate technical and organisational measures in an effective manner, to ensure compliance with the data protection principles 

13.7 We will conduct DPIAs in respect of high-risk processing. In particular, we will conduct a DPIA when implementing a major system or change programs involving the Processing of personal data 

13.8 The DPO will be consulted when carrying out a DPIA. The DPIA will include:  

14. Direct Marketing  

14.1 We are subject to certain rules and privacy laws when marketing to our customers and clients 

14.2 For example, a data subject’s prior consent is required for electronic direct marketing (for example, by email, text or automated calls). The limited exception for existing customers known as “soft opt in” allows organisations to send marketing texts or emails if they have obtained contact details in the course of a sale to that person, they are marketing similar products or services, and they gave the person an opportunity to opt out of marketing when first collecting the details and in every subsequent message 

14.3 The right to object to direct marketing will be explicitly offered to the data subject in an intelligible manner so that it is clearly distinguishable from other information 

14.4 A data subject’s objection to direct marketing will be promptly honoured. If a customer opts out at any time, their details will be suppressed as soon as possible. Suppression involves retaining just enough information to ensure that marketing preferences are respected in the future 

15 Sharing Personal Data  

15.1 Generally we are not allowed to share personal data with third parties unless certain safeguards and contractual arrangements have been put in place 

15.2 You may only share the personal data we hold with another employee, agent or representative of our Company if the recipient has a job-related need to know 

15.3 You may only share the personal data we hold with third parties, such as our service providers if:  

(a) they have a need to know the information for the purposes of providing the contracted services 

(b) sharing the personal data complies with the privacy policy provided to the data subject and, if required, the data subject’s consent has been obtained 

(c) the third party has agreed to comply with the required data security standards, policies and procedures and put adequate security measures in place 

(d) the transfer complies with any applicable cross border transfer restrictions  

(e) a fully executed written contract that contains GDPR approved third party clauses has been obtained 

16. Changes to this Privacy Standard 

We reserve the right to change this privacy standard at any time and will communicate any changes to you accordingly.