This privacy notice is issued by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA)
on behalf of the Secretary of State for the Department of Education (DfE) to
inform learners about the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) and how their
personal information is used in the ILR. Your personal information is used by
the DfE to exercise our functions under article 6(1)(e) of the UK GDPR and to
meet our statutory responsibilities, including under the Apprenticeships,
Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009. Our lawful basis for using your special
category personal data is covered under Substantial Public Interest based in law
(Article 9(2)(g)) of GDPR legislation. This processing is under Section 54 of
the Further and Higher Education Act (1992).
The ILR collects data about learners and learning undertaken. Publicly funded
colleges, training organisations, local authorities, and employers (FE
providers) must collect and return the data to the ESFA each year under the
terms of a funding agreement, contract or grant agreement. It helps ensure that
public money distributed through the ESFA is being spent in line with government
targets. It is also used for education, training, employment, and well-being
purposes, including research.
We retain your ILR learner data for 20 years for operational purposes (e.g. to
fund your learning and to publish official statistics). Your personal data is
then retained in our research databases until you are aged 80 years so that it
can be used for long-term research purposes. For more information about the ILR
and the data collected, please see the ILR specification at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/individualised-learner-record-ilr
ILR data is shared with third parties where it complies with DfE data sharing
procedures and where the law allows it. The DfE and the English European Social
Fund (ESF) Managing Authority (or agents acting on their behalf) may contact
learners to carry out research and evaluation to inform the effectiveness of
training.
For more information about how your personal data is used and your individual
rights, please see the DfE Personal Information Charter ( https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-education/about/personal-information-charter )
and the DfE Privacy Notice ( https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/privacy-notice-for-key-stage-5-and-adult-education )
If you would like to get in touch with us or request a copy of the personal
information DfE holds about you, you can contact the DfE in the following ways:
If you are unhappy with how we have used your personal data, you can complain to
the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at:
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. You can also call their
helpline on 0303 123 1113 or visit https://www.ico.org.uk