UK NSC Privacy Notice on Personal Data

Guidance

UK NSC privacy notice

The personal data the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) collects, uses, and sometimes shares to do its job, how this data is protected and your rights.

From: UK National Screening Committee Published 16 May 2021 Last updated 5 March 2026
— See all updates Get emails about this page Print this page The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) advises ministers and the NHS in the 4 UK countries about all aspects of screening and supports implementation of screening programmes.

We may process your personal data when you interact with the UK NSC. This includes if you:

• subscribe as an individual or organisation to updates on UK NSC recommendations or participate in any of the UK NSC ’s public consultations
• subscribe to UK NSC Blog updates This privacy notice sets out how the UK NSC will use your personal data (as defined by the Information Commissioner’s Office) and your rights under General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Your data

Purpose

If you subscribe to UK NSC recommendations or the UK NSC Blog, we use your data to send you updates about UK NSC topics you are interested in.

If you respond to a public consultation on a screening evidence review, the processing of your data helps us to develop effective recommendations to ministers.

The data

For updates or blog article subscribers we will process your:

• name

• email address
  For UK NSC stakeholders who engage in a UK NSC consultation we will process your:

• name

• email address

• job title (where given)

• employer (where given)

• opinions

• sensitive personal data where volunteered by the respondent (may include personal patient experience, race or ethnic origin, or information about someone’s sex life or sexual orientation)
  Please try to avoid including sensitive (special category) personal data (for example, detailed health data about yourself or others). However, if you choose to provide such information, we will handle it under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Legal basis of processing

Our lawful basis under the UK GDPR for handling personal data is:

Article 6(1)(e) – Processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller

UK NSC develops evidence-based recommendations on population health screening across the UK.

Any special category data you choose to disclose as part of your consultation response (also known as sensitive personal data) is processed under the following condition:

Article 9(2)(g) – Processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest, namely Statutory & Government Purposes.

Who can access the data you send us

We share personal data with colleagues within the UK NSC secretariat and relevant policy teams who need it to carry out their work, plus UK NSC committee members as required.

Your data is stored on systems run by companies that provide our website, email, and consultation platforms. We do not share your data with these companies, but they may be able to access it as part of running these services. These companies are bound by the same UK data protection laws as we are.

How we protect your data

All personal data is handled in confidence.

We keep your data safe using security measures like password controls, encryption, and staff training.

When we publish responses to UK NSC public consultations we remove personal information from responses from individuals.

We may publish responses from organisations in full, but we will remove contact details unless they agree to have their name published.

We will not consider or publish any responses which are openly defamatory or offensive.

If we use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support our analysis, we only use DHSC ‑approved AI tools, such as Microsoft 365 Copilot, which operate within DHSC ’s secure IT environment and protect all input and output data under Enterprise Data Protection.

Retention

Personal data shared to enable subscription to our services or to register as a stakeholder will be kept by us while the UK NSC continues to exist, or until you opt out of these services.

We keep consultation responses for 8 years so that responses can be sent to submitters following the closure of a consultation and so they can be informed about and invited to respond to future consultations. They are also kept in case of any queries or challenges after the closure of the consultation and publication of the outcome of the UK NSC decision. This information is needed for future reviews to provide an accurate historical record.

This would include, for example, personal data about representatives of organisations.

Your rights

You have the right to:

• object to the processing of your personal data
• ask us how we use your data and ask for a copy of it
• ask us to correct any mistakes in your personal data straight away
• ask us to add to your data if there are things missing
• ask us to delete your data if we no longer need it In some cases, you can ask us to limit how we use your data. For example, if you think the data we have about you is wrong.

Contact details

The data controller for your personal data is the Department of Health and Social Care. The contact details for the data controller are:

Data Protection Officer
Department of Health and Social Care
1st Floor North
39 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0EU

Email: data_protection@dhsc.gov.uk

Complaints

If you consider that your personal data has been misused or mishandled, you may make a complaint to the Information Commissioner, who is an independent regulator. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113. Email: casework@ico.org.uk

Complaining to the Information Commissioner does not affect your right to take legal action.

Published 16 May 2021 Last updated 5 March 2026 show all updates
1.
5 March 2026

Consultation response retention period changed from 15 years to 8 years.
2.
29 January 2026

UK NSC privacy notice updated to cover personal data the UK NSC collects, uses and sometimes shares to do its job, including when people respond to a public consultation on screening evidence.
3.
12 May 2022

Updated contact details for data controller.
4.
16 May 2021

First published.
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