PCS – Quality Training in the Heart of Birmingham

Privacy
Policy

Introduction

The Protocol Group is committed to data security and the fair and transparent processing of personal data. As a result, we have created a privacy policy that dictates how members of the Group treat personal data. Please read this policy carefully as it contains important information on:

  • Who we are.
  • How and why we collect.
  • Store, use, and share your personal data.
  • Your rights concerning your personal data.
  • How to contact us, and how to contact supervisory authorities if you would like to report a concern about how we process your personal data.

Who are we?

For General Data Protection Regulation, The Protocol Group is the ‘controller’ of personal data and is a private limited company. Our registered address is The Old Guild House, 1 New Market Street, Birmingham B3 2NH.

TPSL is a business providing information, advice, and guidance, qualifications, training, assessment, and certification concerning Skills Training. As well as classroom Training including Traineeships and Apprenticeship Training in the following qualifications:

  • Assessor Coach
  • Business Administrator
  • Customer Service Practitioner
  • Customer Service Specialist
  • Digital Marketer
  • HR Support
  • Learning & Skills Teacher
  • Operations & Departmental Manager
  • Team Leader & Supervisor
  • Warehouse Operative
 

If you have queries about this privacy policy, how we process data, or about any of your rights, contact our Privacy Officer. To do this, sending an email to Contactus@Protocolgroup.co.uk or write to Sue Tipton at Protocol Group. The Old Guild House, 1 New Market Street, Birmingham B3 2NH.

What personal data do we collect?

We may collect your name, e-mail address, postal address, telephone number, and job role if you:

  • Complete a form on our Website.
  • Complete a survey.
  • Correspond with us by phone, e-mail, or in writing.
  • Report a problem.
  • Sign up to receive our communications.
  • Enter into a contract with us to receive services.

 

If you visit our Website, we may automatically collect the following information:

  • Technical information, including the internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet, login information, browser type, and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system, and platform.
  • Information about your visit to our Website such as the products and/or services you searched for and view, page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), and methods used to browse away from the page.

Information we receive from other sources

We may also receive information about you if you use any of the other websites we operate or the other services we provide.

If you are a tutor, apprentice, or learner, we may also receive information about you from your center, other training providers, or employer when they register to receive products and/or services from us.

Information about other people

Any information you provide about a person other than yourself, such as your relatives, you must ensure they understand how we use their information. In addition, they must’ve given permission for you to disclose it and for you to allow us and our service providers to use it.

Sensitive personal data

In certain limited cases, we may collect certain sensitive personal data from you. In other words, information about your racial origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, mental health, sexual life, or details of criminal offences. However, we will only do so on the basis of your explicit consent.

How do we use your personal data?

When we ask you to supply us with personal data, we will let you know if it is required to provide products and services to you or if it’s optional.

 

Contract performance: we may use your personal data to fulfil a contract or take steps linked to a contract:

  • To provide the products and/or services to you.
  • Communicate with you in relation to the provision of the contracted products and services.
  • To provide you with administrative support such as account creation, security, and responding to issues.
  • Provide you with industry information, surveys, information about our awards and events, offers and promotions related to the products and/or services.

 

Legitimate interests: where this is necessary for purposes which are in our, or third parties, legitimate interests. These interests are:

  • Providing you with newsletters, surveys, information about our awards and events, offers, and promotions, related to products and services offered by a member of the Protocol Group which may be of interest to you.
  • Communicating with you in relation to any issues, complaints, or disputes.
  • Improving the quality of experience when you interact with our products and/or services, including testing the performance and customer experience of our Website and Virtual Learning Environment.
  • Performing analytics on sales/marketing data, determining the effectiveness of promotional campaigns.

 

NOTE: you have the right to object to the processing of your personal data on the basis of legitimate interests as set out below, under the heading Your rights.

 

Consent: where you have given your express consent to receive marketing communications, we may use your personal data to:

  • Send you newsletters, surveys, information about our awards and events, offers, and promotions, related to products and services offered which may be of interest to you.
  • Developing, improving, and delivering marketing and advertising for products and services offered by a member of the business development team.

 

Where required by law: we may also process your personal data if required by law, including responding to requests by government or law enforcement authorities or for the prevention of crime or fraud.

Who do we share your personal data with?

Awarding organisations, funding organisations such as ESFA, and third parties such as Ofsted will have access to your personal information.

Steps are in place to ensure that our staff protect your personal data and know their information security obligations. As a result, we limit access to your personal data to those who have a genuine business need to know it.

We may also share your personal data with trusted third parties including:

  • Legal and other professional advisers, consultants, and professional experts.
  • Service providers contracted to us in connection with the provision of the products and services, such as providers of IT services and customer relationship management services.
  • Analytics and search engine providers that assist us in the improvement and optimisation of our Website or VLE.
 

We will ensure there is a contract in place with the categories of recipients listed above. This includes obligations in relation to the confidentiality, security, and lawful processing of any personal data shared with them.

How long will you keep your personal data?

Where there is a contract between us, we will retain your personal data for the duration of the contract and six years following its termination or expiry. As a result, we can comply with any contractual, legal, audit, and other requirements or orders from competent courts or authorities. In addition, where you have consented to marketing communications, you may change your preferences or unsubscribe from at any time.

Where do we store your personal data and how is it protected Through our Privacy Policy?

We take reasonable steps to protect your personal data from loss or destruction. Similarly, we have procedures, through our privacy policy, in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so. Where you have a username or password which enables you to access certain services, you’re responsible for keeping it confidential. Therefore, we ask you not to share a password with anyone.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. However, we do our best to protect personal data but can’t guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our Website. In addition, once we’ve received your personal data, we will use strict procedures and security features to prevent unauthorised access.

Your rights

Under the GDPR, you have various rights with respect to our use of your personal data:

 

Right to Access

You have the right to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you by contacting us directly. Please include with your request information that will enable us to verify your identity. After that, we will respond with 30 days of request. However, there are exceptions to this right. We may be unable to make information available to you if doing so would reveal personal data about another person. Similarly, if your request is manifestly unfounded or excessive.

 

Right to rectification

We aim to keep your personal data accurate and complete and encourage you to contact us using the contact details provided below to let us know if any of your personal data is not accurate or changes, so that we can keep your personal data up-to-date.

 

Right to erasure

You have the right to request the deletion of your personal data where, for example, the personal data is no longer necessary. In addition, if you would like to request that we erase your personal data, contact us using the details below.

 

Right to object

In certain circumstances, you have the right to object to the processing of your personal data where, for example, if we use your data for direct marketing purposes. In addition, you can object to the processing of your personal data, contact us using the details below.

 

Right to restrict processing

In certain circumstances, you have the right to request that we restrict the further processing of your personal data. This right arises where, for example, you have contested the accuracy of the personal data we hold about you. Or if the processing is unlawful and you want it to be restricted rather than deleted. Contact us using the details provided below.

 

Right to data portability

In certain circumstances, you can request some of your personal data for yourself, or another data controller, in a commonly used, machine-readable format. This right arises if you have provided your personal data to us, the processing has consent or the performance of a contract, and processing is done by automated means. If you would like to request that your personal data is ported to you, contact us using the details provided below.

NOTE: GDPR sets out exceptions to these rights. If we are unable to comply with your request due to an exception we will explain this to you in our response.

Unsubscribing

You may unsubscribe from marketing communications at any time by contacting us at pcsadmin@protocolgroup.co.uk to ‘unsubscribe’.

Contact

If you have any queries about this privacy policy, how we process personal data, or about exercising any of your rights, you may contact our Privacy Officer by sending an email to contactus@protocolgroup.co.uk or writing to Sue Tipton Protocol Group. The Old Guild House, 1 New Market Street, Birmingham, B3 2NH.

Complaints

If you believe that your data protection rights may have been breached, you may lodge a complaint or seek a remedy through the courts. Please visit https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ for more information on how to report a concern to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office.

Changes to our Privacy Policy

Any changes we may make to our privacy policy in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notified to you by e-mail. Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to our privacy policy.

If you are interested in our training programmes, give us a call on 0121 236 2634 to speak directly to a qualified staff member.