How we use your personal information
This statement is intended to provide you with information as to how The Learning Records Service (LRS) will collect and use your personal information and data, and how you can exercise choice in respect of the use of your personal data.
The Learning Records Service (LRS) is operated by the ESFA. The LRS collects information about learners registering for relevant post-14 qualifications, for example:
- GCSEs and A-Levels
- Entry to Employment Certificates
- Regulated Qualifications Frameworks
- Welsh Baccalaureate and associated units
The LRS uses your information to:
- issue you with a Unique Learner Number (ULN)
- create your Personal Learning Record (PLR)
The ULN enables education and training sector organisations, and Awarding Organisations regulated by Ofqual in England, Qualifications in Wales (QiW) in Wales and CCEA in Northern Ireland, to share information about participation and achievement in a consistent and approved manner, promoting good information management practice, and helping to improve accuracy and efficiency. It benefits you through enhancing the application processes to Awarding Organisations, learning providers, learning advisors and other third parties.
The PLR stores your education and training participation and achievement information collected directly from educational institutions and other bodies.
How we collect your personal information
The LRS collects information from:
- DfE, schools and training / learning providers
- information provided by you when enrolling with the training/learning provider
- participation and achievement data held by the Welsh Government
- accredited achievement data supplied by awarding organisations
How we share your personal information
All organisations that have control of personal data about you and that we store in the LRS are required to register with the Information Commissioner’s Office and to handle your information in accordance with the latest data protection legislation.
The LRS is accessible by organisations under agreement with the DfE (England Your personal information is only accessed through the LRS by organisations specifically linked to your education and training, including those organisations specified in Regulations made under section 537A of the Education Act.
Awarding organisations are able to access limited achievement data that we hold about you, in order to verify its accuracy.
How long we will keep your personal information
We will only keep your personal information for as long as we need it after which it will be securely destroyed. Your personal information stored in the Personal Learning Record is retained for 66 years. We may need to keep your other personal information where held indefinitely for research and statistical purposes.
- to ask us for access to information about you that we hold
- to have your personal data rectified, if it is inaccurate or incomplete
- to request the deletion or removal of personal data where there is no compelling reason for its continued processing
- to restrict our processing of your personal data (i.e. permitting its storage but no further processing)
- to object to direct marketing (including profiling) and processing for the purposes of scientific/historical research and statistics
- not to be subject to decisions based purely on automated processing where it produces a legal or similarly significant effect on you
If you need to contact the ESFA regarding any of the above please do so via the DfE site.
Summary
- The information you supply will be used by the Education and Skills Funding Agency, an Executive Agency of the Department for Education (DfE), to issue you with a ULN and your own PLR.
- Your ULN is a ten digit reference number, unique to yourself for use within education. Please keep this number in a safe place.
- Your ULN will also be used to collect and share information amongst education related organisations, careers advisors, and college registration and course enrolment staff.
- Your PLR will include information about your qualifications, awards, training events and learning achievements that you may collect throughout your education lifetime – at all levels and also whilst you are working and learning.
- Your PLR can be shared with organisations who have a responsibility for providing, funding and serving your education and training
- Your PLR record will help you to share your achievements, including any participation of learning, the training institute details and over what period. Please note that you will always be in control of who accesses your Personal Learning Record.
- If you have still not reached the age of 16, you might first wish to discuss this privacy notice explanation with your parent or legal guardian.
Declaration
I confirm I have read and understood the above terms and agree for my data to be used as described above.