About UKHSA:

On 1 October 2021, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) came into being. An executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), UKHSA combines many of the health protection activities previously undertaken by Public Health England (PHE), together with all the activities of the NHS Test and Trace Programme and the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC). The processing activities previously undertaken by these organisations and their associated data processors have not changed with the establishment of UKHSA. Individual rights are not affected by this change. We are responsible for planning, preventing, and responding to external health threats, and providing intellectual, scientific, and operational leadership at national and local level, as well as internationally. UKHSA will ensure the nation can respond quickly and at greater scale to deal with pandemics and future threats. We collect and use personal information to fulfil our remit from the government.

 

UKHSA’s responsibilities include running the Antibiotic Guardian campaign and its related activities such as webinars, AG Schools Ambassadors, Shared Learning events. This campaign was developed in 2014 to support personal behaviour change while raising awareness of the importance of reducing antimicrobial resistance. The campaign hinges on the ability of people to sign up to an online pledge and become an ‘Antibiotic Guardian’.

 

This privacy notice explains what personal information we collect, use and may share for Antibiotic Guardian. It explains what your rights are if we hold your personal information, and how you can find out more or raise a concern. DHSC is the data controller for the personal information we collect, store, and use to fulfil our remit.

 

Information we collect:

When you pledge to become an Antibiotic Guardian or sign up to any of its related activities such as Antibiotic Guardian ambassadors, shared learning event/awards or webinars, we collect personal information including:

• title,
• first name,
• surname,
• email address,
• age,
• ethnicity,
• country,
• postcode (work/university postcode for healthcare professionals and students),
• profession (or member of the public).

This personal information comes directly from you when you sign up to a pledge on the Antibiotic Guardian website or sign up to any of the activities.

 

The purpose we use your information for

 

Personal information collected on this website is used for the purposes of analysing and evaluating the progress of the Antibiotic Guardian campaign. The Antibiotic Guardian campaign is a pledge-based campaign, we collect personal information to ask individuals about their pledges or feedback on the activities they sign up to, only if they consent to further contact.

 

Collection of data allows us to monitor the impact of the Antibiotic Guardian campaign and to assess regional engagement on UKHSA Fingertips, an online source of indicators across a range of public health themes.

 

How we protect your information

The personal information used by Antibiotic Guardian is protected in a number of ways.

 

It is stored on computer systems that have been tested to make sure they are secure and which are kept up to date to protect them from viruses and hacking. Where we share your personal information with other organisations, we only ever do so using secure computer systems or encrypted email.

 

Your personal information used by us can only be seen by staff who have been specifically trained to protect your privacy. Strong controls are in place to make sure all these staff can only see the minimum amount of personal information they need to do their job.

Whenever possible, we only use your information in a form that does not directly identify you. For example, when data is processed for routine analyses of campaign interaction, any personal information is removed, and a unique identification number is used to count individual pledges. We do this to help protect your confidentiality.

No information that could identify individual people is ever published by UKHSA.

 

Where we store your information

All personal information used by Antibiotic Guardian is held in the UK only.

 

Who we share your information with

Your personal information is not shared outside UKHSA. If we do share your personal information, it will only be in exceptional circumstances, where the law allows, and we only share the minimum necessary amount of information.

Whilst we may share summary findings of the Antibiotic Guardian campaign in reports and peer review publications, we do this in a form that does not identify you.

 

How long we keep your information

The personal information collected during the process of this campaign will be kept only as long as the Antibiotic Guardian campaign is active, in a secure database, for the purpose of analysis and continued monitoring of the Antibiotic Guardian campaign. It will be reviewed regularly to maintain accuracy and to determine whether it is still necessary to store this information.

 

Your rights over your information

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights over your personal information. You have the right to:

• ask for a copy of any information we hold about you
• ask for any information we hold about you that you think is inaccurate to be changed
• ask us to restrict our use of your information, for example, where you think the information we are using is inaccurate
• object to us using any information we hold about you, although this is not an absolute right, and we may need to continue to use your information – we will tell you why if this is the case
• delete any information we hold about you, although this is not an absolute right, and we may need to continue to use your information – we will tell you why if this is the case
• ask us not to use your information to make automated decisions about you without the involvement of one of our staff

 

You can exercise any of these rights by contacting UKHSA at:

Information Rights Team

UKHSA
Nobel House
17 Smith Square
London
SW1P 3JR
United Kingdom

Email: InformationRights@UKHSA.gov.uk

You will be asked to provide proof of your identity so that we can be sure we only provide you with your information.

 

Communications / Newsletter

 

When you sign up to an online pledge to become an ‘Antibiotic Guardian’, you opt-in to receiving communications about related events/activities from the campaign, e.g. through our newsletter. However, you do have the future option to opt out of this contact and can enact this by contacting [ESPAUR@ukhsa.gov.uk].

 

Our legal basis to use your information

The law on protecting personal information, known as the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA), allows UKHSA to use the personal information collected by the Antibiotic Guardian campaign.

 

The section of the UK GDPR and the DPA that apply where we use personal

information for the Antibiotic Guardian campaign is:

• UK GDPR Article 6(1)(e) ‘processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest’
• UK GDPR Article 9(2)(i) ‘processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest in the area of public health – specifically, equality of opportunity or treatment

 

 

How to find out more or raise a concern

If you would like to find out more about Antibiotic Guardian, you can contact us at

ESPAUR@ukhsa.gov.uk.

If you have any concerns about how personal information is used and protected by UKHSA, you can contact the Department of Health and Social Care’s Data Protection Officer at data_protectionofficer@dhsc.gov.uk  or by writing to:

Office of the Data Protection Officer

Department of Health and Social Care

1st Floor North

39 Victoria Street

London SW1H 0EU

 

You also have the right to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office if you have any concerns about how UKHSA uses and protects any personal information it holds about you. You can do so by calling the ICO’s helpline on +0303 123 1113, visiting the ICO’s website at ico.org.uk or by writing to:

Customer Contact

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

SK9 5AF