Last Updated: 3 July 2024
Who we are and what we do
Who we are
We are the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (“PPO”, “us”, “we”, “our”). The PPO is a “public authority” as defined by the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and we have our registered office at Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, Third Floor, 10 South Colonnade, London E14 4PU. We are registered with the UK supervisory authority, Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”), in relation to our processing of Personal data under registration number Z5112159.
What we do
The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) investigates:
- deaths of prisoners, young people in detention, residents of approved premises and individuals detained under immigration laws
- people who die within 14 days of release from prison (unless there is a murder investigation)
- complaints made by prisoners, young people in detention, people on probation and individuals detained under immigration laws
Complaints from prisoners and young people in detention are investigated by Independent Prisoner Complaint Investigations (IPCI) which is part of the PPO.
The purpose of these investigations is to understand what happened, to correct injustices and to identify learning for the organisations whose actions we oversee so that the PPO makes a significant contribution to safer, fairer custody and offender supervision.
Controller
Unless we notify you otherwise, we are the controller of the personal data we process about you. This means that we decide what personal data to collect and how to process it for the purposes of:
- Investigating complaints made by prisoners, young people in detention (prisons and secure training centres), offenders under probation supervision and individuals detained under immigration powers
- Investigating deaths of prisoners young people in detention, approved premises’ residents and detained individuals due to any cause, including any apparent suicides and natural causes
- Promoting lessons learned from investigations, including publishing an annual report.
The PPO investigations are conducted according to the Terms of Reference agreed with the Secretary of State for Justice. The purpose of any PPO investigation is to:
- find out what happened
- to try to find out why
- to see whether there are any lessons to be learned and
- to make recommendations for future practice, if appropriate.
Purpose of this privacy notice
The purpose of this privacy notice is to explain what personal data we collect about you and how we process it. This privacy notice also explains your rights, so please read it carefully. If you have any questions, you can contact us using the information provided below under the ‘How to contact us’ section.
Who this privacy notice applies to
This privacy notice applies to you if:
- You visit our website
- You make a complaint
- You enquire about our investigations
- You sign up to receive newsletters and/or other communications from us
What personal data is
‘Personal data’ means any information from which someone can be identified either directly or indirectly. For example, you can be identified by your name or an online identifier.
‘Special category personal data’ is more sensitive personal data and includes information revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, genetic data, biometric data for the purposes of uniquely identifying someone, data concerning physical or mental health or data concerning someone’s sex life or sexual orientation.
‘Criminal offence data’ is linked to criminal offences, or which is specifically used to learn something about an individual’s criminal record or behaviour. This covers information about offenders or suspected offenders in the context of criminal activity, allegations, investigations and proceedings.
Personal data we collect
The type of personal data we collect about you will depend on our relationship with you. For the type of personal data we collect, see the table below in the section entitled ‘Purposes, lawful bases and retention periods’.
How we collect your personal data
The PPO collects personal information for the performance of its task, carried out in the public interest. We collect information from multiple sources and, at any one time, can be processing personal information about various individuals including:
- prisoners, prisoners, young people in detention, offenders under probation supervision and individuals detained under immigration powers
- bereaved families
- complainants or their representatives
- the subject of a complaint or their representatives
- individuals who we may contact when carrying out a complaint or fatal incident investigation
- witnesses
- individuals captured by CCTV images
- survey respondents
- professionals with an interest in our publications
- service providers and their employees or employees of their contractors
- current, former or prospective members of staff
Purposes, lawful bases and retention periods
We will only use your personal data when the law allows. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:
| Categories of individuals | Categories of personal data | Purpose of processing | Lawful basis | Retention period |
| Prisoners, young people in detention, offenders under probation supervision and individuals detained under immigration powers | – Name – Contact details – Personal details of relationships with others – Family details – Lifestyle and social circumstances – Financial details – Employment and education details – Details of complaints, incidents and grievances – Visual images, personal appearance and behaviour – Physical or mental health details – Racial or ethnic origin – Religious or other beliefs – Political opinions – Sexual life and sexual orientation – Gender and gender reassignment – Offences (including alleged offences) – Details of security categorisation and assessments of risk of harm – Criminal and legal proceedings, outcomes and sentences | The purpose of processing is for the PPO to carry out their public task of investigating and resolving complaints effectively. | Public task: to perform investigations in the public interest which is laid down by law. | Six years following the investigation and resolution of complaints. In order to take into account potential appeals or legal challenges related to the complaints. |
| Complainants or their representatives | – Contact details only (if the complainant is not a prisoner, offender or suspected offender) otherwise same as above – Personal details of relationship with prisoners, offenders and suspected offenders (if the complainant is not a prisoner, offender or suspected offender) otherwise same as above | The purpose of processing is for the PPO to carry out their public task of investigating and resolving complaints effectively. | Public task: to perform investigations in the public interest which is laid down by law. | Six years following the investigation and resolution of complaints. In order to take into account potential appeals or legal challenges related to the complaints. |
| The subject of a complaint | – Name – Employment details – Details of complaints, incidents and grievances – Visual images, personal appearance and behaviour – Physical or mental health details – Racial or ethnic origin – Religious or other beliefs – Political opinions – Sexual life and sexual orientation – Gender and gender reassignment – Offences (including alleged offences) – Details of security categorisation and assessments of risk of harm – Criminal and legal proceedings, outcomes and sentences | The purpose of processing is for the PPO to carry out their public task of investigating and resolving complaints effectively. | Public task: to perform investigations in the public interest which is laid down by law. | Six years following the investigation and resolution of complaints. In order to take into account potential appeals or legal challenges related to the complaints. |
| Witnesses | – Name – Contact details – Personal details of relationships with others – Family details – Lifestyle and social circumstances – Financial details – Employment and education details – Details of complaints, incidents and grievances – Visual images, personal appearance and behaviour – Physical or mental health details – Racial or ethnic origin – Religious or other beliefs – Political opinions – Sexual life and sexual orientation – Gender and gender reassignment – Offences (including alleged offences) – Details of security categorisation and assessments of risk of harm – Criminal and legal proceedings, outcomes and sentences | The purpose of processing is for the PPO to carry out their public task of investigating and resolving complaints effectively. | Public task: to perform investigations in the public interest which is laid down by law. | Six years following the investigation and resolution of complaints. In order to take into account potential appeals or legal challenges related to the complaints. |
| Bereaved families | – Name – Contact details – Personal details of relationships with others – Family details – Lifestyle and social circumstances – Financial details – Employment and education details – Details of complaints, incidents and grievances – Visual images, personal appearance and behaviour – Physical or mental health details – Racial or ethnic origin – Religious or other beliefs – Political opinions – Sexual life and sexual orientation – Gender and gender reassignment – Offences (including alleged offences) – Details of security categorisation and assessments of risk of harm – Criminal and legal proceedings, outcomes and sentences | The purpose of processing is for the PPO to carry out their public task of investigating and resolving complaints effectively. | Public task: to perform investigations in the public interest which is laid down by law. | Six years following the investigation and resolution of complaints. In order to take into account potential appeals or legal challenges related to the complaints. |
| Individuals who we may contact when carrying out a complaint or fatal incident investigation | – Name – Contact details – Personal details of relationships with others – Family details – Lifestyle and social circumstances – Financial details – Employment and education details – Details of complaints, incidents and grievances – Visual images, personal appearance and behaviour – Physical or mental health details – Racial or ethnic origin – Religious or other beliefs – Political opinions – Sexual life and sexual orientation – Gender and gender reassignment – Offences (including alleged offences) – Details of security categorisation and assessments of risk of harm – Criminal and legal proceedings, outcomes and sentences | The purpose of processing is for the PPO to carry out their public task of investigating and resolving complaints effectively. | Public task: to perform investigations in the public interest which is laid down by law. | Six years following the investigation and resolution of complaints. In order to take into account potential appeals or legal challenges related to the complaints. |
| Service providers and their employees or employees of their contractors | – Name – Contact details – Personal details of relationships with others – Family details – Lifestyle and social circumstances – Financial details – Employment and education details – Details of complaints, incidents and grievances – Visual images, personal appearance and behaviour – Physical or mental health details – Racial or ethnic origin – Religious or other beliefs – Political opinions – Sexual life and sexual orientation – Gender and gender reassignment – Offences (including alleged offences) – Details of security categorisation and assessments of risk of harm – Criminal and legal proceedings, outcomes and sentences. | The purpose of processing is for the PPO to carry out their public task of investigating and resolving complaints effectively. | Public task: to perform investigations in the public interest which is laid down by law. | Six years following the investigation and resolution of complaints. In order to take into account potential appeals or legal challenges related to the complaints. |
| Survey respondents | Prison staff: – Name – Job title – Email address Next of kin: – Contact details – House address – Email address – Relationship to prisoner | The purpose of processing is for the PPO to carry out their public task of investigating and resolving complaints effectively. | Public task: to perform investigations in the public interest which is laid down by law. | Six years following the investigation and resolution of complaints. In order to take into account potential appeals or legal challenges related to the complaints. |
| Individuals captured by CCTV images | Visual images, personal appearance and behaviour | The purpose of processing is for the PPO to carry out their public task of investigating and resolving complaints effectively. | Public task: to perform investigations in the public interest which is laid down by law. | Six years following the investigation and resolution of complaints. In order to take into account potential appeals or legal challenges related to the complaints. |
| Service providers/ professionals/ Individuals that sign up to receive our newsletter | – Name – Job title and employer – Email address – Area/ region based in | To send you email updates about new publications. | It is in our legitimate interest to send you updates about new publications or that you may be interested in. | Until you unsubscribe from our newsletter/ receiving emails from us. |
| Website visitors | Technical data including Internet Protocol (IP) address details including your public browser type and version. | Help us understand more about visitors to our website. | Consent. | See our cookie banner for details of cookies we use, including their purpose and how long they persist for. The cookie banner is accessible from the Cookie Banner button in the bottom right of every page of our site. [CK1] [RT(2] [RT(3] |
Where personal data is processed because it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party, we will be unable to provide our services without the required information.
Sharing your personal data
- There may be occasions when the PPO is obliged to disclose personal data shared during the interview and wider investigation process. For example, evidence provided to the PPO may be shared with specialist advisers and with other investigatory bodies including the police, where that is necessary for the purposes of the PPO investigation, for a criminal investigation or for the inquest in the case of a fatal incident investigation.
- Personal and sensitive information may be shared with others including the family, associates and representatives of the person whose personal data we are processing; with those making an enquiry or complaint; with organisations subject to a complaint or investigation; with prosecuting authorities or courts; and with other central government bodies.
- In order to share the lessons from individual investigations, and to prevent further complaints and the risk of more deaths in custody, illustrative case studies are published as part of the Ombudsman’s annual report and within their Learning Lessons publications. All case studies are drafted in such a way as to exclude all personal data and so to protect the identification of the subject. Themes from investigations will also be identified and published in order to improve future practice.
- The PPO investigates the deaths of children and young people in young offender institutions, secure training centres, and secure children’s homes. We also investigate complaints from children and young people in young offender institutions and secure training centres. This means that there will be occasions when, in the performance of our public task, we are obliged to process data on children and young people.
International Transfers
Your personal data may be processed outside of the UK. This is because the organisations we use to provide our service to you are based outside the UK.
We have taken appropriate steps to ensure that the personal data processed outside the UK has an essentially equivalent level of protection to that guaranteed in the UK. We do this by ensuring that:
Your personal data is only processed in a country which the Secretary of State has confirmed has an adequate level of protection (an adequacy regulation), or we enter into an International Data Transfer Agreement (“IDTA”) with the receiving organisation and adopt supplementary measures, where necessary. (Read the IDTA).
Your rights and how to complain
You have certain rights in relation to the processing of your personal data, including to:
- Right to be informed
You have the right to know what personal data we collect about you, how we use it, for what purpose and in accordance with which lawful basis, who we share it with and how long we keep it. We use our privacy notice to explain this.
- Right of access (commonly known as a “Subject Access Request”)
You have the right to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
- Right to rectification
You have the right to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected.
- Right to erasure (commonly known as the right to be forgotten)
You have the right to ask us to delete your personal data.
- Right to object to processing
You have the right to object to us processing your personal data. If you object to us using your personal data for marketing purposes, we will stop sending you marketing material.
- Right to restrict processing
You have the right to restrict our use of your personal data.
- Right to portability
You have the right to ask us to transfer your personal data to another party.
- Automated decision-making
You have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing which will significantly affect you. We do not use automated decision-making.
- Right to withdraw consent
If you have provided your consent for us to process your personal data for a specific purpose, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. If you do withdraw your consent, we will no longer process your information for the purpose(s) you originally agreed to, unless we are permitted by law to do so.
- Right to lodge a complaint
You have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant supervisory authority, if you are concerned about the way in which we are handling your personal data.
The supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner’s Office who can be contacted online at:
Or by telephone on 0303 123 1113
For supervisory authorities in other countries within the EU.
How to exercise your rights
You will not usually need to pay a fee to exercise any of the above rights. However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with the request in such circumstances.
If you wish to exercise your rights, you may contact us using the details set out below within the section called ‘How to contact us and our Data Protection Officer’. We may need to request specific information from you to confirm your identity before we can process your request. Once in receipt of this, we will process your request without undue delay and within one month. In some cases, such as with complex requests, it may take us longer than this and, if so, we will keep you updated.
Children’s privacy
We do offer our services to children however, we do not knowingly collect personal data of children without parental consent, unless permitted by law. If you are a child, you must have your parent’s permission to use our services. If you learn that a child has provided us with their personal data without parental consent, you may contact us, as described below, and if appropriate, we will securely and permanently delete it, in accordance with applicable law.
How to contact us and our data protection officer
If you wish to contact us in relation to this privacy notice or if you wish to exercise any of your rights outlined above, please contact us as follows:
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman or IPCI, Third Floor, 10 South Colonnade, London E14 4PU.
Email: PPOMailSubjectAccessRequests@ppo.gov.uk
We have also appointed a Data protection Officer (“DPO”). Our DPO Evalian Limited and can be contacted as follows:
Evalian Limited, West Lodge, Leylands Business Park, Colden Common, Hampshire, SO21 1TH
dpo@evalian.co.uk
Please mark your communications FAO the ‘Data Protection Officer’.
Changes to this privacy notice
We may update this notice (and any supplemental privacy notice), from time to time as shown below. We will notify of the changes where required by applicable law to do so.
Last updated: 3 July 2024