Skip to main content

General Data Protection Regulation

Introduction

At Buttercups Training Ltd, we’re serious about protecting and safely storing the personal data we collect from you. This notice aims to explain how we obtain and use your personal data in order to better support your learning journey, effectively provide services to you, and meet legal requirements.

If you have any questions or concerns after reading this notice, please don’t hesitate to contact us.


Who we are

Buttercups Training Ltd is the data controller when it comes to the processing activities mentioned in this document. What this means is that Buttercups Training Ltd decides why and how to collect and process your personal data.

In this policy Buttercups Training Ltd is referred to whenever ‘we’, ‘our’ or ‘us’ is used.


Who you are

This policy notice applies to you if you have enrolled in a course provided by Buttercups Training, or registered as a mentor or workplace training supervisor for one of our learners. While this notice provides an overview of our data protection policy, more specific information about how your personal data is used and processed will be provided to you upon enrolment.


What information do we collect and how do we collect it?

Information that we collect from you

There are a number of ways we may collect information from you.

An example would be your initial application for the course. Data we would have collected from you at that time would include:

  • Personal details
    • Full name
    • Address
    • Contact details etc.
  • Employment details
    • Where you work
    • Your work hours
    • Your employer’s details etc.
  • Personal Documents
    • Photocopy of birth certificate
    • Photocopy of driver’s licence
    • Photocopy of passport
    • Photocopy of previously obtained qualification(s)
    • Photocopy of marriage certificate etc.

Throughout your course, you may be asked to provide additional data during personal communication with you, such as during review calls with members of our staff or over email.

Information that is automatically collected

We will automatically collect information about your participation in our courses, your use of our website, and any assessment activities that you take part in.

We may automatically collect information when you browse our website; more information about this can be found in our section about Cookies.

We may also record telephone conversations as a means of improving the service that we provide to you. You will be asked for your permission before a telephone call is recorded.

Information that we collect from others

We may collect some information about you from other places.

An example of this would be references from previous employers which would be collected prior to you being accepted onto the course.

We may collect medical information which would be provided to us from health check providers.

If you have joined us on a funded course – such as a level 3 apprenticeship – we will have collected levy information.

Important note

We always ensure that we have a lawful basis for processing the personal data that we collect. In this case the lawful basis for processing your data is that it’s necessary for us to comply with the law, or it’s necessary for our legitimate interests. If we need your consent to process any of your data, we’ll obtain this from you.


How will we use your personal information?

We’re committed to using your personal data responsibly and lawfully.

The majority of the information that we collect from you is used in order to deliver our services to you and support you in completing your course. It also allows us to meet our legal requirements as an education provider.

An example of this is using your contact information and the information automatically collected about how you are completing your course. This information would be combined to provide a review call to you which is part of the support we offer in completing your course.

If we do not collect this information from you, we may not be able to accurately or effectively provide the administration services and support that you will need in order to successfully achieve a qualification.

The information that we collect from you is all stored within the UK, with exception to anonymous surveys via Surveymonkey and Mailchimp. The information you provide in these surveys is protected by the appropriate safeguards for non-EU data transfer.

In order to make sure that the information we collect from you is accurate, it is important that you contact us to advise us of any changes to your personal information.


Who will we share your information with?

There are a number of situations in which we would share your personal information with third parties.

Your Employer

We will share information that is relevant to your course progression with your employer. This is a standard requirement that you will have consented to at the point of enrolment on your course. You do have the right to withdraw your consent for this, however there are legal requirements related to this sharing of information and withdrawing your consent may have a serious effect on your employment.

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)

Sharing your information with the GPhC is a legal and regulatory requirement on the part of your employer and Buttercups Training. GPhC need to know who can legally practice and we are required to share the names of those qualified.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA)

We will share your information with the ESFA as this is a legal and governmental requirement for any learner entering an apprenticeship qualification. Please see their Privacy Notice below:

This privacy notice is issued by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), on behalf of the Secretary of State for the Department of Education (DfE). It is to inform learners how their personal information will be used by the DfE, the ESFA (an executive agency of the DfE) and any successor bodies to these organisations. For the purposes of relevant data protection legislation, the DfE is the data controller for personal data processed by the ESFA.

Your personal information is used by the DfE to exercise its functions and to meet its statutory responsibilities, including under the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 and to create and maintain a unique learner number (ULN) and a personal learning record (PLR). Your information will be securely destroyed after it is no longer required for these purposes.

Your information may be shared with third parties for education, training, employment and well-being related purposes, including for research. This will only take place where the law allows it and the sharing is in compliance with data protection legislation.

The English European Social Fund (ESF) Managing Authority (or agents acting on its behalf) may contact you in order for them to carry out research and evaluation to inform the effectiveness of training.

You can agree to be contacted for other purposes by ticking the relevant boxes within your funding paperwork.

Further information about use of and access to your personal data, details of organisations with whom we regularly share data, information about how long we retain your data, and how to change your consent to being contacted, please visit:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esfa-privacy-notice

Local authorities (LAs)

Educational Institutions: Duty to Provide Information under the Education and Skills Act 2008

Section 72 of the Education and Skills Act 2008 places a statutory duty on a responsible person at an education provider to provide LAs with ‘relevant information’ about students on request. Relevant information is:

  1. the name, address and date of birth of the pupil or student;
  2. the name and address of a parent of the pupil or student; and
  3. information in the institution's possession about the pupil or student, except where a parent of a pupil or student under the age of 16, or a pupil or student who has attained the age of 16, has instructed you not to provide that information.

Sections 76 and 77 provide additional data sharing powers to support local authorities to deliver their duties. The statutory guidance provides that local authorities should agree data sharing agreements with education providers and other public bodies that set out the information they will provide, when it will be provided and how they will ensure that data is passed securely.

Personal Learning Record (LRS)

The information you supply is used by the Education and Skills Funding Agency, an executive agency of the Department for Education (DfE), to issue you with a Unique Learner Number (ULN) and to create your Personal Learning Record, as part of the functions of the DfE. For more information about how your information is processed, and to access your Personal Learning Record, please refer to:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/lrs-privacy-notices

CognAssist

We ask our learners to undertake a CognAssist assessment for the purposes of identifying any additional learning needs. This helps Buttercups Training to provide bespoke support for the individual learner to ensure they receive the best possible opportunity to complete their course. All learners receive a copy of the assessment results for future usage when engaging with educational programmes.
Privacy Policy - Cognassist

Awarding Bodies

We use Pearson Edexcel and Open Awards as the awarding bodies for our qualifications and our End Point Assessments. These companies require your information in order to award the qualifications that you achieve.
Privacy policy | Legal information | Pearson
privacy-policy-centres.pdf (openawards.org.uk)

Our e-portfolio provider

Our learner e-portfolios are called VQManager and Onefile, and these are used by all apprenticeship, level 2 and level 3 learners. They are hosted on a server or cloud that belongs to the developer and holds some of your personal information.
Privacy Notice | OneFile
Privacy Policy - The leading e-portfolio software for training providers (skillwise.net)

Our learner management system

The B-Hive is our Learner Management System (LMS) and is where your course materials are accessed. B-Hive is hosted on the developer’s server. The developer’s servers are based in the UK.

End point assessment platform

ACE360 is an End-Point Assessment Platform that enables you to manage Apprenticeship Standards delivery and assessment efficiently, securely and without paper. It links into our Learner Management System to ensure that data is accurate and joined up. It covers the whole Apprenticeship journey, all the way through from enrolment to certification.
Global Privacy Policy - ACE360

Ofsted

For those learners whose funding contract is fulfilled by Buttercups and not by a partner college (as listed above), we would be required to share your personal information with Ofsted during a period of inspection.

Zoho

We use Zoho for cloud-based application and storage provider. All services the Buttercups Training utilise are based in the EU.
Zoho - Privacy Policy

Microsoft

We use Office 365, Onedrive and Azure for cloud-based services, data processing and storage. The data centres utilised by Buttercups Training are UK based.
Microsoft Privacy Statement – Microsoft privacy

AWS

The bHive is hosted on Amazon Web Services. For further information see AWS privacy notice and security policies.
AWS Privacy (amazon.com)


How long do we keep your information for?

Our Retention Policy lists the type of data we process and for how long it is kept. You can access that policy by clicking ‘here’.

The length of time for which we will retain your data is worked out with reference to a number of factors, for example our purpose for collecting the information in the first place, and the legal obligations that we have.


What rights do you have over the personal information we hold?

You have rights over the information that we hold on you. Some of these rights will be newly enforceable under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on 25th of May, 2018. If you would like to exercise these rights, please contact us using the contact details listed at the end of this policy notice.

Under the GDPR, you have the right to:

  • Access any personal information that we hold about you, which must be provided in a portable electronic format
  • Correct any inaccuracies in the personal information that we hold about you
  • Request that we stop sending you direct marketing communications

In particular situations, you have the right to:

  • Have your personal information removed from the systems we use
  • Change and restrict the way that we process your personal data
  • Receive a copy of your personal data in an electronic data file
  • Object to processing of your personal data by us.

If you have concerns about the ways that we have processed or used your personal information, it is within your rights to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). More details on this subject can be found on the ICO’s website.


Information about our use of cookies

A cookie is a small file (typically letters and numbers) which may be placed on your computer when you access our website. A cookie cannot read your computer’s hard disk or make any information available to third parties.

Through the cookie we can recognise your computer and browsing activity if you return to the website, allowing us to provide you with a better service. We also track user traffic patterns in order to determine the effectiveness of our website. We do not release this information to third parties.

We use cookies to allow our website to recognise when you return to our site (which helps us to optimise your visits) and cookies to track the length of each visit.

If you would like more information on cookies click here.

We use Google Analytics which allows us to collect information about how you use our site. If you access our website directly (and not via an email) you’re visits will be tracked anonymously.

We use Google Analytics to understand how our website is being used in order to improve the experience for you. All user data is anonymous.

We use social buttons such as Twitter, Google, Facebook and LinkedIn to share or bookmark pages on our site or email updates. Those sites may collect information about your internet activity, including if your visit to our site (even if you don’t click on the button if you’re logged on to their site). You should check the privacy and cookies policy of each of these sites to see how they use your information and find out how to opt out and delete such information.

You are able to manage cookies. For more information click here. If you want to block all cookies all of the time you can set your computer preferences to do so. However, if you are a registered user of Buttercups Training you will need to allow “per-session” cookies in order to access password-protected sites.

Our website does not require you to input personal data to use it. You may however volunteer personal data such as your name and email address to request information, updates and our services. That information is required to deal with your query appropriately.


Contact us

We have appointed a Data Protection Officer. Please instead direct any queries about this policy or about how we collect and process your personal information to him using the contact details below:

Email: GDPR@buttercups.co.uk
Telephone: +44(0)1159374936

Address:
GDPR Enquiries
Buttercups House
Castlebridge Office Village
Castle Marina Road
Nottingham
NG7 1TN