Privacy notice for the collection of self-declaration conviction information

This Privacy Notice explains who we are, how and why we collect self-declaration conviction information, what personal data is collected, our purposes and lawful bases for processing, who we share your personal data with, relevant retention periods, and how you can exercise your privacy rights.

This notice provides information that is in addition to information contained in the University’s Disclosure of criminal convictions page (https://www.mmu.ac.uk/disclosure/). Please do read this notice to understand our practices and if you have any questions please contact us using the contact details provided below.

Who we are

Throughout this notice, “University”, “we”, “our” and “us” refer to the Manchester Metropolitan University, an exempt charity under Schedule 2 to the Charities Act 1993 (amended by the Charities Act 2011). The University is the Data Controller in respect of the personal data you provide as part of [activity]. 

The University is registered as a Data Controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). We manage personal data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the University’s Data Protection Policy.

The personal data we process

The self-declaration criminal conviction information we collect is dependent upon your course of study or placement.

For non-regulated profession courses

For most courses, the University only requires disclosure of convictions that are both relevant and unspent.

Relevant means criminal offences include convictions, cautions, admonitions, reprimands, final warnings, bind over orders or similar involving one or more of the following:

• Any kind of violence (including but not limited to) threatening behaviour, offences concerning the intention to harm or offences which resulted in actual bodily harm;
• Offences listed in the Sexual Offences Act (2003);
• The unlawful supply of controlled drugs or substances where the conviction concerns commercial drug dealing or trafficking;
• Offences involving firearms;
• Offences involving arson;
• Offences involving terrorism.
• Warning, penalty notices for disorder (PNDs), anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) or violent offender orders (VOOs) are not classed as convictions for this purpose, unless you have contested a PND or breached the terms of an ASBO or VOO and this has resulted in a criminal conviction.

This relevant definition is taken from the UCAS Application Form.

Unspent means a criminal conviction that has not become ‘spent’ after a period of time as per the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (1974). The length of time it takes for a conviction to become spent is defined, and this varies, depending on the offender’s age at conviction, and the sentence or disposal made by the court following the conviction.

Custodial sentences of over four years cannot become spent. More information on offences and rehabilitation periods can be found at  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-guidance-on-the-rehabili…

For regulated profession courses

Certain courses that involve interacting with children or vulnerable adults in regulated activities; and/or require a criminal records check via the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) (or local equivalent) are exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (1974).  For these courses, the University requires disclosure of all convictions, including spent convictions, cautions and bind-over orders.

The DBS process enables us to check: conviction, caution, reprimand, final warning or bind over information. However, we ask you to self-declare so that we have time to collect further information and assess the information provided as early as possible. 

For all courses students are required to inform us of any new information which meets the above criteria throughout the year. For regulated profession courses annual self-declaration is required.

The purposes of the processing

This is to enable us to identify, assess and manage the potential risk to the University community, and/or to offer support where appropriate. This includes considering risks arising of you living in University accommodation.

A criminal record is not automatically an obstacle to studying at the University, and any disclosure is considered separately from the academic assessment. The University has the right to:

- Refuse enrolment at the University and/or to terminate a student’s contract where, following a risk assessment or professional suitability assessment the University’s decision is to refuse admission, placement or continued study at the University.
- Impose conditions and/or restrictions on a student’s offer, admission, enrolment or study at the University to help manage any risks identified.
Regulated profession course students

The University uses information submitted within the regulated professional self-declaration forms to:
- Determine the student’s suitability to undertake and continue to undertake their chosen course and work in the professional environment associated with the course,
- To enable discussion with the student in terms of meeting ‘Fitness to Practice’ criteria.
- Assess whether the student would be able to undertake the mandatory work placements required as part of the course.
- To carry out appropriate risk assessments to identify, assess and manage any potential risks to the University community.

Any self-declared conviction information will be considered by a faculty panel in accordance with the Criteria for assessment of criminal offences as documented within the University’s Policy and procedure relating to the Disclosure and Barring Service Process.

Lawful basis for processing

GDPR art. 6 Lawful basis for processing personal data.

Regulated courses are programmes of study leading to a qualification in professions that are covered by specific legislation, such as the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 and the protection of Children Act 1999, which make it compulsory for checks to be carried out. These programmes are linked to professions listed in the Exemption Order of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. These programmes involve unsupervised access to children or vulnerable adults as part of the provision and assessment of the course or an associated professional qualification.

As a public authority we process this data to perform a specific task in the public interest which has a clear basis in law as set out above, as such we rely upon the ‘public task’ lawful basis in order to process students self-declaration criminal conviction data.

Furthermore, article 6(1)(b) applies as the processing is necessary in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a student contract.

GDPR art. 9 Lawful basis for processing ‘special category’ data.

The self-declaration criminal conviction data is criminal conviction information within the meaning of article 10 of the GDPR. As such a condition from Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018 must also be satisfied.

Schedule 1 DPA 2018 Condition 6 – statutory etc, government functions.

The University has a statutory function to comply with the registration conditions imposed by the Office for Students under the Higher Education and Research Act 2017. Conditions imposed are outlined in Office for Students Regulatory Advice. 

B1 states: The provider must deliver well designed courses that provide a high quality academic experience for all students and enable and student’s experience to be reliably assessed.
Condition B2 states: The provider must support all students, from admission through to completion, with the support that they need to succeed in and benefit from higher education.

In the view of the advice from legal counsel: ‘avoiding a situation whereby students are accepted for a course that is impossible for them to complete is directly relevant to ensuring compliance with both of these conditions’.

Schedule 1 DPA 2018 condition 10 - preventing unlawful acts.

Criminal conviction information is sought with a view to preventing the student from harming or posing a risk of harm to others. There is substantial public interest in the University taking steps to prevent unlawful acts, including those that would cause harm to students, staff and those they may come into contact with whilst on placement.

Schedule 1 DPA 2018 condition 11 – preventing the public from acts of dishonesty.

The University conduct a protective function for reasons in the substantial public interest. A protective function as defined as protection against: dishonesty, malpractice or other seriously improper conduct, (b) unfitness or incompetence, (c) mismanagement in the administration of a body or association, or (d) failures in services provided by a body or association. Honesty and integrity in professional regulated professions is of utmost performance.

Schedule 1 DPA 2018 condition 18 – protecting vulnerable persons.

If the student would need to have contact with children or vulnerable persons as part of their course or placement. Any repeat offending would likely put children and the vulnerable at risk.

The recipients or categories of recipients of the personal data

Any disclosure of conviction information or information from which an assumption about conviction information may be made by a third party will be considered by the faculty panel. This is conducted in accordance with the University’s Risk Policy and Procedure for Applicants/Students with Criminal Convictions.

Disclosure will only be made where it is judged to be necessary and proportionate on a case by case basis. Such disclosures may be made to placement providers and professional regulators.

Review, retention and disposal periods

For non-profession regulated courses

Any criminal conviction data which students provide that is not considered relevant as per our criteria or is spent will be securely disposed of as soon as possible when received.

As relevant criminal conviction information becomes spent as per the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act we will endeavour to dispose of it. 

Criminal conviction data which remains relevant and unspent will be retained until the end of the student relationship + 6 years as per the University Records Retention and Disposal Schedule.

For profession regulated courses

Information will be retained until the end of the student relationship + 6 years as per the University Records Retention and Disposal Schedule.

Your rights in respect of the processing

The GDPR provides data subjects with the following data subject rights:
-The right to be informed – this privacy notice assists with fulfilling these obligations.
- The right of access. 
- The right to rectification.
Please use the contact information below to exercise these rights.

Contacting us

For questions or concerns about this Privacy Notice, or our use of your self-declaration conviction information, during the admissions process please contact the Head of Admissions using the [email protected] in the first instance. For questions or concerns about the use of your information prior or during a professional placement please contact our Placements Team using the [email protected] 

Our Data Protection Officer can also be contacted using [email protected], by calling 0161 247 3884 or in writing to: Data Protection Officer, Legal Services, All Saints Building, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, M15 6BH.

Right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority

You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) as the supervisory authority in respect of the processing of your personal data. We would encourage you to expend our internal complaints procedure through our initial contact and the University Data Protection Officer, prior to contacting the ICO. Please contact: [email protected] or telephone: 0303 123 1113. For any further contact information please see: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/.

Updates to this privacy notice

We may update this privacy notice from time to time in response to changing legal, technical or business developments. When we update our privacy notice, we will take appropriate measures to inform you, consistent with the significance of the changes we make.