NISRA privacy notice

The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) is an Agency within the Department of Finance (DoF). The  UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018 – the Act - requires organisations that process personal data to meet certain legal obligations. Within the meaning of the Act, DoF is the organisational Data Controller for NISRA. Given below are the contact details for the DoF Data Controller and Data Protection Officer.

telephone: (028) 9052 4149

email: dataprotectionofficer@finance-ni.gov.uk

On occasion NISRA provides independent statistics and research services for other organisations or Government Departments. Whenever that is the case NISRA will let you know.

This Privacy Notice explains how NISRA will use your personal information and protect your privacy. This Privacy Notice does not provide exhaustive detail; specifically a separate Privacy Notice in respect of NISRA’s Civil Registration Services can be found at the NISRA Privacy Notices page. The remainder of this document therefore relates to how NISRA will manage personal data collected and processed for statistics and research purposes.

What type of information we need

To carry out our statistics and research duties, NISRA collects and processes information on personal data (for example, employment) and special personal data (for example, ethnic origin and religious belief).

Why we process personal information

NISRA collects and processes personal information for statistics and research purposes, in order to meet our legal obligations and public functions. These obligations and functions include:

• statistics and research duties under the Census Act (1969);
• statistics and research duties under the Statistics of Trade and Employment Order (1988);
• statistics and research duties using personal data collected under Civil Registration law (Birth, Death, Marriage, Civil Partnership, Adoption and Gender Recognition registration);
• using data obtained under the Statistics and Registration Services Act (2007) to provide statistics on Northern Ireland;
• using redundancy data obtained under the Employment Rights (NI) Order (1996) to provide statistics on Northern Ireland;
• carrying out surveys on the Northern Ireland population, economy or workforce; and
• producing and disseminating official statistics and research.

The Data Protection Act requires that processing of personal data is only undertaken under a fixed list of conditions. Unless stated otherwise, NISRA’s processing of personal data is carried out under the following condition: “Processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller.”

In addition, NISRA may also process special personal data. Again unless stated otherwise, the condition that NISRA process this data is that: “Processing is necessary for archiving in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes based on UK law.”

How we obtain personal data

NISRA may obtain personal information directly from you, your family, members of your household, public bodies and businesses. In some circumstances NISRA will provide you with a Privacy Information Statement, to explain in more detail how NISRA may use your personal information.

Who the information may be shared with

NISRA treats all the data we hold with respect, keeping it secure and confidential. Your personal data will solely be used for statistics or research purposes. Personal data collected or held by NISRA for statistics or research purposes will not be disclosed for other purposes. Only NISRA officials or organisations under/in contract with NISRA and involved in the production of statistics or research will be able to access and use your personal data.

How long we keep your personal data

NISRA will hold personal data in line with the Department of Finance Retention and Disposal Schedule. The Act does allow for personal information held solely for statistics or research purposes to be retained for future use. However NISRA will only continue to hold personal data where there is a clear need for this data to be used in future statistics or research.

What are your rights?

Under the Act, you have rights in relation to the information NISRA holds about you. You can request access to personal information that NISRA holds on you by making a subject access request. To make a subject access request you should email or write to the Department of Finance Data Protection Officer at the address above.  In reply we will be as open as possible. However the Act does allow Organisations to withhold access to personal data if they are held solely for statistics and research purposes.

You can raise a complaint about how NISRA have handled your data by contacting the Department of Finance Data Protection Officer. If you are not satisfied with the response to your complaint or you believe NISRA are not processing your personal data in accordance with the law, you can write to the Information Commissioner:

casework@ico.org.uk, or

This privacy notice was last updated on 31 March 2023.

Changes to this privacy notice

If this privacy notice changes in any way, an updated version will be placed on this page.