Work First Scotland: privacy impact assessment

3. Description of the project

3.1 The Scotland Act 2016 provides the opportunity to develop a distinctively Scottish approach to employment support for disabled people and those who are at risk of long-term unemployment due to a health condition. The Scottish Government ( SG) will introduce transitional arrangements to deliver this employment support from 1 April 2017. These will remain in place until 30 April 2019, in advance of the full SG programme of employment support from 1 April 2018.

3.2 The Work First Scotland ( WFS) Programme is a voluntary programme of employment support for disabled people and those who are at risk of long-term unemployment due to a health condition. The programme will be owned and governed by the SG and delivered by three contracted service providers ( SG service providers); Momentum, Remploy and The Shaw Trust. The Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP) acting on behalf of the SG will refer claimants to SG service providers using existing DWP systems and following an established DWP Work Coach referral process.

3.3 In some cases one of a number of Statutory Referral Organisations ( SROs) will introduce the customer as a potential Work First Scotland customer. Having determined the customer’s eligibility, the SG service provider will send referral information to the local JCP office, who will record the referral on their systems in order to allow the SG service provider to claim outcome payments at a later stage. The data will be shared with DWP in writing through tracked post. SG have not set a limit on the number of referrals from SROs however it is anticipated that this will be a small number, with the majority of referrals sourced from DWP work coaches. A full list of SROs is provided at Annex B.

3.4 In addition, SG will use data provided by DWP and SG service providers for the purposes of providing briefing to Scottish Ministers and to produce statistics. The data provided by DWP for these purposes will be aggregate data from their Provider Referral and Payment system ( PRaP). Personal data held by SG service providers will be anonymised and used to allow SG to produce summary statistics and report on the demographic characteristics of customers on the programmes.

3.5 DWP will provide the following services, and process Personal Data on behalf of SG for the following purposes:

• Job Centre Plus ( JCP) Work Coaches will identify eligible customers based on the eligibility criteria set out by the SG for Work First Scotland and make referrals to SG service providers via DWP systems, including Provider Referral and Payment System ( PRaP). SG service providers will access PRaP via the Government Gateway.
• In the case of referrals made directly by SROs to SG service providers, DWP will record the referral on their systems (as above). DWP will then process Personal Data for the following purposes.
• On receipt of invoice – generated by SG service providers via DWP systems – DWP will generate a pay file and transfer this for payment to the SG payment system.
• DWP will provide a post payment validation report and compliance monitoring transaction file on a monthly basis, both of which will include personal data. This information will be transferred securely via email.
• DWP will additionally provide a monthly MI Pack (Weekly MI Pack to be provided for the first 8 weeks). Neither report will contain any personal data.
• Where appropriate JCP Work Coaches will action the Leavers Plan completed by SG service providers when the customer exits the WFS Programme and shared only with the customer’s consent. This data will be retained by DWP in line with their current arrangements.
• Secure data transfer service as agreed with SG to allow for the secure transfer of Personal Data between DWP and SG.

3.6 The scope and type of Personal Data that may be provided to or accessed by DWP as part of the Services and for the purposes as described at section 3.5 consists of:-

• Customer name
• National Insurance Number
• Postcode
• Address
• Telephone number
• 2 ^nd Telephone number
• Employer details
• Staff payroll reference
• Salary & hours of work
• Potentially sensitive customer information

3.7 Further descriptions of the Personal Data and how it will be treated are provided in Annex A.

3.8 The processing by both SG and DWP in respect of WFS meets the requirements of condition 5(c) of Schedule 2 of the DPA (for non-sensitive personal data) and condition 7(c) of Schedule 3 where sensitive personal data are involved.

3.9 The Scotland Act 1998, as amended by the Scotland Act 2016 (Part 3 (Welfare Benefits and Employment Support) provides SG with the power to provide schemes such as WFS.