FOIA, Privacy Policy & Accessibility

The British Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (BGIPU) is an unincorporated entity, operating as an autonomous body within Parliament as an independent parliamentary association. The Group is domiciled in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and its registered office address and principal place of business is the Palace of Westminster, London, SW1A 0AA. 

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

BGIPU’s membership comprises Members of Parliament from both Houses of the UK Parliament.  Members of Parliament are not public authorities for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). This means that MPs and Peers are not obliged to respond to requests made under the Act, nor for that matter is BGIPU which is also not a public authority under the FOIA.   

With limited exemptions, both houses of the UK Parliament are subject to the FOIA.  Information of the application of the FOIA to the House of Commons can be accessed on its website.  Information regarding the application of the FOIA to the House of Lords can also be accessed on its website.  

Privacy Policy & Data Protection

This Privacy Notice sets out details about the way we process personal data that we collect from you and others and how we may use your information.

About Us

The British Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (BGIPU) represents the UK Parliament in the global body of parliaments, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).  In this notice and any linked information, references to ‘us’, ‘our’ or ‘we’ are to BGIPU. The Director of BGIPU is the Controller of any personal data processed as described in this Privacy Notice. If you have any questions about the use of your personal data, please contact us:

Email – bgipu@parliament.uk   

Telephone – +44 2072193011   

Post – BGIPU, Palace of Westminster, SW1A 0AA

Collection of your Personal Data

We will collect, store and use the personal data provided by you so that we can manage our relationship with our membership (comprising all members of the UK Parliament’s two chambers, the House of Commons and the House of Lords) and other partner organisations or the contract between us and our Secretariat employees. We may also collect personal data from other sources for purposes such as references, security clearance, health and wellbeing or from other parties acting on your behalf. During the course of your employment or work at BGIPU, we will also generate information about you ourselves.

This notice is to inform you about what information we process about you and the ways in which we intend to use it. This notice applies to information we use throughout your time with the BGIPU, including any future changes to details we currently hold. To ensure we keep your information up to date and accurate it is important that you notify us of any changes to your personal details as soon as they are known.

Types of personal data

The information we will collect may include:

  • your name and contact details, including email address and telephone number, date of birth and gender; 
  • information about your marital status, next-of-kin, dependants and emergency contacts;
  • the terms and conditions of your employment, details of your qualifications, skills, experience, references and employment history, including start and end dates, with previous employers and with BGIPU;
  • information about your pay, including entitlement to benefits such as pensions, details of your bank account and national insurance number; 
  • information about your nationality and entitlement to work in the UK; 
  • information about any criminal convictions you may have and information needed in relation to security clearance or criminal records checks permitted by law;
  • details of your days of work, working hours, rostering and attendance at work;
  • details of periods of leave taken by you, including holiday, sickness absence, special leave, career breaks, sabbaticals and the reasons for the leave;
  • details of any disciplinary or grievance procedures in which you have been involved, including any warnings issued to you and related correspondence;
  • assessments and evidence of your performance, including appraisals, performance reviews and ratings, performance improvement plans and related correspondence;
  • training, talent management and coaching records;
  • information required to faciltate official travel through flight or accomodation bookings, immigration or visa processing requirements or for protocol purposes; 
  • reports, submissions or selection applications written by you regarding our activities
  • photographs of you in connection with your work or participation in our activities;
  • information relating to registration of interests or receipt of gifts;
  • information about medical or health conditions, including whether or not you have a disability or need for which we may be required to make reasonable adjustments; and
  • contact details for business continuity.

We may collect this information in a variety of ways through application forms or other documents you complete or provide, from correspondence with you or through interviews, meetings or other assessments.  In some cases, we may collect personal data about you from third parties, such as references supplied by former employers or information from employment background check providers.

Use of your personal data 

The lawful basis for collecting and using the personal data will depend on the specific reason we have collected it for. We will collect personal data from you for the following reasons:

  • where we have your consent to do so, 
  • where we need the personal data in relation to a contract (employment or other) we have with you or have an intention of entering into, 
  • where necessary to fulfil a legal obligation to collect the personal data from you, 
  • where it is necessary for the purposes of our public task (for example in maintaining membership records, organising overseas activities or registering for a conference or event)
  • where the processing is necessary for our legitimate interests and is fair when balanced against your interests and rights.

BGIPU only holds personal data relating to our Officers and Executive Committee, other UK parliamentarians who are members of the group, our employees and some official contacts, including international counterparts or official contacts made in the course of delivering BGIPU’s formal activities.

BGIPU only collects the data required for authorised employment purposes or as required for the participation of members in our activities and events, essentially to organise delegation travel or other engagement for inter-parliamentary purposes. We also collect some data in seeking feedback from participants or through the participation of others in public events we organise as part of our programme of activities.

Storage and retention of your personal data

BGIPU will retain your personal data for as long as is necessary for the purpose it was collected, i.e. for the duration of your contract or your time working with us, or longer if it is needed, for pension purposes as an example. We will hold your personal data in compliance with our usual records disposal practice procedures.

Disclosure and sharing of your personal data

As part of your employment or time working with us we will need to use and share your personal data internally. We will only disclose your personal data to third parties outside BGIPU where we have a lawful basis or legal obligation for doing so. This will include with third parties who represent counterpart organisations or which provide services in support of our work such as IT processors, travel companies, pension funds or organisations and government departments where we are legally obliged to provide your personal data, such as HMRC.

We may also share your personal data with other organisations where there is a lawful basis for doing so, such as the IPU, the House of Commons or House of Lords administrations for the provision of common services to you or to overseas counterpart parliaments or governments across the globe in connection with official BGIPU activities.  BGIPU will not share your information for any commercial marketing purposes. 

BGIPU recognises the importance of protecting personal and confidential information and we take due care to meet our legal duties and obligations.  BGIPU has sought to ensure that its small number of external data processors (IT support, financial & insurance institutions and service providers) have in place all reasonable technical, security and procedural controls required to protect personal data for as long as we are required we hold that information.  

Your rights 

We will ensure you can exercise your rights in relation to the personal data you provide to us, as follows:

  • Where we are relying on your consent to use your personal data, you can withdraw that consent at any time by writing to us.
  • You can request access to the personal data we hold about you by contacting us directly.
  • You can ask us to update your personal data if it changes. In certain circumstances, you can request we erase the personal data we hold, or ask us to stop or restrict processing if you have objections.
  • If you have any concerns relating to the use of your personal data, you may complain to us directly. 

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the supervisory authority, about our collection and use of your personal data. They can be contacted at Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF or on their website: The Information Commissioner

Accessibility Statement 

This statement is not a statutory requirement for BGIPU but is provided for public information purposes and applies to content published on the www.bgipu.orgtwitter.com/BGIPU

This website and associated social media sites are run and managed by the BGIPU Secretariat on behalf of the BGIPU membership comprising member of both Houses of the UK Parliament.  The Webmaster is the Director who is also the Data Controller for BGIPU and an Officer of the Group.

As stated in its Annual Governance Statement reviewed every year and included in its Annual Report, BGIPU is an unincorporated entity, recognised as an autonomous body within Parliament operating as an independent parliamentary association.  BGIPU represents the UK Parliament in the global body of parliaments, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) which is headquartered in Geneva with an Representative Office in New York at United Nations Headquarters.  The IPU is recognised as the most universal organisation of national parliaments and has been granted official observer status by the UN membership and partners the UN in many activities and events.

As an unincorporated association, BGIPU has no separate legal personality from its individual members and is not a body “governed by public law” subject to the application of The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 as set out by the UK Government

Nevertheless, this website which was originally launched in March 2003, redesigned and relaunched in July 2012 and later upgraded for better usability in December 2019 is designed with the clear intention of being used by as many people as possible.  BGIPU is committed to making all reasonable adjustments within the limited resources and specific scope of BGIPU’s need to promote its work in an open, readily accessible and accountable manner. 

As published through WordPress and designed by Totally. this website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard.  We would welcome being notified of any accessibility issues which users might experience and while not required to fully meet statutory accessibility requirements, BGIPU will endeavour to address any issues notified to it through bgipu@parliament.uk for the attention of the Webmaster.

This statement was prepared on 16 July 2020. It was last updated on 16 July 2020.