About the research
The Land Use Consultants (LUC), in partnership with the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI) at the University of Gloucestershire (referred to as ‘the contractors’) has been asked to seek the views of farmers, land managers, advisers and sector experts who are involved in managing grassland habitats and/or providing advice, guidance or research. For land management, this project is seeking information from those who are under an agri-environment scheme (AES) agreements (such as Countryside Stewardship and SFI), and those who do not have any agreements in place. The work, which is being carried out on behalf of Natural England and funded by Defra, is seeking to understand the potential barriers to AES scheme uptake in sites currently under-grazed or at risk from under-grazing, and how under-grazing (and any solutions) has changed the environmental quality of the land and the impact on agreement holders and the business that manages that land and the land around it.
As part of the project, LUC and the CCRI will be conducting an online Questionnaire, follow up Interviews with a selection of participants from the Questionnaire, and three online Workshops. Please refer to the email this information sheet is attached, where the type of survey(s) we are asking for your involvement with is specified.
Before you decide whether to take part, it is important you understand why the research is being done and what it will involve. Please take time to read the following FAQs and the Privacy Notice (accompanying this FAQ sheet) before deciding whether to take part.
Who are LUC and the CCRI?
LUC (https://landuse.co.uk/) is an environmental consultancy providing planning, impact assessment, landscape design, ecology and geospatial services to a wide range of public and private sector clients.
The CCRI (http://www.ccri.ac.uk/about-the-ccri/), within the University of Gloucestershire, is a specialist rural research institute working at the interface of agriculture, society and the environment.
LUC and CCRI are the data processors. Natural England are the data controller. A copy of their Privacy Notice should be supplied to you with this document.
Why am I being asked to participate?
Monitoring the effectiveness of agri-environment schemes (and general land management outside of schemes) is important to understand their impact and improve their design and operation. To do this we want to hear the views of agreement holders and general land managers, those who are involved in advice, and those with expert knowledge of grazing and land management.
If I participate, what is my data going to be used for?
In the first instance, the information you share in your questionnaire/interview/workshop will be used by the contractors to write a report relating to agri-environment scheme outcomes and general habitat management. This report will be sent to Defra and Natural England and eventually be made publicly available. We may also publish academic articles using the survey data.
With your consent, we would also like to archive your anonymised data, to enable future researchers to use it in their work.
In the future, Natural England may ask you to be involved in another round of research. You don’t have to decide about this now, but will be contacted to ask your permission for this nearer the time. See ‘Why are Natural England keeping this data?’ below for how your data could be used in this.
What will happen to my data? Who will see it?
During the project, the information you share will be held by the contractors (LUC and CCRI) whilst they carry out their analysis and reporting.
Your Questionnaire, Interview and Workshop data will be anonymised by the contractors. Any research outputs produced based on the analysis of this data will only share anonymised data: it will not be possible to identify you, your agreement or your holding in any reports.
How will you anonymise data in reporting?
Some responses you give us will be in numeric form, e.g. on a scale of 1-5, or 1-10, so you will not be identifiable from this. Where you give us an open response (i.e. words instead of numbers), when using these in any reporting, we will either (1) reduce that response down to a category or number, or (2) record your response as text BUT making sure we have removed / reduced any identifiable information, e.g. farm names, descriptions of locations. This will ensure you cannot be identified from the response. If you have a particular concern about being identified from what you’ve said to us, please tell your interviewer and we can put extra measures in place (e.g. gain your approval over/allow you to edit/omit parts of any quotes or passages of text about you and your farm).
What happens to my data at the end of the project?
After the project finishes, only the anonymised data will be stored in a repository for other researchers to use, and only if you agree to this.
At the end of the project, the contractors will hand over all of the data they have collected to Natural England (the data controller). This includes the information you share in your interview in its raw, un-anonymised format. The contractors will then securely delete the data from their systems.
When handed over to Natural England, the survey and interview responses will be stored separately to your name, contact details and agreement reference number. Only a limited number of people in the Natural England research team will have access to this and it will be stored securely.
Why are Natural England keeping this data after this project has ended? What can it be used for in the future?
Your personal information will only be used for the purposes of contacting you to invite you to take part in future research. It will not be possible for agri-environment scheme administrators to access this information, nor to be able to link this to your interview responses. Participating in this project will NOT have any impact on your agri-environment agreement, nor your ability to participate in any future agri-environment schemes.
If, in the future, you are approached and decide to take part in future research, Natural England would provide your agreement reference number and the information you shared with us (in this current project) to an appointed third party of researchers. You can decide whether you are happy for this to happen when you are approached in future years. If you agree, then this will allow any new contractor to put together a long-term picture of changes to the land you manage by drawing on these surveys and their future work (sometimes called ‘longitudinal research’).
If you opt out of future research when approached in the future, your contact details and non-anonymised data will be securely deleted. Please see the accompanying Privacy Notice for further information, which includes information about how long your data will be stored for.
Do I have to take part?
No. It is entirely up to you whether you decide to participate and you can withdraw at any time, even if you initially agree to take part. You can also tell us exactly what you are happy for us to do with the information you share with us in the consent sheet, and you can choose not to answer particular questions during the interview if you would prefer not to.
What are the possible benefits of participation?
This research offers a unique opportunity to feedback your experiences of agri-environment schemes, issues and solutions with under-grazing, and general habitat management. This may be used to help improve the effectiveness of schemes for you and others in the future.
Are there any risks?
We understand you may be concerned about being identifiable to Natural England. However, your data will only be stored by them for the purposes of research and will not impact your agri-environment scheme or any future schemes.
We also understand you may be concerned about being identified in any public reporting. We put a number of steps in place to ensure this will not happen (see ‘How will you anonymise data in reporting?’, above). But if you are concerned about this, please talk to your interviewer about it.
The Questionnaire, Interview and Workshop includes some questions about your business and experiences with land management. If you anticipate finding any particular topics difficult, please tell us and we can avoid asking those questions. If you’re finding the questions difficult, you can decline to answer or withdraw from the questionnaire/interview entirely. If you feel like you might need further support, our researchers will be able to signpost you to relevant support services.
Can I change my mind?
Yes. You can withdraw from the research at any time, however it may not be possible to withdraw your data once it has been incorporated into the analysis. When you withdraw your data, this means that it will be securely deleted and it won’t be analysed as part of the research). You can choose what data you would like to withdraw. This may be:
- All data relating to you
- All or some of data collected in the field survey – either wholly or in part
- All or some of the data collected in the Questionnaire, Interview or Workshop – either wholly or in part
You will be able to withdraw the information you shared in your Questionnaire, Interview or Workshop if you request this within 30 days from the day of your interview. You can also tell us that you would like to revise / omit particular responses during this period. However, after 30 days from the date of your interview your responses will be analysed and it will no longer be possible to do this.
If you decide to withdraw, please email your interviewer using their details which are provided at the top of this sheet). You will be asked to confirm what data you would like to withdraw and may be directed to another person involved in the project to arrange for withdrawal of your data from the part of the research that they manage.
Who has reviewed this research to provide ethical clearance?
This research has been approved by the University of Gloucestershire School of Natural and Social Sciences (NSS) Ethics Committee and steps have been taken to ensure the survey (and the wider research) fully complies with the necessary personal data management procedures in place at the University (more info: https://www.glos.ac.uk/research/research-ethics/). It has also been reviewed by Natural England’s Research Ethics Committee.
What if I have any questions / concerns?
Please email Jamie Neaves (LUC Project Manager) jamie.neaves@landuse.co.uk or phone 02071 995 876.
The Natural England agri-environment research project Privacy Notice is provided below. You can also read this on the Government website here.
Agri-environment research projects – Privacy Notice
| Who collects your personal data |
| The data controller is Natural England at: Foss House, Kings Pool, 1-2 Peasholme Green, York, Y01 7PX Send questions about how Natural England uses your personal data and your associated rights to the Natural England Data Protection Manager at foi@naturalengland.org.uk or: Natural England, County Hall, Spetchley Road, Worcester, WR5 2NP The Data Protection Officer for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) group is responsible for checking that Natural England complies with legislation. You can contact them at DefraGroupDataProtectionOfficer@defra.gov.uk or: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, SW Quarter, 2nd floor, Seacole Block, 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF |
| What personal data’s collected and how it’s used |
| Natural England collects your: name and contact details age group general education information such as highest level of education attained self-reported wellbeing agri-environment agreement details views and experiences relating to your agri-environment agreement, agri-environment schemes in general and your environmental attitudes Your personal data will be used as part of the social research that Natural England carries out. For example, it may use it to: understand the impact of taking part in agri-environment schemes understand the support required by agri-environment agreement holders to help them deliver their agreements understand how Natural England can best engage with people about agri-environment schemes develop its evidence base on the attitudes, values, understandings and behaviours of agreement holders in relation to agri-environment schemes and environmental land management Natural England will give details of what personal data is collected and how it’s used when it invites you to take part in the research. |
| The legal basis for processing your personal data |
| Processing your data is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest. The task is to carry out research into agri-environment agreements. The processing of your data in relation to this research is based on your consent. |
| Consent to process your personal data |
| Where the processing of your data is based on consent, you can normally withdraw your consent at any time. You do this using the contact details provided by Natural England when you take part in the research. However, you may not be able to withdraw your data once Natural England has incorporated it into its analysis. If this is the case, Natural England will tell you when you take part in the research. |
| Who Natural England shares your personal data with |
| If you’ve taken part in a recorded interview, Natural England may share audio recordings of your interview with an external transcription service. When recordings of interviews are sent to an external service for transcription, any personal data shared in the course of the interview is not removed. Apart from for the purpose of transcription, Natural England does not normally share your personal data with third parties. If it intends to do so, it will tell you about its plans when it invites you to take part in the research. Data that has been made anonymous Normally Natural England makes any data it shares with third parties anonymous. This may involve removing your personal data or combining it with other survey data. Your anonymised information may be shared in the form of: processed data reports presentations academic publications Natural England may archive data that it has made anonymous for future reuse. Natural England will tell you if your data will be archived and with which archive when it invites you to take part in the research. Natural England respects your personal privacy when responding to access to information requests. We only share information when necessary to meet the statutory requirements of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000. |
| How long Natural England holds personal data |
| Natural England will keep your personal data for 10 years after the end of the research project. Data that has been made anonymous may be kept for longer. Natural England will tell you if this is the case when it invites you to take part in the research. |
| What happens if you do not provide the data |
| Natural England will not be able to gather your views. You will not be able to contribute to the specific goals of the research. |
| Use of automated decision-making or profiling |
| The information you provide is not used for: automated decision making (making a decision by automated means without any human involvement) profiling (automated processing of personal data to evaluate certain things about an individual) |
| Transfer of data outside of the UK |
| Natural England will only transfer your data to another county that is deemed adequate for data protection purposes. |
| Your rights |
| Find out about your individual rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. |
| Complaints |
| You have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office at any time. |
| Natural England’s personal information charter |
| Natural England’s personal information charter explains more about your rights over your personal data. |
