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Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: AI digital toolkit

Ask the toolkit privacy notice

This privacy notice explains how Ask the toolkit will use and manage your personal data. Ask the toolkit answers questions about the AI digital toolkit on the Defra Digital Service Manual.

If you have any queries about the content of this privacy notice, email AICapabilityAndEnablement@defra.gov.uk.

Who collects your personal data

The Secretary of State (SoS) for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is the controller for the personal data we collect.

If you need further information about how we use your personal data and your associated rights, you can contact the data protection manager at data.protection@defra.gov.uk.

The Defra data protection officer is responsible for checking that we comply with legislation. You can contact them at DefraGroupDataProtectionOfficer@defra.gov.uk.

What personal data we collect and how it is used

If you use Ask the toolkit, we collect:

  • the questions you type
  • any personal data you include in a question, about you or someone else

We use these to answer your question and any follow-up questions. Do not include personal data or sensitive information, such as health details, in your questions.

We also keep a copy of each question, as you typed it, and each answer, so we can investigate problems or misuse.

If you report a problem with an answer, we collect:

  • what you tell us about the problem, and the question and answer it relates to

We use this to find and fix problems with answers. Do not include personal data in your report.

If you choose to email the team from Ask the toolkit, we get:

  • your email address, and anything else you put in your email
  • your questions and answers, if you choose to include them

We use these to reply to you.

How your personal data has been obtained, if from a third party

If someone includes personal data about you in a question, a problem report or an email to the team, we get it from them, not from you.

Lawful basis for processing your personal data

The lawful basis for processing your personal data is that it is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest under common law and the implied powers of a Government Department. The task is helping people use AI safely and responsibly, by publishing the AI digital toolkit and answering questions about it.

Consent to process your personal data

The processing of your personal data is not based on consent. You cannot withdraw it.

Who we share your personal data with

We do not share the personal data collected under this privacy notice with other organisations.

We respect 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 we hold personal data

We keep your personal data for:

  • conversations with Ask the toolkit: 4 hours after your last question
  • copies of questions and answers, kept so we can investigate problems or misuse: 30 days
  • problem reports: 90 days
  • emails to the team from Ask the toolkit: 90 days after we last reply to you

What happens if you do not provide the personal data

You do not need to give any personal data to use Ask the toolkit.

Use of artificial intelligence (AI)

The personal data may be processed using AI for the following purposes:

  • to answer your questions in Ask the toolkit, using Claude, a generative AI model from Anthropic.

We use the model through Defra's own cloud platform, so Anthropic does not receive your questions or answers. The AI model answers only from the toolkit's published guidance and links to the pages it used. Your questions and answers are not used to train the model.

Use of automated decision-making or profiling

The personal data 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 your personal data outside of the UK

We will only transfer your personal data to another country that is deemed adequate for data protection purposes.

Your rights

Based on the lawful processing above, your individual rights are:

More information about your individual rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018).

Complaints

You have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office at any time.

Personal information charter

Our personal information charter explains more about your rights over your personal data.