Mid-term Evaluation of the National Forest 2023-2025: engagement with site managers

The Welsh Government has commissioned Wavehill to undertake a mid-term evaluation of the National Forest for Wales. The evaluation broadly aims to reflect on National Forestry funding, support and delivery mechanisms to inform future delivery, provide insight into views and experiences of the National Forest and consider how impact of the National Forest can be assessed going forward.

As part of this, Wavehill will be gathering information through engagement with site owners and/or managers of National Forest for Wales sites (including private landowners, not-for-profit organisations and staff from Natural Resources Wales who support the management of Welsh Government Woodland Estate blocks that are part of the National Forest) in the following ways:

• Initial interviews with National Forest site owners and managers to explore interest and capacity to support fieldwork at their site and how best to engage with visitors at specific National Forest sites

• Follow-up correspondence with sites that have been interviewed via email

• Attending National Forest for Wales Network meetings and leading group discussions to aid understanding of how the National Forest for Wales Network works as a whole.

The Welsh Government is the data controller for the research. Wavehill will delete any personal data provided in the interviews and anonymise any raw data before it is shared with the Welsh Government.

The information collected during the project will be included in a report published on the Welsh Government website.

Your Participation in this research is completely voluntary. However, your views and experiences are important in order to help inform Welsh Government policies.

The contact for this research at Wavehill is Andy Parkinson

E-mail address: andy.parkinson@wavehill.com

Telephone number: 0330 1228658

PRIVACY NOTICE

What personal data do we hold and where do we get this information?

Personal data is defined under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) as ‘any information relating to an identifiable person who can be directly or indirectly identified by reference to an identifier’.

Depending on how the site you own or mange has entered into the National for Forest for Wales your contact details (name and email address) have been shared with Wavehill in the following ways:

• If the site you own or manage has come into the National Forest for Wales through the National Forest for Wales Status Scheme then your contact details were provided to Wavehill by the Welsh Government who received them from Natural Resources Wales. These details were originally provided when you applied for the National Forest for Wales Status Scheme. 

• If the site you own or manage has come in to the National Forest for Wales as part of the Welsh Government Woodland Estate (WGWE) then:

o   If you are part of Natural Resources Wales (NRW), then the Welsh Government have provided your contact details to Wavehill. The Welsh Government hold your details due to your involvement in supporting National Forest delivery through your role in managing woodlands that are part of the WGWE;

o   If you have an agreement to manage WGWE woodland / block of woodlands with NRW then NRW have confirmed that you are happy for your contact details to be shared with Wavehill in order to take part in the research.

The range of engagement activities are explained below, but in all cases, we will not be collecting any additional personal information other than, in the case of interviews, your image if you agree to an interview being video recorded.

You will be asked to take part in the following fieldwork:

• An initial interview to understand more about your site, events and activities that happen at your site and to understand how best to engage with visitors at your site. Sites will be selected for inclusion in interviews to show a spread across a range of factors such as ownership type, location, size, facilities, not all sites will be engaged with.

• Following your initial interview, we will engage with you via email to arrange the most suitable time to visit your National Forest site with the aim of coordinating this with existing activities at your site. In certain cases, you may not be selected for a further engagement at your site. This could be due to the absence of scheduled events at your site. We will notify you of the outcome regardless.

• Wavehill will attend a number of National Forest for Wales Network meetings. This is only relevant to those who came into the National Forest through the Status Scheme. You will be informed before the meeting when Wavehill will be attending. These meetings are arranged by the Woodland Liaison Team in Natural Resources Wales. Your contact details will not be used by Wavehill for this part of the fieldwork as Wavehill is invited to the session by the Woodland Liaison Team. Researchers from Wavehill may attend both online and in-person meetings to lead group discussions at the end of meetings. If you do not wish to speak to Wavehill then you can leave the meeting before the group discussion begins.

Your participation is voluntary and if you do not wish to take part or be sent reminders at any stage of the research then please reply to the invitation email and you will no longer be contacted for this research.

We wish to video record interviews and online group discussions for operational reasons. We will make this clear to you before the discussion begins, and you will have the opportunity to tell us if you are not happy for the discussion to be recorded. We will only record the session if everyone in the group is happy to be recorded. If discussions are recorded, personal data will be removed during the process of transcribing. Recordings will be deleted as soon as this process is completed. Written notes will be taken for any in-person group discussions. Personal data will not be included in written notes prepared during or following a discussion.

If you raise a query or complaint and provide personal data requesting a response, the researcher will forward the request only to the relevant official and subsequently delete it from the research data.

What is the lawful basis for using your data?

The lawful basis for processing information in this data collection exercise is our public task; that is, exercising our official authority to undertake the core role and functions of the Welsh Government.

Participation is completely voluntary. Research studies such as this are important for the Welsh Government to collect information and actionable evidence about its ability to deliver government priorities.

How secure is your personal data?

Personal information provided to Wavehill is always stored on a secure server. The data can only be accessed by a limited number of researchers working on this project. Wavehill will only use this data for research purposes. Wavehill has cyber essentials certification.

Wavehill has procedures to deal with any suspected data security breaches. If a suspected breach occurs, Wavehill will report this to the Welsh Government who will notify you and any applicable regulator where we are legally required to do so.

Wavehill will use the information gathered to produce a report that will be published on the Welsh Government website. This report will not include any information that could be used to identify individual participants.  

How long do we keep your personal data?

Wavehill will hold personal data during the contract period, and any personal data will be deleted by Wavehill three months after the end of the contract. This includes your contact details.

Individual rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights in relation to the personal information you provide as part of this evaluation, you have the right:

• To access a copy of your own data;

• For us to rectify inaccuracies in that data;

• To object to or restrict processing (in certain circumstances);

• For your data to be ‘erased’ (in certain circumstances); and

• To lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) who is our independent regulator for data protection.

The contact details for the Information Commissioner’s Office are: Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Phone: 0303 123 1113. Website: www.ico.org.uk

Further Information

If you have any further questions about how the data provided as part of this study will be used by the Welsh Government or wish to exercise your rights using the UK General Data Protection Regulation, please contact:

Name: Aimee Krishan

E-mail address: Aimee.Krishan@gov.wales

Telephone number: 0300 025 9321

The Welsh Government’s Data Protection Officer can be contacted at:

Welsh Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ, Email: DataProtectionOfficer@gov.wales.

Int. Ref. (823-24)