Alma Economics - Participant Information Sheet

Participant Information Sheet

Project Title: The BBC’s Civic Role, Governance and Institutional Design Research

What is the purpose of the study?

Alma Economics have been commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to review the BBC’s Royal Charter and examine the public’s opinion on BBC’s civic role. Through our research we will provide complementary evidence following the BBC’s Green Paper Consultation, as a statutory part of the Charter Review. We will use the insights from these focus groups to develop further research to explore potential changes to how the BBC operates in the future, to ensure it continues to provide high-quality, relevant and trusted services according to the public.

Do I have to take part?

No. Taking part is completely voluntary. If you do decide to take part, you can still choose not to answer any questions you do not want to, and you will be free to withdraw at any time without providing a reason, without any negative consequences.

What would I be required to do?

You have been invited to take part in a focus group discussion with other members of the general public (up to 8 participants). The focus group will last around 90 minutes. We will encourage you to share your views on the BBC’s civic role, governance, and institutional design, while discussing this with others who may hold similar or different views to you. The discussion will be moderated by a member of our research team who will ensure the discussion focuses on what we would like to discuss and ensure everyone has a chance to share their views. The topics we would like you to discuss include your views and opinions on BBC’s drivers and levels of representation, accountability, transparency, and relevance and value.

Will others know I have participated in this research?

Your participation will be confidential, and your personal information will not appear on any published material. If we quote directly some of your words (provided you agree to this in the Informed Consent Form below) or refer to any examples you mention, we will not use your real name. Quotes and examples will be further edited where needed to omit information that could result in your identification.

Informed consent

It is important that you are able to give your informed consent before taking part in this study and you will have the opportunity to ask any questions in relation to the research before you sign the Participant Informed Consent Form.

Contact details

Please contact the Project Oversight for this study Lawrence Newland at [email protected] if you have any concerns about the study.

For any communication other than concerns, please contact the Project Manager for this study Andrew McKeown at [email protected].

Privacy Notice

Project Title: The BBC’s Civic Role, Governance and Institutional Design Research

Purpose of this Privacy Notice

This notice sets out how we’ll use your personal data. We have to provide this information as part of our legal obligations set out in Article 13 of UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) when data is received directly from you.

Who is collecting and using my personal data?

The Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) has commissioned Alma Economics to undertake this research. For the purposes of personal data collected as part of this research, DCMS is the Data Controller. Alma Economics is the Data Processor and will collect your personal data on behalf of DCMS.

What is personal data?

Personal data is defined under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) as ‘any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person’, otherwise known as a ‘data subject’. You can find more in the Information Commissioner's Office's (ICO) guide to understanding personal information.

What personal data will you be collecting from me as part of this research?

If you take part in a focus group, we will collect:

Your name and contact information, in order to schedule focus groups.
Information about your background, including demographics, to allow us to understand differences in opinion based on these characteristics.
Your image, if you leave your camera on while the focus group is being recorded.
Any additional personal information that you disclose during the focus group.

We collect this information to ensure the study includes a diverse range of participants. This will help us understand to what extent preferences for how funding and resources should be distributed vary based on these characteristics. Your personal data will not be used for any other purposes and all personal identifiers will be removed in the research findings.

What is the lawful basis for using my personal data?

Under GDPR, the lawful basis we rely on for processing your personal data is your consent. You are able to remove your consent at any time before the analysis is complete. You can do this by contacting Project Manager Andrew McKeown at [email protected].

How will my data be stored, for what period and who will have access to it?

Your personal data, including special category data such as your ethnicity and whether you have a disability or long-term health condition, will be stored securely electronically. This information will only be accessible to members of the research team who need it for recruitment, sampling, and analysis purposes.

All of our computers use full disk encryption. This ensures that the whole disk will remain unreadable in case of accidental loss or theft. If we destroy the data, the full disk encryption means any retrieved deleted files are unreadable.

Your personal data, including special category data, will be deleted six months after the completion of the research project. Your anonymised data (which does not contain any personal information about you) may be retained indefinitely and used for any legitimate purpose in future.

For more information about Alma Economics IT & Data Security Policy please send an email to: [email protected].

How will you use and in what form will you share my data?

The data you share will be used to inform the research, which will result in a report shared with DCMS.

Your participation will be entirely confidential. This means that the researchers will know your identity, but your personal information will not appear on any published material and it will not be possible for someone to identify you by reading the report. If we choose to directly quote part of your response or refer to any examples you mention, we will not use your real name. Quotes and examples will be further edited where needed to remove information that could identify you.

If you take part in the focus groups, we will request your consent to audio-visually record the session to assist with notetaking and analysis. If they are recorded, personal data will be removed during the process of transcribing. Recordings will be deleted as soon as this process is completed.

What are my rights regarding the data I provide?

You have several rights under UK GDPR, including the right to request access to and/ or to withdraw your personal data for the period we hold it (i.e. before it is destroyed). Please note that if your data is anonymised, we will not be able to withdraw it, because we will not know which data is yours.

You can read all of your rights under UK GDPR here: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/data-sharing/data-sharing-a-code-of-practice/the-rights-of-individuals/

Our Data Protection Officer (DPO) is responsible for explicitly addressing all matters relating to GDPR. Our security policies are compliant with GDPR and we have ready-to-use protocols for participants wanting to access or delete data and for data breaches. For more information, you can contact our DPO (Evan Spyropoulos) by sending an email to: [email protected].

What if I have concerns about how my data is being handled?

If you have concerns on how we have processed your personal data, you can contact the Project Oversight for this study Lawrence Newland at [email protected]. If you’re unhappy with the way your personal data has been handled and want to make a complaint to the Data Controller, you contact the DCMS’s Data Protection Officer (DPO) at: [email protected]. You also have the right to raise any concerns you have with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) or another data protection regulator. You can find details about how to contact ICO at https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/contact-us-public/.

Participant Consent Form

Please consider the following points before signing this form and ask the researcher(s) any outstanding questions you may be having before the research begins. Adding your name in this form confirms that you are willing to participate in this project. You are free to withdraw your participation at any time without providing a reason.

Statement

Yes

I understand that my participation is entirely voluntary and that I can withdraw from the study at any time without giving an explanation.

Yes

I give my explicit consent for Alma Economics to collect and use the personal data, outlined in the privacy notice for this research.

Yes

I understand that I will be able to withdraw my data and I understand that if my data has been anonymised, it cannot be withdrawn.

Yes

I understand that the focus group will take place via an online video platform and that the session will be recording both audio and video. (Please note that you can turn your camera off if you’d like it to not capture your video).

Yes

I agree not to share outside of the group discussion the views and opinions phrased by other participants in a way that can result in disclosure of their identity.

Yes

I agree to being quoted in relevant research outputs without my real name being used.

Yes

I confirm that I am willing to take part in this research
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February 11, 2026 5:39 pm BST

Alma Economics - Participant Information Sheet Uploaded by Georgie Chaffey - [email protected] IP 86.155.111.190

February 11, 2026 5:47 pm BST

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