Privacy notice for Sea Cadets (aged 10-17 years)

This sheet tells you why we collect your personal data and what we do with it. It also tells you how you can control the use of your personal data and if you wanted changes made or for this to stop what you can do to make that happen.

Sea Cadets at both your unit and at headquarters will use your personal information to provide and personalise our services to you. Your details will be used to communicate with you on Sea Cadets business only. Personal data is information that identifies you and relates to you, such as your name, address, contact details and who looks after you.

Personal information is collected directly from you and your parents or guardians. This will usually be your Mum or Dad or the person who is responsible for looking after you. We collect the information when you join Sea Cadets on the joining form which you and they complete and return to Sea Cadets.

The information we collect in this way will typically include your name, postal and email addresses plus basic medical information to ensure your health & safety when you take part in Sea Cadets activities. We will also sometimes obtain contact information indirectly from third parties.

We collect this information in order to keep in touch with you and the person who looks after you. This is because your Sea Cadet unit and some people at headquarters need to be able to supply you with information relating to your Sea Cadets experience. We collect contact details of your parents or guardians to tell you about activities we run and in case we need to contact them quickly such as if you become ill or were injured.

Your information is stored on a secure Ministry of Defence database called Westminster. Access to this is restricted and only certain trained people have permission to see or use your data and only for Sea Cadet purposes.

Sea Cadets at headquarters or your unit may use your information to send you news about activities, events or services and, in the event of Sea Cadets working in partnership with other organisations, details of those third-party associates. In joining Sea Cadets we believe that you would want to take advantage of all the opportunities, events and activities we can offer cadets as part of becoming a Sea Cadet and that you would expect to be told of these. Please remember that there may be times where it may be necessary for Sea Cadets to communicate with you or your family about changes in the way that we do certain things at your unit or at headquarters and in the way Sea Cadets operates. 

We sometimes need to share the personal information we process with you and also with other organisations. Where this is necessary, we are required to comply with all aspects of data protection legislation.

The types of organisation that we may need to share some of the personal information we process include:

• Other members
• Family, associates or representatives of the person whose personal data we are processing
• Employees
• Current, past and prospective employers
• Healthcare, social and welfare organisations
• Providers of goods and services
• Educator and examining bodies
• Financial organisations
• Employment and recruitment agencies
• Survey and research organisations
• Business associates and professional advisers
• Police forces
• Local and central government
• Other companies on the same group as the data controller
• Other voluntary and charitable organisations

We will retain your information for as long as you have an active relationship with Sea Cadets, for example, if you are a sea cadet or you volunteer to help. If you no longer have an active relationship with us or you ask us not to contact you, we will retain some basic information in order to avoid sending you unwanted information in the future. Cadet data, unless it relates to a safeguarding concern will be retained for two years from leaving cadets, unless you volunteer with Sea Cadets during this period. If it relates to a safeguarding concern we will retain a limited amount of personal information when you leave – this will be name, date of birth, unit(s) attended, attendance records and qualifications and any safeguarding files. This is to make sure we keep Sea Cadets a safe organisation.

You have the right to ask for and see the personal information that the MSSC holds about you. You can do this by e-mailing the MSSC’s Data Controller at datacontroller@ms-sc.org or writing to the Director of Policy and Young People Support at MSSC HQ, 202 Lambeth Road, London, SE1 7JW.

You may contact us if you find that the information which we have is wrong so that we can correct it. If you decide that you do not want to hear from us please email volunteersupport@ms-sc.org or write and tell us at: Volunteer Support, Sea Cadets, 202 Lambeth Road, London SE1 7JW. It will help us to update your information quickly if you include your full name and address and Westminster PIN (if known), together with details of the correction or changes.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the main UK authority responsible for providing guidance on data protection and if for any reason you wish to raise a concern or make a complaint about the way your personal data has been treated you can write to them or e-mail them. Full details can be found on their website - https://ico.org.uk/. You may wish to email MSSC’s Data Controller first to see if they can help you – if you wish to do this you can e-mail datacontroller@ms-sc.org.