Approaches to displaying data protection information in Citizen Space

Organisations using Citizen Space choose different approaches to displaying data protection information and making sure respondents will see it, so we thought it might be useful to share some examples below.

You can read the UK ICO's guidance on seeking consent from data subjects here (opens in new tab) - this will be particularly useful for organisations looking to comply with GDPR.

Don't forget that in addition to the below content created by customers, each site has a privacy notice which is linked from the footer of every page in Citizen Space.

Footer on public home page with Privacy link.

 Provide information upfront on the overview page

This organisation has added the text of their privacy statement directly to the overview page, so that respondents will definitely have the opportunity to see and read it before they choose to enter the survey.

Screen-shot of a Citizen Space consultation showing a privacy statement on the consultation overview page directly above the call-to-action box linking into the survey

Provide information upfront on the overview page AND re-word the survey link to indicate active consent

This organisation has taken a similar approach but with the addition of rewording the call-to-action link text, so that respondents know if they continue to enter the survey, this action will be taken as agreement to the terms of the privacy notice.

Screen-shot of a Citizen Space consultation showing a privacy statement linked above the call-to-action box, plus the text above the box reads: Clicking on the agree button below indicates that you have read the privacy notice & agree to take part, & the call-to-action link into the survey has been renamed I agree

Provide information in a fact bank at the start of the survey

Rather than providing the privacy notice upfront on the overview page, some organisations prefer to include it on the first page when respondents enter the survey. It works well to put the information in a fact bank component, which looks like a link and pops open to reveal more information when someone selects it.

Screen-shot of a Citizen Space consultation showing a fact-bank at the top of the first survey page that says How we will use your information, before the first question

Screen-shot of the same Citizen Space consultation showing the fact-bank opened, containing data protection information

Provide information in a fact bank at the start of the survey AND include a required question to confirm active consent

This organisation has taken a similar approach but with the addition of a required question to confirm that the respondent has read and agreed to the privacy statement. This is a foolproof way of making sure that it can't be missed or overlooked, since the respondent won't be able to progress further in the survey without selecting to say that they consent to the statement.

Screen-shot of a Citizen Space consultation showing a fact-bank at the top of the first survey page that says Privacy statement, before the first question