Over 80s’ Vaccines Insights Study

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is carrying out this important study on people's views and experiences of coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance and the vaccination rollout being administered to people aged over 80 years in England.

You have the unique opportunity to tell us about your views and experience of coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance and the rollout of the vaccine. Your responses will provide us with information not available from any other sources. You will be helping us understand your views on the guidance and if any additional information or support is needed. Do not miss the chance to have your say.

The study will cover a range of topics, including:

• information about you

• your views and experience of coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance

• your views and experience of the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine rollout

The questions we ask can be based on both facts and opinions. You do not need to have had the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine or know the guidance around the COVID-19 vaccine to take part.

There are no difficult questions and you do not need any specialist knowledge. There are no right or wrong answers. Your honest responses are vital for us to produce reliable statistics.

We respect your right to a private life. The information you provide in this study will not be used to identify you in any way.

Your response is extremely important to make sure your voice counts in producing reliable statistics for decision-making. For us to get an accurate picture of people’s views and experiences, we need to talk to people from all walks of life.

Taking part is voluntary. If you do not want to answer some of the questions, you do not have to. Please answer as many questions as you can, to ensure that your experiences and circumstances are counted.

Your personal information will remain confidential.

The details you provide will be combined with those of everyone else taking part so we can produce statistics. Any data we publish will never identify you.

We do not sell on your data and you will not receive junk mail or marketing calls as a result of taking part in the study.

If you want to know more, please see the section about our commitment to protecting your data.

You should have received a letter inviting you to take part in the study.

An interviewer from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) will contact you to carry out the interview over the phone, or to find a convenient time to do so.

We design our studies with you in mind and keep them as short as possible. We only collect the information we need to better understand how the coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance and vaccine rollout is being experienced by the public. Your response is really important to us.

Why have I not received an invite, and how do I get one?

Individuals are chosen at random to take part in this study and cannot be replaced with others. To ensure the study is valid, only those selected at random can take part.

This study is being carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). We're the country's largest producer of statistics. We also conduct the Census in England and Wales every 10 years.

We are:

• independent, unbiased and impartial: we are separate from other organisations and do not allow anything to influence the statistics we publish

• the only organisation that produces official statistics as a primary role: we have no additional interest in the information we collect

• only interested in society as a whole, and not you as an individual: statistics represent groups of people; we remove your personal details as we are not interested in singling you out

We are not:

• a commercial or market research organisation: we do not work for profit and will not try to sell you anything

• associated with any political parties: we produce official statistics, no matter who the Prime Minister or political party in government is

• going to sell on your data under any circumstances: we value your involvement in our studies and do not profit from your data; you will not receive any "junk mail" as a result of taking part

• monitoring you, as the data you give are only used for producing statistics: we will not use your information to contact you about other matters such as your tax, income or benefits, and we will not provide your information to anyone else for them to do so either

Read more about what we do at the ONS.

To understand people's views and experiences of coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance and the rollout of the vaccine, we need to talk to people like you.

You have been selected at random to take part from a list of names and addresses from the Personal Demographic Service. This national electronic database of NHS patient details was created by NHS Digital to allow healthcare professionals to contact and communicate with patients. The ONS have been given permission to contact you to invite you to participate in the Over 80s' Vaccines Insights Study to ensure that government policies are informed. You may be asked if you want to take part in future research. We will not use your contact details for any other purposes.

It is not possible to ask everyone to take part in our study; instead, we have invited a sample of individuals. We cannot ask another individual to take your place as this would affect how representative our study is.

The results from this study will be used by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), and Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty. They will use it to develop coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance and vaccine rollout, to improve the experience for the public.

The results of the study will be published on the ONS website later this year. Any data published will not identify you.

How will we use the information you provide?

Your personal information will remain confidential. The details you provide will be combined with those of everyone else taking part so we can produce statistics. Any data we publish will never identify you.

The ONS will use your data for statistical and research purposes. Any outputs we share with our stakeholders will not be able to identify you. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), and Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty will receive the statistics produced from this study but will not receive information that could identify you. We will follow the Code of Practice for Statistics. All personal data will be deleted once it is no longer required to produce statistics.

We do not sell on your data, and you will not receive junk mail or marketing calls as a result of taking part in one of our studies.

What are your individual rights under the Data Protection Law?

You have the right to request access to the information we hold about you and to amend any wrong or inaccurate information we hold about you. You have the right to object to your personal data being processed.

You have the right, in some circumstances, to request to erase any personal data we may hold about you, stop processing your personal data, or pass any information we hold about you to another organisation.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights then please contact our Data Protection Officer, but please be aware that we may not be required to comply if the data is being held for statistical purposes only. Compliance requirements are set out in the Data Protection Act 2018.

To contact our Data Protection Officer, the contact details are as follows:

Data Protection Officer, Office for National Statistics, Segensworth Road, Titchfield, Fareham, Hampshire. PO15 5RR

Email: DPO@statistics.gov.uk

Telephone: 0845 601 3034

Further information on the rights available to you and the circumstances under which you can exercise them, is available from the Information Commissioner.

What precautions for data protection and confidentiality have been taken?

The ONS adheres to the Code of Practice for Statistics, the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). We process all personal information with respect, keeping it secure and confidential. Any personal data collected are processed in systems that have been accredited by the ONS. They are designed to uphold the security of the data and are subject to regular assessment.

How do we ensure your personal information is held securely?

We take our responsibilities to keep your personal information secure very seriously. As such, we take every precaution to ensure your information is protected from loss, theft or misuse. These precautions include appropriate physical security of our offices, controlled access to computer systems, and use of secure, encrypted internet connections when collecting personal information.

You can read about the commitments the Office for National Statistics (ONS) makes to those taking part in its studies in our ONS respondent charter for surveys of households and individuals.

If you have a question about how we process your personal data or want to find out more about your rights under data protection legislation, please see our data protection page.

At the ONS, we take our responsibility to the pubic seriously. It is our policy that we will tell the appropriate authority if we believe there is a serious risk to someone's safety.

We would appreciate your suggestions on how we can improve any of our studies. It would also be great to hear from you if you are happy with the service you have received. You can email us at Vaccines.Insights.Study@ons.gov.uk.

For more information on the updated coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine guidance, please visit the vaccine guidance page on the government website.

To register for support for clinically extremely vulnerable individuals, please visit the government support website.

Additionally, please contact your Local Authority if you need further assistance in following the guidance.

If you require assistance, there may be voluntary support networks and community hubs in your area that could help with medicine or food deliveries. NHS Volunteer Responders may also be able to help. You can call them for free on 0808 196 3646.

For advice and practical steps that you can take to support your wellbeing and manage your mental health, please visit the Every Mind Matters website.

If you would need support in another language, please call for free on 0800 298 5313 to request that.

If you have any queries or concerns about the study, please phone us for free on 0800 298 5313 or email us at Vaccines.Insights.Study@ons.gov.uk.