Recording Meetings Data Protection Guidance

We would like to remind you of the importance of being aware of how you receive, hold and use personal data particularly when working away from campus. Please familiarise yourself with the Data protection for remote working guidance.

Approved Platforms

Any recordings of meetings, lectures, interviews or conversations that contain significant amounts of personal data must be only made using the University licensed tools such as Microsoft Teams or Blackboard Collaborate. Such recordings must be stored securely within University licensed systems such as Microsoft Stream, OneDrive, SharePoint, Blackboard or Panopto. Any requirement for storage outside of these systems or within University managed PC devices must be approved by IT Services.

Approved Devices

Only managed devices or devices with mobile device management enabled should be used, in line with the guidance referred to above.

Transparency

When recording a meeting, interview or conversation, whatever equipment is used, participants should be informed that a recording is being made and understand:

• What the recording and accompanying transcript is for and how it will be used
• Who will have access to it
• How long it will be kept.

We recommend adding this information to the agenda or invitation for meetings, as it is not always obvious in Teams, for example, that a recording is taking place, unless this is stated explicitly.

Access Rights

Normally, recordings of meetings should be available to all who attended the meeting, and those who were invited or are part of the group or channel working on the meeting topic or in which the meeting took place.

If you are saving a recording (or any folder) in the Microsoft 365 / OneDrive environment you should not choose the option to share with everyone or allow everyone in the company to access it. This will make it visible to the whole University community.

Processing and Retention

It is important that recordings containing personal information, particularly sensitive personal information are only used for the purpose stated and only kept for as long as necessary. Occasionally a recording may be of long-term value for research purposes or as part of the memory of the institution, in these circumstances it should be transferred to the University Records Office.

Research

Meeting recordings may be available for researchers to utilise. The University would expect meeting participants to be informed of the likelihood of the meeting being used for research, and if the research is proposed after the meeting, all participants should be informed before the research is conducted.

Sensitive Meetings

Where recordings are made of sensitive meetings such as disciplinary or research misconduct hearings, access to the recording may be only available for the generation of an accurate transcript by the meeting scribe. Subsequently a written summary of the meeting should be made available to all participants.

Where a recording exists, it is available to support any allegation of bullying, harassment, discrimination or unfair treatment. Care should be taken that video/audio excerpts are not used out of context of the entire meeting, and security of the recordings must be maintained at all times.

Be aware that any recordings of meetings or hearings are subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Data Protection Act 2018, where relevant, subject to the standard exemptions from disclosure under those pieces of legislation.