This Privacy Notice was updated on 29 September 2026. The changes relating to GOV.UK One Login will take effect when Helo Blod moves to GOV.UK One Login.
Please take a moment to familiarise yourself with our privacy practices and note why we collect and process the data collected.
1. Purpose for processing
Helo Blod has two main aims:
- Providing brief English/Welsh translations and text checking services to businesses, charities and individuals.
- Providing signposting/information on issues relating to the Welsh language to facilitate the use of Welsh.
2. What data are we collecting?
The Welsh Government will be the Data Controller for any personal data collected. We require your personal data, including contact details, to create an account on our IT system. This information and account enable us to communicate with you and to provide the most appropriate support for your enquiry.
The processing of personal data is necessary for the purposes outlined above, which are carried out according to our official authority to promote and facilitate the use of the Welsh Language - as set out in the Welsh Government’s Welsh Language Strategy, Cymraeg 2050.
Translation requests
Documents submitted for our translation service are recorded on your account, which is held on our IT system. These documents are sent outside the Welsh Government (without making any amendments) to our external translation contractor via Phrase. Phrase is a translation management system that assists our qualified translators. The text/sentence/words within the documents are stored by Phrase at data centres in Germany and Ireland and may be processed by Phrase’s approved sub-processors based in the EEA (European Economic Area), the United Kingdom and the United States to support translation activities. Once the translation is done, it’s returned to our IT system.
Text checking requests
Documents submitted for our text checking service are recorded on your account, which is held on our IT system. These documents will be accessed by our external translation contractors who have restricted access to our IT system. The translators will have full access to the document submitted for checking. However, they won’t have any access to the personal data stored on your account on our IT system.
We won’t be able to provide any service to organisations whose activities could reasonably be considered to bring the Welsh Government into disrepute.
Please ensure that you don’t include any information such as Commercially Sensitive information, personal or special category personal data as the documents won’t be amended before sending to our external translators. A full list of our terms and conditions is available on the Helo Blod website. If you have any questions, please contact Helo Blod on 03000 25 8888.
3. Who’ll have access to your data?
We only allow access to your personal data where it is necessary for someone to carry out their role or provide services that support Helo Blod.
Your data may be accessed by:
- Welsh Government staff who administer and support the Helo Blod service, including support service teams and system technical administrators where this is necessary to maintain and support the IT system. System technical administrators will only access your data where necessary to maintain and support the system and will not use it for any other purpose.
- Phrase (our translation management system) and our external translation contractors, but only for the purpose of processing the data, text, sentences or words contained within the translation or text checking requests you submit. They do not have access to your Helo Blod account or other information held within.
- GOV.UK One Login, which is used to securely manage your security details and enable you to sign into the service. See the GOV.UK One Login Privacy Notice. Information processed by GOV.UK One Login may be used to:
- authenticate online sessions
- share information with fraud prevention agencies to help prevent fraud and money laundering, and to verify your identity.
4. How long will your translation be kept by Welsh Government?
We use translation technology to assist our qualified, human translation contractors. The content of your translation may be held on Phrase (or any translation memories that our translators elect to use in the future), Google Translate, Microsoft Translator and TermCymru indefinitely (*see references in table at the foot of this page). This will improve future translations, contribute to increasing the amount of Welsh available in the linguistic landscape, thus working towards achieving the aims of the Welsh Government’s Welsh Language Strategy, Cymraeg 2050.
5. How long are your details kept?
Your account details will be held securely on our systems for 3 years from the last use of the account. The information we collect is required to measure the success of the service, for reporting purposes and as part of our ongoing training and quality reviews.
Calls to our telephone number 0300 025 8888 are recorded for security purposes. Recordings will be retained for 30 days.
6. Your rights
Under the data protection legislation, you have the right:
- to access the personal data the Welsh Government holds on you;
- require us to rectify inaccuracies in that data;
- to (in certain circumstances) object to or restrict processing;
- for (in certain circumstances) your data to be ‘erased’;
- to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) who is our independent regulator for data protection.
The contact details for the Information Commissioner’s Office are:
Customer Contact
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 01625 545 745 or 0303 123 1113
Website: www.ico.org.uk
For help with any of the above rights then please contact us on 0300 025 8888 or use our Contact Us form.
7. The Freedom of Information Act and your Information
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 allow the public to ask to see information held by public bodies, including the Welsh Government. The information you provide us may be the subject of a freedom of information request by another member of the public. We would consult with you to seek your views before responding to such a request.
8. Changes to this policy
The Welsh Government may make changes to this privacy policy at any time. Changes will be posted here and are effective immediately. When changes occur to this policy, we will contact you on the email address we have recorded in your account to enable you to review the new version.
For further information on your information rights
Postal address:
Data Protection Officer
Welsh Government
Cathays Park
CARDIFF
CF10 3NQ
Email address: DataProtectionOfficer@gov.wales
| SYSTEM | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
| Phrase | A cloud-based translation management system which includes translation memory, terminology management, quality assurance and integrated machine translation. |
| Google Translate | A machine translation service developed by Google. |
| Microsoft Translate | A machine translation service provided by Microsoft. |
| TermCymru | An online database of terms used by Welsh Government translators in their everyday work which is available online for public use. |