Microsoft 365 Copilot (pilot phase)

We use Microsoft 365 Copilot (Copilot) to enhance staff productivity and efficiency and for making reasonable adjustments to improve accessibility.

Copilot utilises large language models (LLMs), a type of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that uses deep learning techniques to understand, summarise, predict, and generate content.

We use these tools to help summarise information (such as emails, Teams chat messages and meeting transcripts, documents), for example to prepare for meetings, create and format documents, analyse data such as public consultation responses, and generate content such as draft emails or presentations. They also assist with note-taking and idea generation to support efficient communication and decision-making.

Any data, used with Copilot, is stored and stays within our secure UK Microsoft 365 and Azure tenants, and is not used for training foundation models.

Where we use customers’ personal data with Copilot, this is processed under the lawful basis of 'public task' to fulfil our legal and statutory duties under the legislation, eg to consider a complaint, provide you with guidance, or investigate a breach. In other circumstances, your personal data will be processed under the lawful basis of “legitimate interest” eg in recruitment. For more information, please refer to the relevant sections of this privacy notice.

We may collect audio and visual recordings, as well as transcripts, of conversations held using Microsoft Teams. The transcription function in Teams allows Copilot to produce some of the outputs referred to above. Recordings and transcripts are automatically deleted after 21 days. All Copilot prompts and responses are deleted after 7 days.

No decision affecting a customer will be taken based solely on the Copilot output. All direct outputs from Copilot come with the statement "AI-generated content may be incorrect" and our policy and training stipulate that human oversight is always required to verify outputs.We will continue to monitor our use of Copilot to review the risks and benefits of this deployment. Any extension of our use will be considered under our risk assessment processes and this privacy notice will be updated accordingly.