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Kent and Medway Suicide Prevention Programme privacy notice

We keep this privacy notice under regular review and it was last updated on 6 March 2025.

Kent County Council (KCC) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy notice will inform you as to how we look after your personal data and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.

Who we are

KCC collects, uses and is responsible for certain personal information about you. When we do so we are regulated under the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. We are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information for the purposes of those laws. Our Data Protection Officer is Benjamin Watts.

The Kent and Medway Suicide Prevention Programme sits within KCC Public Health and is responsible for delivery the local Suicide Prevention Strategy.

Kent and Medway Better Mental Health and Wellbeing Community Fund

We know that in the right hands, a little can go a long way, so we seek ideas on how to improve the mental health and wellbeing of residents across Kent and Medway and grant funding to successful applicants. The two objectives for the Kent and Medway Better Mental Health and Wellbeing Community Fund are to:

  1. test innovative ideas and develop evidence of what works
  2. support grassroots projects to continue to support their communities.

Kent and Medway Hope Fund

The Hope Fund is designed to compliment the arrival of The Baton of Hope as it tours through Kent and Medway on the 22 September 2025. The hope is to include as many areas across Kent and Medway as possible by granting funds for warm up events whilst promoting the theme of Hope in relation to suicide prevention and mental health. These projects have the potential to create a legacy within local communities as well as linking in with Baton of Hope activity on the day (22 September 2025).

Personal information we collect and use

Information collected by us

In order to manage the Community and Hope fund we collect the following personal information when you provide it to us:

  • Personal information (for example; first, and last name, job title, address of business).
  • Contact details (for example; email address, telephone number, postal address).
  • Financial information (for example; annual accounts and financial statements).
  • Business case (for example; reasons for applying for the grant).

How we use your personal information

We use your personal information to:

  • enable us to answer questions that you have asked about the Community or Hope grant scheme
  • answer questions that you have asked about other sources of funding
  • provide you with support during the process of application to the Community or Hope grant scheme
  • process and assess grant applications
  • administer and manage any grants that are awarded
  • carry out and fulfil a grant agreement between KCC and the grantee.

Reasons we can collect and use your personal information

We rely on the following provision as the lawful basis on which we collect and use your personal data:

  • Article 6(1)(a) - you (the data subject) have given consent to the processing of your personal data for one or more specific purposes.

How long your personal data will be kept

We will hold your personal information for as long as necessary.

We will hold your personal information for:

  • up to 12 years if you contact us via the application Forms page to apply for grant funding [FN6.2.1]
  • 12 years from the date of the last payment of the grant, at which point your data will be permanently deleted. [FN6.2.1]

The criteria for determining retention periods are statutory or other industry requirements, legal liability or other legal requirements and best business practice. For more information read our retention schedule.

Who we share your personal information with

We require your personal information to enable us to provide activities designed to support the Community or Hope Fund. Without this information we are unable to process your application for funding. Additionally, we would not be able to award your business a grant, as processing of your personal information is required to carry out and fulfil a contract (the grant agreement) between KCC and the grantee.

Your information will be accessible by commissioners, Public Health specialists and consultants, finance, panel representatives and business support staff (KCC employees) who are working on grants. Panel representatives will be a small group of internal staff and a small number of carefully selected external colleagues and lived experience who will be reviewing received grant applications.
High level information may be seen by elected members of the council. We will also share basic information on grant recipients (such as amounts, name of group and purpose), however this will be anonymised information only.

We only share your personal information with third parties to confirm accuracy of information you have provided in respect of your application, for example if you tell us that your project is exempt from VAT, we may ask HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to confirm the exemption.

We will only share personal data that is relevant and necessary.

Each organisation listed above will ensure they have the relevant agreements in place to be able to process your personal information.

The council is required by law to protect the public funds it administers. We may use any of the information you provided for the prevention and detection of fraud. We may also share information with other bodies that are responsible for auditing or administering public funds, including the Cabinet Office. The Cabinet Office requires councils to participate in data matching exercises to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud.

We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required by applicable law or in connection with legal proceedings.

We will share personal information with our legal and professional advisers in the event of a dispute, complaint or claim. We rely on Article 9(2)(f) where the processing of special category data is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims or whenever courts are acting in their judicial capacity.

Your rights

Under GDPR you have rights which you can exercise free of charge which allow you to:

  • know what we are doing with your information and why we are doing it
  • ask to see what information we hold about you (subject access request)
  • ask us to correct any mistakes in the information we hold about you
  • object to direct marketing
  • make a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office

Depending on our reason for using your information you may also be entitled to:

  • ask us to delete information we hold about you
  • have your information transferred electronically to yourself or to another organisation
  • object to decisions being made that significantly affect you
  • object to how we are using your information
  • stop us using your information in certain ways
  • in the instance of being referred to MaPS for the MAN service, you will be entitled to withdraw your consent to the referral at any time by contacting the KSAS team. The withdrawal of consent would not affect the lawfulness of the processing that took place before its withdrawal.

We will always seek to comply with your request, however we may be required to hold or use your information to comply with legal duties. Please note, your request may delay or prevent us delivering a service to you.

For further information about your rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the guidance from the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under GDPR.

Your right to withdraw your consent

Where we rely on your consent to process your personal information, you can withdraw your consent to our use of your data at any time.

You can do this by contacting us via email at suicideprevention.gov.uk. Please note that your grant application will proceed no further if you withdraw consent.

Keeping your personal information secure

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost or used/accessed in an unauthorised way. We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine business need to know it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.

Contact

Please contact the Information Resilience and Transparency Team at data.protection@kent.gov.uk to exercise any of your rights, or if you have a complaint about why your information has been collected, how it has been used or how long we have kept it for.

You can contact our Data Protection Officer, Benjamin Watts, at dpo@kent.gov.uk, or write to: Data Protection Officer, Sessions House, Maidstone, Kent ME14 1XQ.

UK GDPR also gives you right to lodge a complaint with Information Commissioner, who may be contacted via the Information Commissioner's website or call 03031 231113.

Read our corporate privacy statement.