The Straits Committee Small Project Initiative privacy notice
We keep this privacy notice under regular review. It was last updated on 28/05/2021.
Kent County Council 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
Kent County Council collects, uses and is responsible for certain personal information about you. When we do so we are regulated under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. We are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information. Our Data Protection Officer is Benjamin Watts.
About the Straits Committee
Kent County Council is a member of The Straits Committee. This is a voluntary partnership between Kent County Council and neighbouring Belgian, Dutch and French local authorities for good neighbourly cross-border relations.
To support this aim, The Straits Committee is launching a fund to support small cross-border projects of benefit to Kent.
The personal information we collect and use
Information collected by us
In the course of handling your enquiries, assessing funding applications, administering grant claims, we may collect some or all of the following personal information when you provide them to us:
- Name and position
- Contact details (postal address, email address, telephone numbers)
- Senior Responsible Officer’s name and contact details
- Financial details (bank account, transaction data, salary data
- Any personal data about project deliverers and/or project beneficiaries contained within your application form or in monitoring and evaluation reports
How we use your personal information
We use your personal information to:
- Process your enquiries, applications for funding, or registrations for event
- Process your claims for payment if you are awarded funding for a project
- Send you news about the Straits Committee
Reasons we can collect and use your personal information
We rely on the following UK GDPR Article 6 (1) clauses as the lawful basis on which we collect and use your personal information.
- We rely on Article 6(1)(e) for the performance of a public task in the public interest to process your personal data when you submit an application for funding, register to take part in a Straits Committee event, or make an enquiry. The activities undertaken through the Straits Committee are designed to strengthen good neighbourly cross-Channel relations and are carried out under the general power of competence given to local authorities in section 1 of the Localism Act 2011.
- We rely on Article 6(1)(b) to enter into a grant agreement and to monitor the performance of the grant agreement with you.
- We rely on Article 6(1)(a) for your consent if you register to receive news about the Straits Committee.
How long your personal data will be kept
If you are awarded funding, we will hold your personal information for 6 years from the date of the grant agreement for us to comply with any statutory or legal obligations or for audit purposes. It will be stored securely.
We will retain unsuccessful applications for a period of 2 years to help shape any future calls for projects.
If you register to receive news about the Straits Committee, we will hold your personal information until such time as the Straits Committee ceases to operate or until you notify us that you wish us to delete your personal information. You are entitled to unsubscribe from newsletters at any time.
Who we share your personal information with
Where it is necessary to follow up requests or enquires you have made, (for example, if you need to find a partner organisation) we may transfer your data to the other Straits Committee member authorities located in France, Belgium and the Netherlands, or to other organisations based in the European Economic Area.
These transfers are based on the UK “adequacy regulations” that cover all European Economic Area (EEA) countries (these are the EU member states and Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway).
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 the UK GDPR you have a number of rights which you can access 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
- 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:
- object to how we are using your information
- 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
- stop us using your information in certain ways.
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 the General Data Protection Regulation.
If you would like to exercise a right, please contact the Information Resilience and Transparency Team at data.protection@kent.gov.uk.
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 emailing us at international.affairs@kent.gov.uk
Keeping your personal information secure
We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost or used or 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.
Your rights
Under the General Data Protection Regulation, you have rights which you can exercise free of charge that allow you to:
- withdraw your consent at any time where we have relied upon consent
- know what we are doing with your information and why we are doing it
- ask to see what information we hold about you
- ask us to correct any mistakes in the information we hold about you
- object to direct marketing
- make a complaint to the Information Commissioners 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.
We will always seek to comply with your request but we may be required to hold or use your information to comply with legal duties. Please note that your request may delay or prevent us from considering your application for a loan.
Who to 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 by writing to the Data Protection Officer, Sessions House, Maidstone, Kent ME14 1XQ.
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 the General Data Protection Regulation.
The UK General Data Protection Regulation also gives you right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner who may be contacted at 03031 231113.