Green open homes: Faversham events and survey privacy notice
Kent County Council respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy notice outlines how we look after your personal data, how you may exercise your rights and how the law protects you. This notice was last updated on 30 January 2024 and relates to homeowners and attendees (‘participants’) of the Green Open Homes: Faversham Spring 2024 events.
Who we are
Kent County Council collects, and is responsible for the appropriate use of 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. Kent County Council Environment and Circular Economy teams are working closely with Swale Borough Council, Faversham Town Council and Swale Friends of the Earth (‘Project Partners’) to showcase energy efficient home improvements in Faversham. The team are running two ‘Green Open Homes’ events in Faversham during Spring 2024.
Our Data Protection Officer is Benjamin Watts.
Personal information we collect and use
Information collected by us
When registering as a homeowner, to showcase your Low-Carbon Technology (LCT) or retrofit to visitors, we ask you to provide us with the following information:
- Name
- Contact details (email, option for mobile number)
- Home address and postcode
- Property type (semi-detached, for example)
- Which low-carbon technology or retrofit measures you have installed.
When registering as an event attendee, to visit an open home, we ask you to provide us with the following information:
- Name
- Contact details (email, option for mobile number)
- Property type (semi-detached, for example)
- Tenure (owner-occupier, private rented etc. – optional)
- Which low-carbon technology or retrofit measures you are interested in or have installed.
An initial feedback survey will also be distributed to those who consent to being contacted after the events. This is to collect data on how the events may have impacted retrofit or heat decarbonisation journeys. A further follow-up survey will be sent to those who consent (via the feedback survey) to being contacted around 7 months after the events. The follow-up survey is to ask what actions attendees have taken since the events.
How we use your personal information
We use your personal data to:
- contact you prior to the event date to confirm a meeting point and schedule
- ensure that we manage the maximum number of people attending the open homes, and confirm your identity
If you consent to us doing so, we will also use your personal data to:
- contact you with a feedback survey to understand how the event may have impacted on your retrofit journey, and how we may improve future events
- contact you with a second follow-up survey to understand whether you have undertaken any energy efficiency home improvements since attending one of our events, or intend to do so
- contact you to provide you with any additional information regarding home improvements, only upon request.
Reasons we can collect and use your personal information
We rely on Article 6(1a.) – the data subject has given clear consent as the lawful basis on which we collect and use your personal data.
The provision of your email address is required to enable us to contact you, to manage the number of attendees, to contact you to offer you information regarding home improvement options where requested and to contact you to understand any home improvement actions you have undertaken or plan to undertake after the open homes events (through the initial feedback survey and/or the follow-up survey, both subject to your consent.)
The provision of your name is required from you to enable us to confirm your identity when you attend one of our events.
The provision of your property type is required to help us understand trends in low carbon technology installations and for service improvement and potential future provisions. For example, running another open homes event in a different area in Kent, or supporting large-scale installation or retrofit projects.
How long your personal data will be kept
If you are a participant who consented to receiving an initial feedback survey, we will keep your contact details until this survey is sent.
If, in the feedback survey, you consent to being sent the follow-up survey 7 months later, we will hold your contact information for seven months after the event. This is to allow time for action regarding energy efficiency home improvements. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time during this seven-month period (please see the ‘Your rights’ section below.)
Anonymised data will be aggregated to inform a summary report of findings from both surveys, to inform service improvement and potential future projects. These findings will not be attributable to individuals and raw data will not be retained after the summary report is finalised. The summary report is likely to be published in Summer 2024, and to outline findings as follows:
‘X% of survey respondents lived in semidetached housing. X% of respondents in this property type planned to install insulation after an open homes event, with X% of this group reporting a completed installation within 6 months following the event. Some respondents (X%) reported that they plan to install a heat pump within 1 year after the open homes event.’
Who we share your personal information with
We will share attendee and homeowner email addresses with project partners only if you have requested information from them. We will share registered attendee names with homeowners hosting an open home, so they know who to expect at their property. Homeowner addresses will be shared with registered attendees on the day, to guide them towards open homes locations. Homeowner addresses will not be posted online.
We will share the summary report of anonymised survey findings with district, borough and city councils and unitary authorities in Kent, and may publish the report online. This is to inform service improvement and potential future provisions. For example, running another open homes event in a different area, or supporting installation or retrofit projects.
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.
Your rights
Under UK 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:
- 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. 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 United Kingdom 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 consent
As we have a consent basis for collecting your personal data, it is outlined in registration forms for homeowners and attendees that by submitting a response, you consent to the Kent County Council Energy Team collecting and using your data as outlined in this Privacy Notice. You can withdraw your consent for your personal information to be held by us at any time by emailing data.protection@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.
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.
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.