Skip to content

Research governance privacy notice

This notice explains what personal data (information) we hold about you, how we collect, how we use and may share information about you.  We are required to give you this information under data protection law.

Who we are

Kent County Council (KCC) has a public duty to protect its staff and servicer users – particularly vulnerable people. The personal information that you provide on this form including the associated attachments will be used by the Research Governance Approval team within KCC to ensure that everyone who is involved in the research is deemed to be suitable to carry out the research, and that the research meets ethical and methodological norms.

We are regulated under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which applies across the European Union (including in the United Kingdom) and we are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information for the purposes of those laws. Our Data Protection Officer is Benjamin Watts.

Your name and contact details will be shared with other departments within KCC in order to facilitate your application for research governance approval and the research project itself. They may also be shared with other relevant organisations such as the NHS Health Research Authority, NHS Research Ethics Committee, Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) and other Local Authorities in order to ensure that the research has been suitably vetted by these organisations where appropriate.

We rely on public task as the lawful basis on which we collect your personal data as we consider facilitating university based research within our discretionary powers and in the exercise of our official authority.

We rely on legitimate interests of third parties as the lawful basis on which we process your data. We understand that it is in the legitimate interests of universities and researchers to carry out research projects. We will not process your data where your individual rights and freedoms override those legitimate interests. Our processing of your personal information is necessary in order to facilitate your research using our data. We have a duty to safeguard the welfare of children and adults receiving services from the council.

Your Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificate information will only be used for the specific purpose for which it was requested, which is to safeguard the welfare of children and adults receiving services from KCC and the welfare of council staff. Submission of DBS certificates for all people who will be involved in the research is deemed to indicate consent to this purpose.

We rely on your consent to process your DBS certificate information.  We will also meet any necessary conditions and additional safeguards in the Data Protection Act. You may withdraw that consent at any time (without affecting the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal). You can do this by sending an email to research@kent.gov.uk, with ‘Withdrawal of DBS Consent’ in the subject field.

We do not transfer your data outside of the European Union.

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 Commissioners Office (ICO)
  • withdraw consent at any time (if applicable)

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 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.

If you would like to exercise a right, please contact the Information Resilience and Transparency Team at 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, or write to: Data Protection Officer, Sessions House, Maidstone, Kent ME14 1XQ.

GDPR also gives you right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. The supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner who may be contacted on 03031 231113.

Read our corporate privacy statement.