Guidance

High Street Rental Auctions: privacy notice

Updated 17 January 2025

Applies to England

© Crown copyright 2025

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-street-rental-auctions-grants-for-local-authorities/high-street-rental-auctions-privacy-notice

This privacy notice explains your rights and gives you the information you are entitled to under data protection legislation. It applies to applications for: 

  • the High Street Rental Auctions (HSRA) fund  
  • the new burdens payments for High Street Rental Auctions 

It only refers to your personal data (your name, address and anything that could be used to identify you personally, not the other contents of your HSRA fund applications). 

The identity of the data controller and contact details of our data protection officer 

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is a data controller for all HSRA fund-related personal data collected with the relevant forms submitted to MHCLG. Any personal data provided through the application will be processed in line with data protection legislation.

The following is to explain your rights and give you the information you are entitled to under the Data Protection Act 2018.

The data protection officer can be contacted at dataprotection@communities.gov.uk. 

Why we are collecting your personal data 

Your personal data is being collected as an essential part of the new burdens payment and the HSRA fund bidding process, so that we can contact you regarding your bid, payments and for monitoring purposes. We may also use your data to contact you about further opportunities if we expand the fund in the future.

For example, we may get in touch to: 

  • remind you of the deadline if you have an application in progress close to the submission date 
  • collect feedback if you start but do not submit an application 
  • discuss payments should we encounter any issues 

We may also use your personal information as a point of contact to gather qualitative data and to share insights regarding your experiences to utilise for the final evaluation of the funding programme. 

The data protection legislation sets out when we are lawfully allowed to process your data. 

The lawful basis that applies to this processing is Article 6 (1) (e) of the UK GDPR. This is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller.  

Sharing your personal data

MHCLG may share your personal data with relevant government departments as part of the appraisal process and to offer other support or funding to applicants.

We may share data with other government departments which may include, but is not limited to:

  • His Majesty’s Treasury (HMT) 
  • Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) 
  • Cabinet Office (CO) 
  • Home Office (HO) 
  • Department for Business and Trade (DBT)  
  • Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) 
  • Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) 

How long we will keep your personal data

If your bid is successful, your personal data will be held for up to 10 years from the closure of the application process. For example, a local authority receiving funding in January 2025 would have their data held until January 2035. 

As part of the monitoring process, successful projects will be contacted regularly to ensure our records are up to date, both during and after project delivery subject to the timescales outlined. 

If your bid is unsuccessful, we will retain your data until the end of the High Street Rental Auctions fund programme and then it will be erased.

Your rights

The data we are collecting is your personal data, and you have considerable say over what happens to it. 

You have the right to: 

  • know that we are using your personal data 
  • see what data we have about you 
  • ask to have your data corrected, and to ask how we check the information we hold is accurate
  • complain to the ICO (see Complaints and more information) 

Sending data overseas 

Your personal data will not be sent overseas. 

Automated decision making 

We will not use your data for any automated decision making.

Storage, security and data management 

Your personal data will be stored in a secure government IT system. Where data is shared with third parties, as set out in section 4 above, we require third parties to respect the security of your data and to treat it in accordance with the law.

All third parties are required to take appropriate security measures to protect your personal information in line with our policies. 

Complaints and more information 

If you are unhappy with the way the department is using your personal data, you can make a complaint by contacting dataprotection@communities.gov.uk in the first instance.

You have a right to lodge a complaint with the independent Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you think we are not handling your data fairly or in accordance with the law.

If you are still not satisfied after contacting the department, or would like independent advice about data protection, privacy and data sharing, contact:

The Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545 745 

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