Policy paper

UK Community Renewal Fund: privacy notice

Updated 11 May 2021

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

This policy paper was withdrawn on

The UK Community Renewal Fund Programme was closed in December 2023 following the publication of the UK Community Renewal Fund evaluation report.

Personal data

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

Note that this section 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 UK Community Renewal Fund application.

1. 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 UK Community Renewal Fund related personal data collected with the relevant forms submitted to MHCLG, and the control and processing of Personal Data.

The Data Protection Officer can be contacted at dataprotection@communities.gov.uk

Mayoral Combined Authorities, the Greater London Authority, County Councils or Unitary Authorities, have been designated as a ‘Lead Authority’ in Great Britain for the UK Community Renewal Fund. Each Lead Authority has been invited to run a local bidding process and will be a joint data controller for all UK Community Renewal Fund related Personal Data collected with the relevant forms as part of this process, and the control and processing of Personal Data, where such applications are not submitted to MHCLG for consideration.

Each Lead Authority has its own privacy policy and Data Protection Officer. Details of these will be available as part of the local bidding process for the Fund.

2. Why we are collecting your personal data

Your personal data is being collected as an essential part of the UK Community Renewal Fund bidding process, so that we can contact you regarding your bid and for monitoring purposes. We may also use it to contact you about matters specific to the Fund.

The MHCLG will process all data according to the provisions of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation 2018 (UK GDPR) and all applicable laws and regulations relating to processing of Personal Data and privacy, including, where necessary, the guidance and codes of practice issued by the Information Commissioner and any other relevant data protection regulations (together “the Data Protection Legislation (as amended from time to time)”).

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; that processing 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; data being processed belongs to business contacts processed during the routine course of business of a government department.

4. With whom we will be sharing the data

As part of the process of selecting and monitoring the UK Community Renewal Fund, the MHCLG will share your personal data with relevant government departments including:

  • Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
  • Her Majesty’s Treasury (HMT)
  • Cabinet Office
  • Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland
  • Office of the Secretary of State for Wales
  • Northern Ireland Office
  • Department for Education
  • Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)
  • Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
  • Department of International Trade

The data may also be shared with departments in the Devolved Administrations, and contractors where they are used for monitoring purposes, to evaluate the programme. Their contract will set out what they are permitted to do with personal data.

5. For how long we will keep the personal data, or criteria used to determine the retention period.

If your bid is successful, your personal data will be held for up to two years from the closure of the bidding process. This is currently estimated to be July 2023. As part of the monitoring process, we will contact you regularly to ensure our records are up to date.

Should your bid be unsuccessful, we will erase your personal data.

6. Your rights, e.g. access, rectification, erasure

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

You have the right to:

  • a. know that we are using your personal data
  • b. see what data we have about you
  • c. ask to have your data corrected, and to ask how we check the information we hold is accurate
  • d. complain to the ICO (see below)

7. Sending data overseas

Your personal data will not be sent overseas.

8. Automated decision making

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

9. 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.

10. Complaints and more information

If you are unhappy with the way the department is using your personal data, you can make a complaint.

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. You can also contact the ICO for independent advice about data protection, privacy and data sharing. The ICO’s contact details are provided below.

If you are not happy with how we are using your personal data, you should first contact dataprotection@communities.gov.uk.

If you are still not happy, or for independent advice about data protection, privacy and data sharing, you can contact:

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

Telephone: 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545 745
https://ico.org.uk/