We take your privacy seriously and will only keep and use your personal information for reasons that the law requires or allows. The Council is the data controller for the personal information we hold about you in relation to this function.
The purposes for which your data will be used
In addition to the information supplied on your application we may collect information about you from other sources. This may include the following:
- Information from third party databases including credit reference agencies
- Publicly available information, including from sources such as Companies House and the Electoral Roll
- Information that we receive from our partners and registered advisors (see "business relationship management" above)
This list is not exhaustive and, in specific instances, we may need to collect additional data for the purposes set out in this notice.
We will only use your personal information for the purposes for the purpose of administering the grant for which you have applied, or where allowed or required by law.
We may also use your personal information for the purpose of keeping you informed of future funding that you may be eligible for and other business support activities.
We may use the information that we hold about you where it is necessary for us to do so in order to meet our legal obligations or to detect and prevent fraud, money-laundering and other crimes.
We may also use your information where it is necessary to protect your vital interests, or the vital interests of others. This may include in the event of criminality such as identity theft, piracy or fraud.
Legal basis
Our legal basis for processing your personal information is UKGDRP Article 6(1)(c), ‘Legal Obligation’. This is because we have a legal obligation to process grant applications.
Who do we share your personal information with?
We share the information that you provide to us internally where necessary to carry out the processing of your grant. We are also required to report to government departments and agencies such as the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, National Fraud Initiative and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. Depending on the nature of your relationship with us and our network, we may also share your personal data where allowed or required by the law, or in order to comply with judicial proceedings, court orders or legal or regulatory proceedings. There are certain other exceptional circumstances in which we may disclose your information to third parties. For example, this would be where we believe that the disclosure is necessary for the prevention or detection of crime, including exchanging information with other organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.
How long do we hold your personal data?
We will only hold your personal data for as long as we need it for the purposes for which it was collected. Where we provide you with any service, we will retain any information you provide to us at least for as long as we continue to provide that service to you. After which time your data will be retained for 10 years after the conclusion of that service.
In certain circumstances, you can ask us to stop using your personal data earlier. You can find more information about your rights below, alternatively you can contact us at any time using the contact details at the top of this page.
Data protection law provides you with certain rights. Not all of these rights will be available to you in all situations, particularly where we process your information as part of one of our statutory duties. Where we are under a legal duty to use data for a particular purpose you will not have the right to prevent it being used in that way.
A full list of the rights you may have, under data protection law, is given in the 'Your Rights' section on Data Protection - Privacy Notices.
For specific enquiries regarding personal data which we process you can contact the Data Protection Officer on email: dpo@staffordbc.gov.uk or at Civic Centre, Riverside, Stafford ST16 3AQ.
If you wish to complain about how your personal information has been handled by Stafford Borough Council then please contact the Data Protection Officer in the first instance using the details above. If you are not satisfied you can submit a formal complaint to the Council.
Finally you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, Tel: 0303 123 1113 or you can visit their website at ico.org.uk.