Vaping Survey privacy notice
We keep this privacy notice under regular review and was last updated on 30 March 2026.
We respect your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy notice will inform you as to how we look after your personal data and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.
Who we are
We collect, use and are responsible for 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.
Our Kent Analytics department will be responsible for the personal information collected by this research survey.
Our Data Protection Officer is Benjamin Watts.
The personal information we collect and use
Information collected by us
In the course of conducting research surveys with Kent Residents and our service users, Kent Analytics collect personal information when you implicitly consent (by participating in the survey) to provide it to us. We will collect:
- basic demographic profiling information: Your sex, gender, the age range into which you belong, the Kent district in which you reside and your ethic group
- your name, phone number and email address if you wish to participate in follow-up research with us, which is entirely optional.
How we use your personal information
We use your personal information to:
- enable basic demographic profiling to ensure the research data accurately represents the correct group of residents and service users
- compare the research findings from different groups of residents, based upon their different demographic profiles
- enable us to re-contact some individuals to conduct more in-depth follow-up research into specific issues identified in the initial research.
Reasons we can collect and use your personal information
When we collect your personal data, we rely on the following legal basis:
- Article 6(1)(e) - 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.
When we collect your ‘special categories of personal data’, we rely on the following legal basis:
- Article 9(2)(i) - processing is necessary for public health.
We rely on the ‘public health’ condition from Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018 when relying on Article 9(2)(i) to process your special category data.
We take the following appropriate safeguards in respect of your special category data:
- we have a retention schedule which explains how long data is retained
- we maintain a record of our processing in our ‘Record of Processing Activities’ and record in it any reasons for deviating from the periods in our Retention Schedule.
How long your personal data will be kept
We will hold your personal information for 12 months. This allows for the research to be concluded and reported within the first 6 months, plus a further 6 months should initially unforeseen additional analyses be required after the report is completed.
Who we share your personal information with
We occasionally, only when necessary, share basic contact information (for example, your name, phone number and email address) with colleagues within our Kent Analytics team to enable research participants to be re-contacted to participate in follow-up research.
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. We rely on Article 9(2)(f) where the processing of special category data is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims or whenever courts are acting in their judicial capacity.
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 Commissioners Office.
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 UKGDPR.
If you would like to exercise a right, 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
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.
Contact our Data Protection Officer, Benjamin Watts, at dpo@kent.gov.uk .
The UK GDPR also gives you right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner who may be contacted on 03031 231113.
Read our corporate privacy statement.