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Coroners' Court privacy notice

We keep this privacy notice under regular review and was last updated on 14 September 2022.

Kent County Council (KCC) respects 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

Kent County Council collects, uses and is 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.

Kent County Council supports the Coroners in the execution of their statutory duties. Coroners are independent judicial officers who hold the statutory responsibility to make enquiries of any death that is reported to them and investigate the death if it appears that the cause of death is unknown, or the death was violent or unnatural, or the person died in prison, police custody, or other type of state detention.

As part of these enquiries, the Coroner may request an inquest and convene Coroners' Court which may require a jury and witnesses. Coroners Courts are open to both the public and the press.

The KCC Data Protection Officer is Benjamin Watts.

Personal information we collect and use

Information collected by us

While convening Coroners Court, a list of potential jurors is gathered from the central Electoral Roll (your name and address), and the Coroners Service will then use this information to issue summons.

As part of this process, the person summoned must respond quickly and provide further personal information, including:

  • Name
  • Address and contact details.
  • Date of birth
  • Medical or personal circumstances which may prevent you from being a juror

How we use your personal information

We use your personal information to ensure you are suitable for and confirm, your role as a juror, or to agree for your exclusion from being a juror.

Reasons we can collect and use your personal information

We rely on Article 6(1)(c) as the lawful basis on which we collect and use your personal data ie ‘processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation’ in accordance with the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, Coroners (Inquests) Rules 2013 and Coroners (Investigations) Regulations 2013.

Special category data is collected for purposes of making adjustments for accessibility or for requesting exclusion from being a Juror, and the lawful basis for this is Article 9 (2)(g) ‘processing is necessary for the reasons of substantial public interest’.

How long your personal data will be kept

Details from the Electoral Roll will be held for 6 months, and a manual review take place monthly to delete data.

Details of Jurors and witness in the case of an investigation or inquest will be retained indefinitely. Should you wish to have your details removed from the case after a period of 20 years (the minimum legal period) you should inform the Coroner in writing.

Who we share your personal information with

We will not routinely share your information, and any disclosure that is necessary will only be done with your explicit consent or under direction of the Coroner in accordance with the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 and Coroners (Inquests) Rules 2013.

We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required by applicable law or in connection with legal proceedings. These authorities can include but are not limited to:

  • Kent Police, and other Police services including British Transport Police
  • Doctors, nurses and healthcare providers including mental healthcare providers
  • NHS services
  • Kent and other Registration services
  • Public and private care providers
  • Prison Estates
  • Ombudsmen and other statutory agencies
  • Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and Embassies
  • Pathologists and Toxicologists
  • Procurator Fiscal Office (Scotland)
  • Secretary of State
  • Chief Coroner Officer.

Your rights

Under the GDPR you have rights which you can exercise free of charge that 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 Commissioner's Office
  • you can withdraw your consent at any time

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.

Who to 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.

The UK GDPR also gives you right to lodge a complaint with Information Commissioner, who may be contacted via the Information Commissioner's website or call 03031 231113.

Read our corporate privacy statement.