Trading Standards Test Purchasing Volunteer Details privacy notice
We keep this privacy notice under regular review and it was last updated on 1 July 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.
The KCC Trading Standards service is responsible for creating and maintaining a safe and fair-trading environment where Kent businesses can operate and grow, and Kent consumers can engage in their economic activity with confidence.
Our Data Protection Officer is Benjamin Watts.
Personal information we collect and use
Information collected by us
In the course of planning and conducting test purchase operations, we collect the following personal information when you provide it to us:
- Volunteer name
- Parents/Legal guardian name
- Address of volunteer
- Contact details (email address and telephone number for volunteer and parents/legal guardian)
- Proof of age document number (eg. passport number).
- Photograph of volunteer
- Details of education establishment
We may also collect the following ‘special category data’ (personal data which is more sensitive and is treated with extra care and protection) when you provide it to us:
- Medical information (if applicable).
How we use your personal information
We use your personal information to correspond with you and to ensure your health, safety and wellbeing is not impacted whilst you are volunteering to carry out a test purchase operation with KCC Trading Standards.
Reasons we can collect and use your personal information
We rely on Article 6(1)(e) as the lawful basis on which we collect and use your personal data ie that ‘processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest’.
Additionally, as parents/legal guardians are required to provide consent for their child taking part in this activity, we also rely on Article 6(1)(a) as the lawful basis on which we collect and use your personal data ie that ‘the data subject has given consent to the processing of personal data’.
As we may collect and use special categories of personal data (relevant medical conditions), we rely on Article 9(2)(g) as the lawful basis on which we collect and use this personal data ie ‘processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest.’
How long your personal data will be kept
- If enforcement action is taken because of the test purchase operation, we will hold your personal details for six years following the closure of the case prior to it being securely destroyed.
- If no further enforcement action is taken following the test purchase operation, your personal details will be held up until the date of your 18th birthday and then securely destroyed.
Who we share your personal information with
We do not routinely share your personal details.
Where enforcement action is taken, the personal details included on the volunteering form will not be disclosed unless instructed by a court.
We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required by applicable law or in connection with legal proceedings.
Your rights
Under the UK GDPR you have a number of rights which you can access 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
- 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.
Depending on our reason for using your information you may also be entitled to:
- object to how we are using your information
- 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
- 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.
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 the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation.
If you would like to exercise a right, please contact the Information Resilience and Transparency Team at data.protection@kent.gov.uk.
Your Right to Withdraw your Consent
Where we rely on your consent to process your personal information, you can withdraw your consent to our use of your data at any time.
You can do this by emailing 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, or write to: Data Protection Officer, Sessions House, Maidstone, Kent ME14 1XQ.
The United Kingdom 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.