The New Forest Rural England Prosperity Fund Privacy Notice

New Forest District Council ('NFDC') is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

The Rural England Prosperity Fund is part of the UK Government's UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF). The Rural England Prosperity Fund is referred to as the 'Rural Fund' in this Privacy Notice.

The Rural Fund supports the aims of the government's Levelling Up White Paper and Future Farming Programme. Local authorities, including New Forest District Council, receive funding under the Rural England Prosperity Fund to help to improve productivity and strengthen the rural economy and rural communities through the delivery of a capital grants programme accessible to eligible small businesses and communities.

For the purpose of the UK General Data Protection Regulation ('UK GDPR'), the Data Controller is New Forest District Council, Appletree Court, Beaulieu Road, Lyndhurst, Hampshire SO43 7PA (data.protection@nfdc.gov.uk).

When you contact New Forest District Council about the Rural Fund, we will ask you for certain personal information in order to be able respond to your enquiry and to ensure your businesses is eligible for the Rural Fund scheme. Some of this information will need to be recorded and stored on our systems and shared with the organisations involved in the delivery of the programme.

New Forest District Council will be asked to report data to government (the "Managing Authority") to ensure that Rural Fund allocations are being spent to agreed timescales and milestones, including achievement of outputs and outcomes at the project level and also to monitor payments made to individual businesses.

This privacy notice aims to explain:

The different kinds of personal data we process
How we use your data
How we store your data
Why we process your data
When and why we share your information
What are the legal grounds for processing your information
Further information and how to contact us

1. What kind of personal data do we process

Beneficiaries of the Rural Fund will be required to provide information relating primarily to their business; however, it will involve the processing of some personal data.

This information will include:

business name and contact details including for sole traders,
business size & type (sole-trader, Ltd company etc).
documents to confirm identity and eligibility of applicant and business
equalities and other monitoring information (which may include special category data)

The personal data will not comprise criminal offence data.

2. How we use your data

We will use your data to ensure your business is eligible for support through the Rural Fund and to deliver that support.

We will also use your data to evidence the achievement of project outputs in reports and claims for grant funding to the Managing Authority and to inform monitoring & evaluation of the programme and/or data for audit processes as required.

We WILL NOT share your information with any external party for marketing or promotional purposes.

3. How we store your data

The information we collect is recorded and then stored on secure servers.

It will also be retained for up to 6 years from the date at which our UK Shared Prosperity Investment Plans were approved by Government. This is currently estimated to be summer 2028.

Information we may collect from you whilst you are using our web services:

When someone visits our website, we use a third-party service, Google Analytics, to collect standard Internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is only processed in a way which does not identify anyone. We do not make and do not allow Google to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website.

We may have access to geolocation data as indicated by your IP address. We collect and process IP addresses of all devices where some of our services are made available on such as our live chat. Collecting and processing your geo-location data refers to mobile devices as well as computers.

For the same reason, we may obtain information about your general Internet usage by using a cookie file which is stored on the hard drive of your computer. They help us to improve our site and to deliver a better and more personalised service. To find out more about cookies.

4. Why we process your data

We need to process your data in order to provide you with the services that you are requesting and to enable NFDC to deliver the Rural Fund scheme. Examples of these might include:

If you have contacted us in relation to the Rural Fund and a reply to your query has been requested; your information is needed to enable us to follow this through.
To process your application to the Rural Fund; your information is needed to enable us to ensure your business is eligible for support.
To deliver the Rural Fund support that your business is requesting and eligible for.
If you wish to receive the Economic Development Service eNewsletter we need your contact details to add you to the relevant mailing list.

5. When and why we share your information

Internally

In order to process your enquiry we need to share the information that you give us with other departments within NFDC (for example Finance and Legal Services). Some examples of how and why we share your data in relation to the Rural Fund are:

We will need to share your details with other Council services that assist in the production of monitoring reports and information to the Managing Authority.
We will need to share your details with other Council services to ensure your business meets the eligibility criteria for the Rural Fund.
If you wish to know about other businesses support initiatives or services, we may need to share your details with other services. We will ask your permission before doing this, as without sharing information we may not be able to provide the help you require.

Below is a list of the most common teams or departments within NFDC that we share information with; this is not an exhaustive list, and information may need to be shared with other teams or services within NFDC (that are not listed below) in order to process your enquiry and/or application.

Shared with	What and why
Finance and Audit teams	We will need to pass on your data to assist in the production of monitoring reports and information on the Rural Fund to support our reporting to the Managing Authority.
Legal Services	We will need to pass on your data to assist in the production of monitoring reports and information on the Rural Fund to the Managing Authority.
Revenues & Benefits	We will need to pass on details of your application to the council tax or business rates services to ensure your application meets the eligibility criteria for the scheme or if would like more information on aspects of starting and running a business.
Licensing & Regulation	We will need to pass on details of your application to ensure your application meets the eligibility criteria for the scheme or if would like more information on aspects of starting and running a business.

Externally

NFDC is a 'Delivery Partner' in the project and as such is a Data Controller.

We may share your information, subject to contractual and other legal safeguards, with the organisation shown below to assist with the delivery of the Rural Fund:

Shared with	What and why
1. The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), is the Managing Authority for the Rural Fund.	As may be required for them to ensure that the Grant has been administered appropriately, thereby protecting public funds. They are a Data Controller.
2. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) is the Managing Authority for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.	As may be required for them to ensure that the Grant has been administered appropriately, thereby protecting public funds. They are a Data Controller

6. What are the legal grounds for processing your information

a) Where it is necessary for the performance of a contract;

b) In order to comply with a legal obligation;

c) Where it is in the legitimate interest of NFDC to do so;

d) With your consent;

e) With your explicit consent or where there is a substantial public interest in relation to special categories data.

If you wish to withdraw your consent you can do so by contacting us at the above address or on businesssupport@nfdc.gov.uk. However, if you withdraw your consent, you will not be able to benefit from the Rural Fund.

7. Further Information and how to contact us

If you have any questions relating to this privacy notice or your privacy in general, please speak to (or contact) one of our Economic Development team at businesssupport@nfdc.gov.uk or on 023 8028 5735.

Alternatively, you can write to: Economic Development, Appletree Court, Beaulieu Road, Lyndhurst, Southampton, Hampshire, SO43 7PA.

You can contact the Council's Data Protection Officer at data.protection@nfdc.gov.uk.

For further information, plus information on access, portability, withdrawal of consent, correction etc. please see:

Information Rights Policy (PDF) [237KB]

For more information on Data Protection in general, or if you wish to make a complaint relating to how your personal data has been used, please contact the Information Commissioner's Office:

Website: https://ico.org.uk/

Phone helpline: 0303 123 1113

Email: casework@ico.org.uk

However, if you have a complaint relating to your personal data, please contact NFDC in the first instance.