Guidance

Affordable Homes Guarantee Scheme: privacy notice

Published 5 February 2019

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/affordable-homes-guarantee-scheme-privacy-notice/affordable-homes-guarantee-scheme-privacy-notice

The following is to explain your rights and give you the information you are entitled to under the Data Protection Act 2018.

MHCLG is committed to being transparent about how we collect and use personal data of the clients and partners we engage with.

This notice sets out the basis on which we collect, process and store the personal data of our stakeholders, in line with our obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation and any other applicable data protection laws.

1. The identity and contact details of MHCLG and our data protection officer

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is the data controller. The Data Protection Officer can be contacted at dataprotection@communities.gov.uk.

If you have any questions or concerns in relation to the processing of your personal data, you can contact our appointed Data Protection Officer by email using the address dataprotection@communities.gov.uk, or by sending us post to:

Knowledge & Information Access Team
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
2nd floor NW, Fry Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF

2. Why we are collecting the data

Your personal data is being collected by MHCLG for the purposes of administering and managing the Affordable Homes Guarantee Scheme (AHGS) operated under license by Affordable Housing Finance plc (AHF).

As part of our engagement with prospective applicants to the AHGS we may collect the following data:

  • Name, address and contact details of company directors and other key employees
  • Companies in which such directors have an interest
  • Date and place of birth
  • Nationality
  • Gender
  • Marital status
  • Copies of identity documents
  • Employment details
  • Other business interests
  • Sources of wealth
  • Utility and bank statements
  • Tax residency particulars
  • Bank account and payment details
  • Tenant details included on rent roll date although applicants should provide this in pseudonymised form

Personal data will be collected by AHF in the first instance and provided to MHCLG and Homes England to evaluate applications, conduct credit assessments of applicants and undertake the relevant governance procedures for the purpose of providing a guarantee of loans and bonds.

We may also use it to contact you in relation to your application to the guarantee scheme or on occasions we may need to use your personal data to fulfil a legal obligation. We will not use your details for marketing purposes.

Data protection legislation sets out when we are lawfully allowed to process your data. The Data Protection Act 2018 states that MHCLG may process personal data as necessary for a public task or for official functions in respect of our work as a government department.

As the AHGS is backed by the government MHCLG has a duty to ensure all applications are appropriately assessed. We will use your data to support the approvals process and for successful applications the data will then be used for ongoing management and governance of the scheme.

4. With whom we will be sharing the data

MHCLG and Homes England will be provided with your personal data from AHF. We may need to share those details with other government departments but will not share your personal details with any external organisations.

5. For how long we will keep the personal data, or criteria used to determine the retention period

Your personal data will be held for the duration of your contract with AHF and then for a further 7 years following completion. Thereafter, personal data will be destroyed securely, in line with departmental policy. We will inform you if there is a requirement to retain your information beyond this period.

6. Your rights, e.g. access, rectification, erasure

The data we are collecting is your personal data, and you have rights that affect what happens to it. You have the right to:

a. know that we are using your personal data

b. see what data we have about you

c. ask to have your data corrected, and to ask how we check the information we hold is accurate

d. ask to have your data deleted

e. complain to the ICO (see below)

In some circumstances you may also have the right to withdraw your consent to us having or using your data, to have all data about you deleted, or to object to particularl types of use of your data. We will tell you when these rights apply.

7. Transfer and storage

Your personal data will not be sent overseas. Departmental policy is that personal data is held on our own departmental networks. Your personal data will be stored in a secure government IT system. We will not use your data for any automated decision making.

8. Complaints and more information

When we ask you for information, we will keep to the law, including the Data Protection Act 2018 and General Data Protection Regulation.

If you are unhappy with the way the department has acted, you can make a complaint.

If you are not happy with how we are using your personal data, you should first contact dataprotection@communities.gov.uk.

If you are still not happy, or for independent advice about data protection, privacy and data sharing, you can contact:

The Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545 745

https://ico.org.uk/

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