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Guidance

Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment: privacy notice

Published 23 January 2025

Applies to England

© Crown copyright 2025

This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.

Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.

This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/natural-capital-and-ecosystem-assessment-privacy-notice/natural-capital-and-ecosystem-assessment-privacy-notice

The Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA) is an England-wide programme involving several Defra group organisations. Its purpose is to assess and describe the extent and condition of England’s biodiversity, ecosystems and natural capital assets.

1. Controller and Data Protection Officer contact details

The Environment Agency is the controller for the personal data we process under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018).

Our personal information charter explains: 

  • how to contact our Data Protection Officer
  • what we do with your personal information (personal data) in general
  • your rights and how to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office

Alternatively, contact nceamonitoring@environment-agency.gov.uk for additional information or to update your contact details.

2. Why we may process your personal data

Our purpose for processing your personal data is to request permission to access land to carry out surveys for NCEA projects.

The lawful basis we rely on to process your personal data is article 6(1)(e) of the UK GDPR. This allows us to process personal data when this is necessary to perform a task in the public interest or exercise our official authority. The processing has a basis in the Environment Act 2021.

3. What personal data we process and how we use it

We source personal data from:

  • Environment Agency databases
  • HM Land Registry
  • internet searches

We process personal data including your:

  • name
  • address
  • phone
  • email
  • relationship to the land being surveyed, for example, whether you’re an owner or tenant

We use your personal data to:

  • request access permission to your land for NCEA projects
  • update you when planned surveys are due to commence
  • inform you of changes to our monitoring activities

We do not share your personal data with any other party without your consent unless we are required or permitted to do so by law.

We do not use your personal information to make an automated decision or for automated profiling.

4. Where your personal information is stored and processed 

We store and process your personal data in the UK.

5. How long we keep your personal data

If access permissions are granted, and the site is accepted onto the NCEA monitoring programme, we will keep your personal data for a period of up to 7 years from the end of the NCEA project you were involved in.

If you deny access permission or the site is not suitable for inclusion on the NCEA programme, the Environment Agency will remove your personal data.

6. Changes to this notice

If we change this privacy notice and the changes affect how we process your personal data, we’ll take reasonable steps to let you know.

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