UKSPF privacy notice for enterprises

Information you need to know

Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) works closely with local partners, often small and medium size enterprises (SMEs), to ensure that important projects with a public benefit can be properly funded with help from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) supports the UK government’s wider commitment to level up all parts of the UK. The UKSPF is a £2.6 billion Fund designed to succeed and improve upon EU structural funds. The UKSPF is not a direct replacement for EU structural funds.

It improves on these funds by:

  • focusing on UK priorities rather than policies dictated by the EU
  • giving local areas a greater say in investments, by giving more direct accountability to elected local leaders

UKSPF is managed by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and administered by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCR CA), who control what data is collected and whom it is shared with.

In any UKSPF project, a Partner or Lead Partner works to administer the funding and provide support on behalf of DLUHC and the LCR CA. They may also work with other partners.

As a ‘Partner’ or ‘Lead Partner’ and a Data Controller, LJMU processes (uses) personal data for this project for the purpose of carrying out the project and complying with our obligations to the DLUHC and LCR CA. DLUHC and LCR CA are also Data Controllers in their own right and will process your personal data for their own purposes.

For more information about how DLUHC may use and share your information in projects funded by UKSPF please see their Privacy Notice.

For more information about how the LCR CA may use and share your information in projects funded by UKSPF please see their website.

LJMU takes your privacy very seriously. This privacy notice explains how we use your personal information for this project and your rights regarding that information. We are committed to being transparent about how we collect and use your data and to meeting our data protection obligations.

LJMU’s Data Protection Officer can be contacted at DPO@ljmu.ac.uk. You can contact our DPO if you have any further questions about how we use your personal data.

What information are we collecting?

We will collect company details, such as name of contact, trading name, company address, postcode, work phone number and work email address, companies house number and VAT number. If you are a sole trader, we will also collect your unique tax reference number. We may also need to collect personal data such as age, ethnicity and disability of employees.

Your personal data will be used only by relevant LJMU staff where the data is necessary for them to undertake their designated role, and may be shared with third parties as detailed in this notice.

Why are we collecting your data and what is the legal basis for this?

We collect your data to check your eligibility for support and to comply with our contractual obligations under the UKSPF funding agreement(s) that subsidise the project(s). We also use your data to identify which groups and types of organisations have received support and to inform future policy decisions.

We will process personal data in the UKSPF according to the following lawful basis:

Article 6(1)(e) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR):

‘Processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller’.

Who has access to this data?

Your personal data will be used only by relevant LJMU staff where the data is necessary for them to undertake their designated role.

Your data will be shared only with other stakeholders to a project on a need-to-know basis to record support provided, for reporting purposes and for subsequent evaluation of the programme. Examples of these partners include (please note this list is not exhaustive):

  • DLUHC
  • LCR Combined Authority
  • Growth Platform
  • Local Authorities
  • Chambers of Commerce
  • Other government Departments
  • Other Higher Education institutions
  • Charities and Voluntary Sector Organisations

Your personal data will only be processed in the UK and will not be sent overseas without your agreement.

How does the University protect your data?

The University takes Data Protection very seriously. The information we collect is stored safely and securely and processed in accordance with UK GDPR.

For how long does the University keep your data?

Your data will only be kept as long as is required under the funding agreement and to comply with audit requirements. At present, UKSPF require the University to hold this data until 2031.

Your rights

As a data subject, you have a number of rights. You can:

  • access and obtain a copy of your data on request
  • ask the University to correct incorrect or incomplete data
  • ask the University to delete or stop processing your data, for example where the data is no longer necessary or legally required for the purposes of processing
  • request transfer of your data to another party

If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact the Data Protection Officer.

What if you do not provide data?

We need to collect personal data from you to check your eligibility for support and to comply with our contractual obligations under the funding agreement(s) that subsidise the project(s).

If you do not provide the information to us, we will not be able to offer you the support.

You are under no obligation to provide us with monitoring information such as your age, gender, ethnicity and health data and it will not affect your support if you do not wish to supply that information on the form.

Automated decision making

We will not make any decisions about you automatically using a computer, based on your personal data. All decisions affecting you will be taken by a human.

How to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office?

You have the right to complain to The Information Commissioner if you believe that our processing of your personal data does not meet our data protection obligations. The Information Commissioner can be contacted:

By post: Information Commissioners Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK95AF.
By phone: 0303 123 1113
By email: contact can be made by accessing the ICO website.