Kent and Medway Information Sharing Agreement

Kent and Medway information Partnership

We are a group of local authorities and other public bodies who have joined together in an information sharing arrangement. Sharing personal information is crucial to the successful delivery of local services. The Agreement we have all signed provides for openness and transparency in information sharing, as well as appropriate governance and support, which assists us to share personal information lawfully, safely and securely.

Why we share personal information

One of the most important things that the Agreement does is set out the broad reasons why we share personal information. This means we will only share personal information for legitimate purposes. They are:

• To provide direct health or social care to individuals, including mental healthcare;
• To maximise individuals’ access to benefits;
• To support individuals in, or into, employment;
• To assist individuals with housing and enforce housing standards;
• To support individuals who are homeless and help to prevent homelessness;
• For reasons of environmental protection;
• To help individuals who have been identified as at risk, or who may be so identified;
• To address fuel poverty and water poverty;
• To provide counselling services;
• To safeguard vulnerable adults;
• To support vulnerable families;
• To safeguard children and young people;
• To support or improve educational provision;
• To detect, prevent or provide assistance in cases of domestic abuse;
• To enforce professional standards;
• To support the Prevent Strategy;
• To aid with the detection or prevention of crime;
• To support Liaison and Diversion Schemes;
• For reasons related to the detection and prevention of terrorism;
• To aid with the detection and prevention of non-criminal acts that are nevertheless unlawful;
• To address anti-social behaviour;
• To support release from custodial settings;
• To improve the efficiency of service provision;
• To improve operational efficiency;
• For reasons of public safety and emergency planning;
• To assist emergency responders;
• For research purposes;
• To calculate and levy tax and to investigate matters relating to tax;
• To combat fraud;
• For purposes of immigration control;
• For purposes related to inquests or investigations by Coroners;
• To facilitate reimbursement of costs or to apply charges for services;
• To support or promote democratic engagement (ie: the range of activities inside and outside the election periods)

How we share information lawfully, safely and securely

The Agreement reflects the updated protection of personal information in the General Data Protection Regulation and the UK Data Protection Act 2018. It enables us to share information only when:

• we have proper reasons to share and use personal information (linked to the purposes above), and we share only the information relevant to and adequate for those purposes;
• we tell individuals why and how we will share their information, including identifying for them (and for ourselves) the lawful basis for sharing the information;
• we ensure that the personal information is factually accurate;
• we store personal information for the minimum time necessary for the purposes for which the information was obtained;
• we take practical steps to prevent loss of or damage to the personal information; and
• we adopt good governance and record keeping procedures concerning our use of personal information

For further information on the Kent and Medway Information Sharing Agreement or to join the Kent and Medway Information Partnership, please contact Marie Kelly-Stone

Signatories to the K and MISA