Privacy Policy

What is the South Yorkshire Violence Reduction Unit?

The South Yorkshire Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) is part of South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority and works across South Yorkshire to prevent and reduce violence. The VRU takes a Public Health Approach to violence prevention, which includes:

– Primary prevention: stopping violence before it starts
– Secondary prevention: early intervention when violent behaviour or its causes begin to emerge
– Tertiary prevention: providing ways out for individuals already involved in violent behaviour
– Criminal Justice and Enforcement: holding individuals accountable for their actions
– Attitudinal Change: shifting cultural norms to reduce violence

Who we are? 

The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) is a public authority and the Data Controller for the information that is processed in relation to the South Yorkshire Violence Reduction Unit Service.

Legislation requires the SYMCA to appoint a Data Protection Officer who is responsible for protecting individuals’ personal data according to current legislation. You can contact the SYMCA Data Protection Officer via email at data.protectionofficer@southyorkshire-ca.gov.uk.

How we get your personal data

The SYMCA will process the personal information that is provided by service users for the purposes of delivering the South Yorkshire Violence Reduction Unit service. By providing information and using this service, you are consenting to your data being processed by SYMCA and shared with any third parties necessary to deliver the service.

Our lawful basis for using your information 

SYMCA will rely on ‘consent’ as the lawful basis to process your data. 

What information do we collect? 

Personal information collected from you in connection with our services includes the following:
Name, contact details.  

What do we do with your information? 

SYMCA will only use data provided by service users for the purposes of delivering the South Yorkshire Violence Reduction Unit’s services. This includes:
– Supporting individuals at risk of or involved in violence
– Coordinating early intervention and prevention programmes
– Administering any corporate activities that SYMCA are required to carry out as a data controller and public authority
– Undertaking research and evaluation of the services provided
– Providing reports to governance boards regarding the VRU’s work

When using the data for the above purposes SYMCA will be considered as a Data Controller

Purpose of Data use

To administer and deliver violence prevention and reduction services to individuals across South Yorkshire, including early intervention and support for those at risk of or involved in violence.

Personal information used

Contact details and marketing preferences. 

What do we do to make sure your information is secure? 

The information you provide will be subject to rigorous procedures to make sure it can’t be seen, accessed or shared with anyone who shouldn’t see it. These include:

• Maintenance of up to date, data handling policies and procedures (including personal data) and made available to all staff. These set out how your information is protected and what happens if the security of the information is breached.
• All staff training in how to handle data including personal data, in accordance with data protection law.
• All staff compliance with data handling policies and procedures.
• All laptops used by staff being encrypted and needing a unique logon password and ID to access the computer systems; and
• Staff only have access to the information they need to do their job. This means if they are not the right person in the right team, they will not be able to see your information.
• The SYMCA has responsibilities to keep our computer systems secure and take steps to stop outside malicious access, also known as hacking. This requires us to comply with requirements specified by central Government.

How long will we keep your information? 

The SYMCA will only keep your information for as long as is necessary.  

How can I exercise my information rights?  

The SYMCA must comply with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. Under data protection law you have rights, including:

• Your right of access – you have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.
• Your right to rectification – you have the right to ask us to rectify information you think is inaccurate or incomplete.
• Your right to deletion or removal of personal data where there is no compelling reason for its continued processing.
• Your right to restriction of processing – you have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your information in certain circumstances.
• Your right to object to processing – you have the right to object to the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances.
• Your right to data portability – you have the right to ask what we transfer the information you give us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances;

You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.

If you have any requests in line with the above, please contact the SYMCA’s Data Protection Officer by:
Email: data.protectionofficer@southyorkshire-ca.gov.uk  

Or in writing to:

Rebecca Brookes 
The Data Protection Officer 
South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority 
11 Broad Street West 
Sheffield 
S1 2BQ

How to find out more 

To find out more about how the SYMCA handle your data please visit our organisational Privacy Notice.

If you feel we have not handled your information appropriately, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. For further details on this and your information rights, please visit the Information Commissioner’s website.