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Privacy policy for Extract

Who we are

Extract is provided by the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (i.AI), part of the Government Digital Service in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). Extract is delivered in collaboration with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) Digital Planning team.

Data controller

DSIT is the data controller for the service.

What personal data we collect

The personal data we collect from you when you use Extract includes:

  • your work email address and the Local Planning Authority (or other organisation) you work for, when you use the service
  • your name and email address if you send us feedback or take part in user research
  • records of the documents you upload and the outputs you download, linked to your account

Other data we collect

We also record how you use the service, such as the pages you visit, the documents you upload, and the actions you take. This helps us improve the service and monitor its performance.

Personal data within the documents you upload

Extract is designed to digitise planning documents — including Tree Preservation Orders, Article 4 Directions and Conservation Area designations — into structured spatial data.

These documents are intended to be public, but they can contain personal data. For example, Tree Preservation Orders may name the owner or occupier of the land at the time the order was made, and may include addresses, signatures or other identifying information. We ask you to remove Personally Identifiable Information such as correspondence before uploading documentation.

When you upload a document to Extract:

  • the document is processed by Extract in order to extract structured data from it
  • the document and its contents, including any personal data within it, are sent to our AI processor (see "Third parties who process data for us" below) to perform the extraction
  • the structured outputs (GeoJSON, shapefiles, CSVs) and the source document are retained so you can review, correct and download them

The lawful basis for processing any personal data contained within these documents is the same as the lawful basis under which the Local Planning Authority publishes them — that is, that processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest, including the operation of the planning system under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and related legislation.

Why we need your personal data

We collect your personal data to:

  • give you access to the service and authenticate you
  • respond to feedback you send us, if you have asked us to
  • carry out user research, with your consent, to improve the service
  • monitor and improve the service, including measuring usage and identifying issues

Why our use of your personal data is lawful

The legal basis for processing all personal data is that it is necessary:

  • to perform a task in the public interest
  • in the exercise of our functions as a government department

This is Article 6(1)(e) of the UK GDPR.

Where we process personal data for user research, we rely on your consent under Article 6(1)(a). You can withdraw consent at any time by contacting us.

How we use your personal data

The personal data we collect may be shared with other government departments, agencies and public bodies — including MHCLG, where Extract supports the Digital Planning programme. It may also be shared with our technology suppliers, for example our hosting and AI processing providers.

We will share your personal data if we are required to do so by law — for example, by court order, or to prevent fraud or other crime.

We will not:

  • sell or rent your personal data to third parties
  • share your personal data with third parties for marketing purposes
  • use your personal data, or the contents of documents you upload, to train AI models

Automated processing and how Extract uses AI

Extract uses large language models to read planning documents and extract structured data from them.

Extract does not make automated decisions about individuals that produce legal or similarly significant effects. The structured data Extract produces is reviewed by Local Planning Authority staff before it is published or used. Planning decisions that affect individuals continue to be made by human decision-makers within Local Planning Authorities.

If you would like to know more about how Extract works, see Extract Knowledge Hub (opens in new window) or contact extract@communities.gov.uk

Third parties who process data for us

We use the following processors to deliver Extract:

  • Google (Gemini API via Google Cloud) [Global region] - to perform AI extraction of structured data from documents you upload
  • AWS (hosting provider) [AWS UK region] - to host the service

Each of these is bound by a contract that requires them to keep your data secure and to process it only on our instructions.

How long we keep your personal data

  • Account data is kept for as long as your account is active or until deletion is requested.
  • Uploaded documents and their structured outputs are kept for 2 years or until deletion is requested.
  • Feedback and user research data is kept for as long as needed for the purposes of research and improvement of the service, and no longer than 2 years.

Children's privacy protection

Extract is a tool for Local Planning Authority staff and is not designed for, or intentionally targeted at, children 13 years of age or younger.

Where your personal data is processed and stored

We design, build and run our systems to make sure that your personal data is as safe as possible at all stages, both while it is processed and when it is stored.

All personal data is stored in the European Economic Area (EEA) (opens in new window) or the United Kingdom.

How we protect your personal data and keep it secure

We are committed to doing all that we can to keep your personal data secure. We have set up systems and processes to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure of your personal data — for example, we protect your personal data using varying levels of encryption.

We also make sure that any third parties that we deal with keep all personal data they process on our behalf secure.

Your data protection rights

You have the right to request:

  • information about how your personal data is processed
  • a copy of that personal data
  • that anything inaccurate in your personal data is corrected immediately

You can also:

  • raise an objection about how your personal data is processed
  • request that your personal data is erased if there is no longer a justification for it
  • ask that the processing of your personal data is restricted in certain circumstances

If you have any of these requests, get in contact with the DSIT data protection team using the details below.

Contact us or make a complaint

DSIT Data Protection Officer
dataprotection@dsit.gov.uk
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
100 Parliament Street
London SW1A 2BQ

You can also make a complaint to the independent regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), at https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint (opens in new window).

Keeping our privacy notice up to date

We may change this privacy notice. Any changes will apply to you and your personal data immediately. You should regularly review this notice.

This notice was last updated on 28 May 2026.