18th November 2024

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Serving the people of Byfield

Privacy


General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

This Privacy Notice is provided to you by this local council which is the data controller for your data.


Your personal data - what is it?

Personal data is any information about a living individual which allows them to be identified from that data (for example a name, photographs, videos, email address, or address). The processing of personal data is governed by legislation relating to personal data which applies in the United Kingdom including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and other legislation relating to personal data and rights such as the Human Rights Act.


Making sure your data is safe

GDPR is designed to create common privacy requirements across the EU. It is a development of existing data protection legislation and is based on seven key principles that can be summarised as:

  • Personal information that we hold will be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner.
  • Personal data will only be used for specific and legitimate purposes.
  • The information that we hold shall be limited to what is necessary.
  • Information shall be accurate.
  • Information shall be held no longer than is necessary.
  • Information shall be kept safe and secure.
  • We are accountable and can demonstrate compliance with GDPR.

Other data controllers the council works with:

We may need to share your personal data with others tiers of local government and partners so that they can carry out their responsibilities to the council.


The council will process some or all of the following personal data where necessary to perform its tasks:

  • Names, titles, and aliases, photographs;
  • Contact details such as telephone numbers, addresses, and email addresses;
  • Where they are relevant to the services provided by a council, or where you provide them to us, we may process information such as gender, age, marital status, nationality, education/work history, academic/professional qualifications, hobbies, family composition, and dependants;
  • Where you pay for activities such as use of a council hall, financial identifiers such as bank account numbers, payment card numbers, payment/transaction identifiers.

How we use sensitive personal data:

We may process personal data including, as appropriate:

  • Your racial or ethnic origin or religious or similar information in order to monitor compliance with equal opportunities legislation;
  • in order to comply with legal requirements and obligations to third parties.

These types of data are described in the GDPR as "Special categories of data" and require higher levels of protection. We need to have further justification for collecting, storing and using this type of personal data.

We may process special categories of personal data in the following circumstances:

  • In limited circumstances, with your explicit written consent.
  • Where we need to carry out our legal obligations.
  • Where it is needed in the public interest.

Less commonly, we may process this type of personal data where it is needed in relation to legal claims or where it is needed to protect your interests (or someone else's interests) and you are not capable of giving your consent, or where you have already made the information public.


Do we need your consent to process your sensitive personal data?

In limited circumstances, we may approach you for your written consent to allow us to process certain sensitive personal data. If we do so, we will provide you with full details of the personal data that we would like and the reason we need it, so that you can carefully consider whether you wish to consent.


We use your personal data for some or all of the following purposes:

  • To deliver public services including to understand your needs to provide the services that you request and to understand what we can do for you and inform you of other relevant services;
  • To confirm your identity to provide some services;
  • To contact you by post, email, telephone or using social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp);
  • To help us to build up a picture of how we are performing;
  • To prevent and detect fraud and corruption in the use of public funds and where necessary for the law enforcement functions;
  • To enable us to meet all legal and statutory obligations and powers including any delegated functions;
  • To carry out comprehensive safeguarding procedures (including due diligence and complaints handling) in accordance with best safeguarding practice from time to time with the aim of ensuring that all children and adults-at-risk are provided with safe environments and generally as necessary to protect individuals from harm or injury;
  • To promote the interests of the council;
  • To maintain our own accounts and records;
  • To seek your views, opinions or comments;
  • To notify you of changes to our facilities, services, events and staff, councillors and other role holders;
  • To send you communications which you have requested and that may be of interest to you. These may include information about campaigns, appeals, other new projects or initiatives;
  • To process relevant financial transactions including grants and payments for goods and services supplied to the council
  • To allow the statistical analysis of data so we can plan the provision of services.

Our processing may also include the use of CCTV systems for the prevention and prosecution of crime.


What is the legal basis for processing your personal data?

The council is a public authority and has certain powers and obligations. Most of your personal data is processed for compliance with a legal obligation which includes the discharge of the council's statutory functions and powers. Sometimes when exercising these powers or duties it is necessary to process personal data of residents or people using the council's services. We will always take into account your interests and rights. This Privacy Notice sets out your rights and the council's obligations to you.

We may process personal data if it is necessary for the performance of a contract with you, or to take steps to enter into a contract. An example of this would be processing your data in connection with the use of sports facilities, or the acceptance of an allotment garden tenancy

Sometimes the use of your personal data requires your consent. We will first obtain your consent to that use.


How long do we keep your personal data?

We will keep some records permanently if we are legally required to do so. We may keep some other records for an extended period of time. For example, it is currently best practice to keep financial records for a minimum period of 8 years to support HMRC audits or provide tax information. We may have legal obligations to retain some data in connection with our statutory obligations as a public authority. The council is permitted to retain data in order to defend or pursue claims. In some cases the law imposes a time limit for such claims (for example 3 years for personal injury claims or 6 years for contract claims). We will retain some personal data for this purpose as long as we believe it is necessary to be able to defend or pursue a claim. In general, we will endeavour to keep data only for as long as we need it. This means that we will delete it when it is no longer needed.


Your legal rights

Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. You have the right to:

Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a "data subject access request"). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.

Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.

Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.

Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.

Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios:

  • If you want us to establish the data's accuracy.
  • Where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it.
  • Where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
  • You have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.

Request the transfer of your personal data to another controller. We will comply with your request, where it is feasible to do so, within one month of receiving your request.

Withdraw consent at any time You can withdraw your consent easily by telephone, email, or by post (see Contact Details below).

The right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office.
You can contact the Information Commissioners Office on 0303 123 1113 or via email https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/email/ or at the Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Contact Details.
Please contact us (The Data Controller) if you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or the personal data we hold about you or to exercise all relevant rights, queries or complaints. Our contact details can be found at the bottom of this page.