Personal data

What we hold how we collect and how we use personal data

The kind of information we hold about you, how it is collected and how we use it

We are a District Council, which is a type of local authority. Accordingly we provide a variety of services and functions, both mandatory and discretionary, all of which derive from statute law.

As a data controller we therefore need to collect, hold and use personal information about you in order to provide these services and carry out our functions.

We are also an employer and therefore need to collect, hold and use personal information about our staff, workers and contractors as well as job applicants.

In addition, as a local authority and local electoral registration office, we have elected councillors so need to collect, hold and use personal information about them as well as about nominees for election.

The kind of information we hold about you

Where you deal with us as your local authority, local electoral registration office and (in respect of our staff) as your employer we collect, store, and use the following categories of personal information about you:

• Your personal contact details (eg. name, address, title, telephone number, email address)
• Your date of birth
• Your gender
• Your marital status and your dependents; and
• Certain financial information about you (eg. your payment card or bank account details)

We may collect, store and use additional information to this in certain circumstances where it is required for an identified purpose (see How we will use information about you, below).

We may collect, store or use the following "special categories" of more sensitive personal information if it is required to allow us to perform a particular legal obligation (see How we will use information about you below):

• Information about your race or ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation and political opinions
• Information about your health, including any medical condition, health and sickness records
• Information about criminal convictions and offences

How is your personal information collected?

We collect personal information about you from the following sources:

• You
• Other public sector organisations, such as central government (or agencies acting on their behalf) or the police
• Our suppliers, where they collect information when acting on our behalf

How we will use information about you

The legitimate purpose for which we have collected your personal information will vary depending on the reasoning for your interaction with us but will relate to the role we are carrying out pursuant to our public functions and services provided by law and as set out in the table below:

We need to use the personal information we collect about you for the above purposes because it is necessary for us to comply with our legal obligations and/or to perform our official functions. As a local authority the difference between whether we are using your personal information pursuant to a legal obligation or to perform our official functions is based on whether the function is:

• Mandatory – ie. we are legally obliged to do something
• Discretionary – ie. we have a legal power to do something but we are not obliged to do it

Any powers that we, as a local authority, have must be set out in law and therefore all the functions that we perform must also derive from law.

If you would like to read more, please see the additional privacy information in relation to particular service/function specific use of your personal information and the law(s) pursuant to which we process this. We have also set out details of where we may rely on an alternative lawful basis to process your personal information, such as where we process information about our staff or our councillors.

How we use particularly sensitive personal information and information about criminal convictions

We do not envisage that we will use your more sensitive personal information or information about criminal convictions/allegations as a matter of course, however on occasion it may be required to allow us to perform a particular legal obligation. In this respect please refer to the additional privacy information in relation to particular service/function specific use to read more.

Data sharing

Why might you share my personal information?

We will only share your personal information internally with officers and departments within the Council where they have a business need to know and/or where this is necessary in accordance with the performance of a public task or in compliance with a legal obligation. The same is the case with our third-party service providers, where they are acting on our behalf. Where we use a third party supplier for this purpose then we will have a contract in place with them that restricts the processing that they can do and requires them to take appropriate security measures to protect your personal information in line with our policies. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes. We only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

It may be necessary to share your personal information with other data controllers in certain circumstances, where we do this we ensure that your information is transmitted securely. Except where you are informed otherwise by us elsewhere in this privacy notice or separately, this will only be carried out where there is a legal requirement to share the personal information or where the sharing is necessary pursuant to our (or another organisation’s) official authority. For example the sharing of personal information pursuant to Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (including the housing of sexual and violent offenders) with other local authorities, the police and housing associations.

Additional information about where we may share your personal information for service/function specific reasons can be read by clicking on the relevant service.