Danby Group Parish Council
Privacy Notice
The Danby Group Parish Council (hereafter referred to as the Council) is, in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulations and Data Protection Act 2018, the “data controller” in respect of “personal data”, which is “processed” for the purpose of conducting the business of the Council.
The legislation is complex and it is not the purpose of this notice to repeat or explain the legislation in detail but rather:
• to provide a brief explanation of some of the terms,
• set out what personal data is processed,
• why it is necessary to process the data, and
• what your rights are in respect of your personal data, which is held by the Council.
This document also sets out how the Council uses and protects any information that you provide. It is applicable to members of the public (including those who carry out work on behalf of the Council), to Parish Councillors and to paid employees of the Council.
The Council is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy notice.
TERMINOLOGY
“Personal data” essentially is any information which directly or indirectly can identify a living individual for example a name, an email address or a photograph. The “data subject” is the person to whom the data relates.
Personal data is “processed” by the Council in a number of ways for example
• Collection
• Storage / filing
• Retrieval
• Use
• Copying
• Sharing
• Destruction or deletion
Unless a person contacting the Council does so anonymously, personal data will be processed by the Council. In all but the most exceptional circumstances a name and contact details i.e. a telephone number, physical address and or an email address will be processed.
WEBSITE ACCESS
The Council does not process any personal data from people who access the Danby Group Parish Council website. However, our website contains links to other websites which may be of interest to you. Once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy notice. You should use caution and look at the privacy notice applicable to the website in question.
WHAT WE DO WITH THE INFORMATION WE GATHER / WHY IS YOUR PERSONAL DATA PROCESSED
We require this type of information from members of the public in order to understand their needs, provide a better service, and in particular to carry on ‘the business’ of the Parish Council.
Parish Councillors by law are required to provide certain additional specific information when they take up office for example details of business interests they may have.
Similarly, a paid employee of the council will be required to provide information (for example his / her National Insurance Number or bank account details) which would not normally be needed from members of the public.
There are certain special categories of personal data where processing is prohibited by the legislation unless there is good reason. This data relates to a person’s:
• Race or ethnicity
• Political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs
• Trade Union membership
• Genetic information
• Biometric data
• Health records
• Sexual orientation or details of their sex life
In normal / routine circumstances if a member of the public contacts the Council it will not be necessary for the Council to request this type of information but it may be needed for example to ensure compliance (on the part of the Council) with employment legislation, the Equal Opportunities Act 2010 or the Disability Discrimination Act 2005.
KEY PRINCIPALS
When it comes to processing personal data, there are a number of key principals enshrined within the legislation, namely
• There must be a lawful basis for processing the data,
• Processing must be done fairly and openly,
• Data must only be used for the purpose it was obtained / provided in the first instance,
• No more information than is necessary should be obtained,
• Records kept must be accurate,
• Data should be kept for no longer than is necessary,
• Data should be kept secure and not shared without a proper basis for doing so and
• The Data Controller must be accountable in respect of compliance with the legislation.
The Council will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your permission or are required by law to do so.
In certain circumstances we may need to share your personal data, which we hold with other data controllers for example with North Yorkshire County Council, Scarborough Borough Council or the North York Moors National Park Authority so they can carry out their responsibilities.
If we and one or more of the other data controllers we work with are processing your data jointly for the same purposes, then the Council and the other data controllers may be “joint data controllers” which mean we are all collectively responsible to you for your data.
Where one of our partners is processing your data for their own independent purposes then each of us will be independently responsible to you and if you have any questions, wish to exercise any of your rights (see below) or wish to raise a complaint, you should do so directly to the relevant data controller.
LAWFUL PROCESSING OF PERSONAL DATA
To process personal data, a data controller must satisfy at least one of the following conditions
• The clear, explicit and informed consent of the data subject must be obtained.
• The processing is deemed necessary for the performance of a contract with the data subject or to take steps preparatory to such a contract.
• Processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation.
• Processing is necessary to protect the subject’s interest or those of another person where the subject is not able to give consent.
• Processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority.
• Processing is necessary of the purpose of legitimate interests.
THE COUNCIL USES YOUR PERSONAL DATA FOR SOME OR ALL OF THE FOLLOWING PURPOSES:
• To deliver 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 or telephone
• 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 obligation;
• To maintain our own accounts and records;
• To seek your views, opinions or comments;
• To notify you of changes to our 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 or by the Council.
SECURITY
We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we process.
HOW LONG DOES THE COUNCIL KEEP YOUR PERSONAL DATA?
We will keep some records permanently, for example, minutes of parish Council meetings. 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. The Council is also permitted to retain data in order to defend or pursue civil 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 RIGHTS AND YOUR PERSONAL DATA
You have the following rights with respect to your personal data:
When exercising any of the rights listed below, in order to process your request, we may need to verify your identity for your security. In such cases, we will need you to respond with proof of your identity before you can exercise these rights.
1. The right to access personal data we hold on you
At any point, you can contact us to request the personal data we hold on you as well as why we have that personal data, who has access to the personal data and where we obtained the personal data from. Once we have received your request we will respond within one month.
There are no fees or charges for the first request but additional requests for the same personal data or requests which are manifestly unfounded or excessive may be subject to an administrative fee.
2. The right to correct and update the personal data we hold on you
If the data we hold on you is out of date, incomplete or incorrect, you can inform us and your data will be updated.
3. The right to have your personal data erased
If you feel that we should no longer be using your personal data or that we are unlawfully using your personal data, you can request that we erase the personal data we hold.
When we receive your request we will confirm whether the personal data has been deleted or the reason why it cannot be deleted (for example because we need it for to comply with a legal obligation).
4. The right to object to the processing of your personal data or to restrict it to certain purposes only.
You have the right to request that we stop processing your personal data or ask us to restrict processing. Upon receiving the request we will contact you and let you know if we are able to comply or if we have a legal obligation to continue to process your data.
5. The right to data portability.
You have the right to request that we transfer some of your data to another controller. We will comply with your request, where it is feasible to do so, within one month of receiving your request.
6. The right to withdraw your consent to the processing at any time for any processing of data to which consent was obtained.
You can withdraw your consent easily by telephone, email, or by post (see Contact Details below).
7. 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 or at the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
CHANGES TO THIS NOTICE
The Council will keep this Privacy Notice under review and we will place any updates on the Parish Council website.
This Notice was last updated on 13/6/2018.
CONTACT
Please contact us 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 at:
The Clerk to Danby Group Parish Council
Mr J Preston
27 Whitby Avenue
Guisborough
TS14 7AP
Email: clerkdanbypc@yahoo.co.uk