We collect and process personal information about you in order to provide public services and meet our statutory obligations.

This privacy notice explains how we use the information about you and how we protect your privacy.

You can also view more detailed privacy notices for each council service and our data protection policies.

• What information we collect

  Personal information we collect includes name, date of birth and address, which when put together can uniquely identify a person.

  Some information the Council may process about you is sensitive, known as 'special categories', and needs more protection due to its sensitivity. This includes anything that can reveal your:

  • race
  • ethnic origin
  • politics
  • religion
  • trade union membership
  • genetics
  • biometrics (where used for ID purposes)
  • health
  • sex life
  • sexual orientation
• Why we need your personal information

  We need to use personal information about you to:

  • provide you with a service you apply for or are entitled to receive from us
  • make sure the Council meets statutory obligations
  • support the delivery and improvement of Council services
  • manage the services we provide to you
  • assist and investigate any concerns or complaints you have about our services
  • monitor and keep track of spending on services
  • check the quality of services
  • help with research and planning of new services.

• When we can collect and use personal information

  There are a number of legal reasons why we need to collect and use your personal information.

  We collect and use personal information:

  • when you, or your legal representative, have given consent
  • when you enter into a contract with us
  • to perform our statutory duties
  • to protect someone in an emergency
  • when it's required by law
  • for National Fraud Initiative (NFI)
  • for employment purposes
  • to deliver health or social care services
  • when you've made your information publicly available
  • for legal cases
  • when it's to the benefit of society as a whole
  • to protect public health
  • for archiving, research, or statistical purposes
  • when you visit our website - find out more about our cookie policy.

  The individual council service privacy notices explain the legal reasons in more detail for each service.

• How we protect your information

  We hold records about you (on paper and electronically) in a secure way, and only make them available to those who have a right to see them.

  Ways that we protect personal information include:

  • pseudonymisation - using a different name so we can hide parts of your personal information from view. This means that someone outside of the Council could work on your information on behalf of us, without ever knowing it was yours
  • access controls to systems and networks - stopping people who aren't allowed to view your personal information from getting access to it
  • training and awareness for staff - how to handle information and how and when to report if something goes wrong
  • regularly updating technology infrastructure - includes updating network, server, PC and mobile devices with the latest security updates.
• Where your information is stored

  The majority of personal information is stored on systems in the UK. However, there are some occasions where your information may leave the UK, either in order to get to another organisation or if it's stored in a system outside of the EU.

  We have additional protections on your information if it leaves the UK, ranging from secure ways of transferring data to ensuring we have a robust contract in place with that third party.

  We will take all practical steps to make sure your personal information is not sent to a country that is not seen as safe.

  If we need to send your information to an 'unsafe' location we'll always seek advice from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

• How long we keep your personal information

  We'll keep your personal data in accordance with our retention policy.

  Your information we use for marketing purposes will be kept with us until you tell us that you no longer wish to receive this information.

• Safeguarding

  The Council has a statutory duty to ensure that it makes arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people and to protect adults at risk from abuse or the risk of abuse. The key legislative framework includes the Children Act (1989) (2004), Working together to safeguard children (2015), No Secrets (2000), The Crime and Disorder Act (1998), the Health and Social Care Act (2012) and the Care Act (2014).

  The Council has a duty to “take reasonable steps…to prevent children within their area suffering ill-treatment or neglect”.

  The Council must also promote adult’s “well-being”. Within this broad concept, the Council must “have regard to the need to protect people from abuse and neglect”. Under section 42 of the Care Act 2014, if the Council has reasonable cause to suspect an adult in its area is suffering or is at risk of abuse and neglect, and has needs which leave him or her unable to protect himself or herself, then it must ensure enquiries are made in order to decide what action (if any) should be taken, and by whom (the “duty to enquire”). Enquiries should be made by the most appropriate professional, and in some circumstances that will be a health professional. In discharging these duties, there are express reciprocal duties to co-operate on local authorities and their “relevant partners”, and that category includes all CCGs and health trusts in the Council’s area.

  The Council may share information without consent if, in our judgement a lack of consent can be overridden in the public interest and we consider the safety and well-being of the person and others who may be affected requires this.

  Public interest examples include:

  • when there is evidence/reasonable cause to believe that an adult or child is at risk of suffering, serious harm
  • to prevent an adult from harming someone else
  • the promotion of the welfare of an adult or child
  • detecting crime
  • apprehending offenders
  • maintaining public safety

Find out more about data protection on the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) website

Your rights

You have a number of rights regarding the personal information we hold on you.

Find out more about how to make data protection request

If you have a concern about how we handle your personal information, please contact our data protection officer.