Warrington Borough Council
Privacy Notice
1. Introduction
Warrington Borough Council as the data controller collects, processes and stores a wide range of information, including some personal details, in order to deliver our services efficiently.
We are responsible for managing the information we hold and we recognise that this information is important to you. We take our responsibilities seriously and use personal information fairly, correctly and safely in line with the legal requirements set out by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other appropriate data protection legislation.
If you would like to know more or have any concerns about how your information is being processed, please contact the Council’s Data Protection Officer.
The Information Commissioner provides general information about the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) including what is classed as personal information.
2. Why do we need to collect information about you?
The Council provides a wide range of functions and services to members of the public and for its employees.
The majority of the functions and services the Council provides are because we have an obligation or a power in law to provide them. This legal duty/power is also the reason we will collect personal data, as we need it perform our legal duties.
Examples of our legal powers can be found in legislation such as the Children Act 1989, the Local Government Act and the Localism Act 2011.
Where the Council has a power in law to provide a service and to collect your data for this reason, you will not be asked for your consent to provide the information.
We may use personal information for the following purposes:
• The reason why you provided the information (such as making a benefit claim)
• To monitor our performance in responding to your request
• To allow us to communicate with you and provide services appropriate to your needs (for example, arranging suitable access arrangements if you have mobility difficulties)
• To meet any legal requirements the Council is subject to
• To process financial transactions including grants, payments and benefits involving us, or where we are acting on behalf of other government bodies
• Where you have consented to the processing
• Where processing is necessary for the prevention and/or detection of crime (for example, where we are involved in the National Fraud Initiative)
• Where it is necessary to protect individuals from harm or injury; and
• Where your family is receiving services under the Early Help team and the National Troubled Families Programme, we will share personal/sensitive information held by Warrington Borough Council and its partners with the Department for Communities and Local Government for research and evaluation purposes unless you choose to opt out of the data sharing process
3. What will we do with your information
In deciding what personal information to collect, use and hold, we are committed to making sure that we will:
• Only collect, hold and use personal information where it is necessary and fair to do so
• Keep your personal information secure and safe
• Securely delete any personal information when it is no longer needed
• Be open with individuals about how we use their information and who we share it with; and Adopt and maintain high standards in handling any personal information.
We may disclose personal information to any third party involved, but only where it is required by law or allowed under the Data Protection Act. An example of this would be with educational records where we are required to share them with the Department for Education.
The Council may also use and publish your personal data after it has been anonymised, to allow the statistical analysis of data so the Council can effectively target and plan the provision of services.
We will strive to make sure that the third party has sufficiently robust systems and procedures in place to protect your personal information.
4.Who do we share your information with?
The Council may need to share your personal information with a range of partners in order to provide you with services or to administer our functions.
We only share personal data where the law specifically allows it or we have a legal obligation (e.g. a court order) to do so. When we share your personal data, we will always do so in line with data protection legislation.
Examples of Partners we may share your information with are:
• Police Forces – where the information is required to prevent and detect crime
• The Cabinet Office – as part of the National Fraud Initiative
• Local Health Trusts – as part of our safeguarding obligations
• Contractors – where commissioned services need your personal data in order to provide Council services on our behalf
• Registered Social Landlords – as part of our housing obligations
• Schools – as part of our education obligations
• Cheshire Fire & Rescue Service – as part of our safeguarding and community care obligations
• Central Government – as part of our obligations under the National Impact Study
The Council may need to share your personal information internally with other departments in order to provide you with services or to administer our functions.
5. When and how we dispose of your information
We only hold information as long as it is needed or required by law and then dispose of it securely
6. Your Rights
You have the right to request that Warrington Borough Council stops processing your personal data in relation to any council service. However, this may cause delays or prevent us delivering a service to you. Where possible we will seek to comply with your request but we may be required to hold or process information to comply with a legal requirement.
You have the right to request a copy of the information that the Council holds about you. Please see section 9 for further information.
We try to ensure that any information we hold about you is correct. There may be situations where you find the information we hold is no longer accurate. You have the right to have this corrected. If you tell us about incorrect information we hold about you we will then check the accuracy of the information we hold and take any appropriate steps to ensure that the information is accurate.
7. Marketing
We will only send you targeted information about our services and/or products if you have specifically asked us to do so. You can opt out of this at any time by clicking on the ‘unsubscribe’ button on the bottom of an email or texting ‘stop’ to any text messages you receive.
Your contact details collected as part of confidential/sensitive requests for council services will not be used for marketing purposes.
The Council reserves the right to send out generic communications to all residents when necessary to provide advice such as changes to refuse collections.
8. Use of CCTV
We have installed CCTV systems in some of our locations used by members of the public, for the purposes of:- public safety,
• the prevention and detection of crime
• the safe and efficient operation of the road network.
In these locations signs are prominently displayed notifying you that CCTV is in operation and providing you with details of who to contact for further information about them.
We will only disclose CCTV images to third parties for the purposes as stated above. CCTV images will not be released to the media for entertainment purposes or placed on the internet.
You have the right to see CCTV images of yourself and be provided with a copy; please see Section
9 ‘Access to your information and correction’ on how to make a request
9. Data sharing for child protection purposes
Under the Children Act 1989, Local Authorities, have a general duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area who are in need. (Sec.17 Children Act 1989)
Warrington Borough Council shares information with the NHS national programme to share data in situations where:-
• a child is known to social services and
• is a Looked After Child or on a Child Protection Plan,
• or for Pregnant mothers with child protection plans on the foetus
In these situation we share basic information about that plan securely with the NHS.
If that child attends an NHS unscheduled care setting, such as an emergency department or a minor injury unit:
• the health team is alerted that they are on a plan and has access to the contact details for the social care team
• the social care team is automatically notified that the child has attended, and
• both parties can see details of the child's previous 25 visits to unscheduled care settings in England
10. Public Health
Local authorities are responsible for improving the health of the local population and for public health services. As a result all Local Authorities have a duty to improve the health of the population they serve. To help with this, we use data and information from a range of sources including hospitals to understand more about the nature and causes of disease and ill-health in the area.
11. Access to your information and correction
You have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you. If you would like to do so, a written Subject Access Request must be submitted into the Council’s Contact Centre
We will need to confirm your identity before any information can be provided and we may charge £10 for this service.
What you will receive:
• A copy and description of the information held about you
• The reason for which the information is being used
• A list of recipients may be disclosed; and
• An explanation of any codes used
If you have a disability that makes it impossible or unreasonably difficult to make a subject access request in writing, we will make a suitable adjustment for you under the Equality Act 2010, providing we are satisfied about your identity. This may mean treating a verbal request for information as a valid subject access request.
12. Access to Social Care Records
For further information on how to see your social care records please see the Councils website or request a copy of the leaflet ‘How to see your social care records’ which explains the process and how to make your request.
13. Can anyone else ask for my information for me?
Yes. You will need to give us consent in writing of who you want to look at your records and have them complete a Subject Access Request as identified above and we will need proof of identity from yourself and that person.
If a relative or someone else wishes to look at the records of a person who is not able to give their consent, this will only be allowed where it can be shown that it is in the best interest of the person concerned.
14. Complaints
If you are not satisfied with how your request has been dealt with, or if the information held about you is incorrect, you should email or write to Warrington Borough Council outlining your concerns.
If you then wish to make a complaint then please contact us using one of the methods below:
• Use the online complaints form
• Email us at contact@warrington.gov.uk
• Phone us on: 01925 443322
• Write to us at: Contact Warrington, PO Box 5, New Town House, Warrington WA1 2NH
• Fax us on: 01925 443211
• Visit us at: Contact Warrington, 26-30, Horsemarket Street, Warrington WA1 1XL
If you are still not satisfied, you should contact the Information Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF or telephone their helpline on 0303 123 1113.
15. Cookies
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. They are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site. Details about how we use cookies is available on the Council’s website.
16. Other websites
On this site you will find links to other external websites which we have provided for your information and convenience. This privacy policy applies solely to Warrington Borough Council. When you visit other websites, you should read their own privacy policies.
17. How to contact us
If you have any questions regarding how your personal data is used by the Council, please contact the Data Protection Officer via dpo@warrington.gov.uk.
If you need to get in touch with us via other methods you can do so via:-
• Our online form
• In person at Contact Warrington, 26-30 Horsemarket Street, WA1 1XL
• Or by telephone: 01925 443322
EXTERNAL ID CHECKS - TERMS & CONDITIONS FOR END USERS
“Please note that the following ONLY applies to standard and enhanced applications for Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Checks and only in cases where an applicant cannot provide sufficent documentation to evidence their identity under route one criteria.
DBS identity checking guidelines
This DOES NOT apply to Disclosure Scotland Basic (unspent convictions) checks for example those applicants who require basic checks in order to meet BPSS (Baseline Personnel Security Standard) requirements.”
EXPERIAN DATA SERVICES END USER TERMS
When establishing the true identity of an applicant an external ID verification check may be used as an alternative to Route 1/1a. This will require us to provide an applicant’s details (as presented on the application form) to our chosen supplier Experian, who will compare the data obtained from the applicant against a range of independent, external data sources.
Please take a moment to read the Experian Terms and Conditions with regards to the core terms concerning the nature and use of the services, confidentiality, data protection, compliance and audit.