Councillors' privacy notice

About us

Where a Councillor is acting as a committee member or in a civic capacity, Norwich City Council is the data controller for any personal data processed. In all other circumstances, each Norwich City Councillor is an independent data controller for the personal data they process in relation to casework, they and/or their political parties are the data controller for any political campaigning. Please see below a template privacy notice for Norwich City Councillors.

 

What is the purpose of this document?

As a councillor, I am a data controller and am committed to protecting the privacy and security of the personal information you give me or that I hold about you.

Here, “personal information” means any information about you or from which you can be identified. It does not include data where your identity has been removed (anonymous data).

This privacy notice describes how I collect and use personal information about you in my role as Norwich City Councillor for the Ward I am elected to, in accordance with data protection legislation.

Data protection principles

I will comply with data protection law. This says that the personal information I hold about you must be:

  • Used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way.
  • Collected only for valid purposes that I have clearly explained to you and not used in any way that is incompatible with those purposes.
  • Relevant to the purposes I have told you about and limited only to those purposes.
  • Accurate and kept up to date.
  • Kept only as long as necessary for the purposes I have told you about.
  • Kept securely.

The kind of information I may collect about you and how it is collected

I collect personal information about you when you contact me to ask for my assistance in my role as a Norwich City Councillor.  In addition to any information that you supply me with directly, I may request that Norwich City Council or other agencies supply me with information to assist me in resolving the matter you approached me about.

The type of information collected will vary and will be relevant and necessary to the issue at hand.  This could include what is defined in law as ‘Special Category Data’ and information concerning criminal offences; this is data that is subject to additional safeguards and protection.  Special Category data includes information concerning your racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union activity, genetic data, biometric data, health, sex life and sexual orientation.  Only where it is relevant may I collect and use these types of data, and such data will be collected as part of the referral/assessment/case work records and information I hold. 

It is important that the personal information I hold about you is correct.  Please let me know if your personal information changes whilst I am dealing with your request for my assistance.

I will only use your personal information when the law allows me to. Most commonly, I will use your personal information where it is necessary in my public tasks as an elected representative acting in the public interest, for example, dealing with and responding to queries or issues that have been brought to my attention.

Similarly, where I use ‘Special Category Data’ referred to in the paragraph above, this will be  in pursuance of my responsibilities as an elected representative under paragraphs 23 and 24 of Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018.

Additionally, I may also use and share your personal information in the following situations, which are likely to be rare:

  • Where I need to protect your interests (or someone else's interests).
  • Where it is needed in the public interest.
  • Where it is required by law.

Security of your personal information

I am required to and will put in place appropriate security measures to protect your personal information and prevent it from being accidentally lost, used, accessed, altered or disclosed.  If you want to know what these measures are, please contact me.

How long will I retain your information?

I will only retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes I collected it for. If you want to know what this retention period is, please contact the councillor directly.

To determine the appropriate retention period, I consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure, the purposes for which I collect it and whether I can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

Your rights

Under certain circumstances, by law you have the right to:

  • Request access to your personal information. This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information I hold about you and to check that I am lawfully processing it.
  • Request correction of the personal information that I hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information I hold about you corrected.
  • Request erasure of your personal information. This enables you to ask me to delete or remove personal information where there is no good reason for me to continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask me to delete or remove your personal information where you have exercised your right to object to processing (see below).
  • Object to processing of your personal information where I am relying on a legitimate interest and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground.
  • Request the restriction of processing of your personal information. This enables you to ask me to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if you want me to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it.
  • Request the transfer of your personal information to another party.

If you want to review, verify, correct or request erasure of your personal information, object to the processing of your personal data, or request that I transfer a copy of your personal information to another party, please contact me in writing.

In the limited circumstances where you may have provided your consent to the collection, processing and transfer of your personal information for a specific purpose, you have the right to withdraw your consent for that specific processing at any time. To withdraw your consent, please contact me. Once I have received notification that you have withdrawn your consent, I will no longer process your information for the purpose or purposes you originally agreed to, unless I have another legitimate basis for doing so in law.

Changes to this privacy notice

I reserve the right to update this privacy notice at any time, and I will provide you with a new privacy notice when I make any substantial updates. I may also notify you in other ways from time to time about the processing of your personal information.

Contact details

If you have any questions about this privacy notice or how I handle your personal information please contact me.

You also have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues. The ICO can be contacted:

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