Councillors Privacy Notice

About me

I am an elected local councillor for New Forest District Council. My contact details and further information, including the ward I represent, can be found by following the link at section three of this privacy notice.

I respect your right to privacy. This privacy notice explains who I am, how I collect, share and use your personal data, and how you can exercise your privacy rights. It applies to all individuals that I represent as part of my constituency casework.

I recommend that you read this privacy notice to ensure you are fully informed.

Data Controller

As part of my work in the community I will represent constituents. I will often contact officers of New Forest District Council and other organisations on your behalf to investigate your concerns and respond to your enquiries. This is known as my constituency casework. For this part of my elected representative function, I am a Data Controller.

Contact details

My contact details can be found at: Your councillors webpage.

What type of personal data do I process?

Personal data means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

I may collect, use, store, share and transfer different kinds of personal data about you where this is necessary for me to help you. This may include:

• Name
• Postal address
• Contact telephone number
• Email address
• Details of your enquiry

In some circumstances, such as assisting you with specific issues or a specific organisation, I may need more information such as:

• National Insurance number
• Reference numbers
• Date of birth
• Signature
• Photographs
• Details of family members

Sometimes I may handle Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric data). I may also process information about criminal convictions and offences.

Why do I process your personal data?

I process your personal data so that I may assist you where you have requested this.

Where do I get your personal data from?

The personal data I process about you will often be submitted by you. This may be:

• When I Meet You In The Community Or At Surgeries
• When You Telephone Or Email
• When you send letter

I may also receive information about you from New Forest District Council or other organisations where I am representing you and they respond to my communications.

Also, there are occasions where I may receive information about you from a member of your family or your friend requesting that I assist you.

What is the legal basis for using your personal data?

I am committed to collecting and using personal data in accordance with applicable data protection laws. By law, I must have a legal justification, known as a lawful basis, in order to use your personal data for the purposes described in this privacy notice.

Depending upon the purpose, my lawful basis will be one of the following:

• Consent: You have given consent for me to process your personal data for a specific purpose.
• Public Task: The processing is necessary for me to perform a task in the public interest or for my official functions with a basis in law.
• Vital Interests: The processing is necessary to protect someone's life.
• Legitimate Interests: the processing is necessary for a legitimate interest or the legitimate interests of a third party, unless there is a good reason to protect your personal data which overrides those legitimate interests.

In most cases where I am carrying out my constituency casework, I will be relying on the Public Task lawful basis.

In addition, I can only collect and use Special Categories of Personal Data or criminal offence data where I have an additional, specific lawful basis to process such information. Depending upon the purpose, my additional lawful basis will usually be "Reasons of substantial public interest (with a basis in law)" meeting the condition in Schedule 1, Part 2 of the Data Protection Act 2018 as below:

• (23) Elected representatives responding to requests

Where I receive information about you from a member of your family or your friend, in most instances I will contact you to seek your consent for me to assist you.

Other organisations may refuse to share information with me, even where I am representing you, unless you give your consent for them to do so. I may ask you to sign a form of authority for this sharing.

Please note where I am relying on consent to process your personal data, you have the right to withdraw this consent at any time. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdrew your consent. If you withdraw your consent, I may not be able to assist you. I will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

Do I transfer your personal data outside of the UK?

Generally, the personal data that I hold is processed within the UK.

If needed, l always take steps to ensure that any transfer of personal data outside the UK is carefully managed to protect your privacy rights and ensure that adequate safeguards are in place.

Retention

I will keep your personal data for as long as is reasonably required for the purposes explained in this privacy notice.

Whilst I am a councillor, I will retain your information about a constituency casework matter for no longer than 6 years after the matter is complete.

However, Council elections are held once every 4 years. Any information I hold at the end of my term in office will be either passed to the appropriate Council representative with your consent or securely destroyed.

Who do I share your personal data with?

I may need to share your personal data with third parties where they are able to provide information to help address or resolve your concern. I will always make sure there is a legal basis which permits data sharing to take place before I share, and I will keep records of when your data has been disclosed to another organisation.

Relevant third party organisations and/or individuals will vary according to the nature of the concern you have raised. As an elected member of New Forest District Council, I may pass your personal data and the circumstances of your query/complaint to the relevant department within the Council, so they can investigate the issues but it is not unusual for constituents to also raise issues with me about other bodies. If this happens, I will need to refer the question/complaint to them.

These third parties are likely to include:

• Parish and Town Councils
• Other local councils
• Central government departments
• Elected representatives and other holders of public office
• Schools
• Landlords
• Statutory law enforcement agencies and investigating bodies
• Healthcare, social and welfare advisers or practitioners
• Voluntary organisations

Any third parties who I may share your personal data with are obliged to keep your details secure.

The personal data you provide and which I may receive from organisations or individuals in the course of my enquiries will only be used to progress the problem or concern you have raised. Your personal data will not be used in a way that goes beyond your reasonable expectations.

If you specifically ask me not to disclose information identifying you to third parties it is necessary for me to contact, I will try to respect that. However, please be aware that it may not be possible to progress a matter for you on an anonymous basis.

How do I protect your personal data?

I have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. This includes:

• ICT security safeguards; and
• Physical security safeguards.

I have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and the Information Commissioner's Office ("the ICO"), who are the UK supervisory authority for all data protection matters, where I am legally required to do so.

Please tell me if anything changes

It is important that the personal data I hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep me informed if your personal data changes whilst I am representing you.

Your data rights

You have legal rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data.

You have the following rights relating to your personal data:

• The right to be informed
• The right of access
• The right to rectification
• The right to erasure
• The right to restrict processing
• The right to data portability
• The right to object
• Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling.

If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact me.

I may ask you for proof of identity when you make a request to exercise any of these rights. I do this to ensure I only disclose information to the right individual.

I aim to respond to all valid requests within one month. It may take me longer if the request is particularly complicated or you have made several requests.. I may also ask you to provide more detail about what you want to receive or are concerned about.

I may not always be able to do what you have asked. This is because your rights will not always apply. I will explain to you how I am dealing with your request.

Your Right To Complain

I work to high standards when it comes to processing your personal data. If you have queries or concerns, please contact me.

I hope that I can resolve any query or concern you raise about my use of your personal data. If you feel I have not handled your query or concern to your satisfaction, you can contact the ICO.

You can contact the ICO at:

Website: https://ico.org.uk/concerns 

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Post: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF Email: casework@ico.org.uk

Updates

This privacy notice is updated from time to time to take account of legal requirements and to make sure it is as transparent as possible, so please check back here for the current version. You can see when this privacy notice was last updated here: May 2023.