Food and Safety privacy notice

The Food and Safety Team of New Forest District Council (NFDC) is responsible for the inspection of food businesses, investigation of food borne illness, workplace health and safety enforcement, animal welfare licensing, caravan site licensing, and registration of skin piercing activities.

The Food and Safety Team is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy when you use our services. For the purpose of the 2018 General Data Protection Regulation, the Data Controller is New Forest District Council, Appletree Court, Beaulieu Road, Lyndhurst, Hampshire, SO43 7PA, email data.protection@nfdc.gov.uk.   

This Privacy Notice aims to explain:

1.   The different kinds of personal data we process

    2. How we use your data

    3. How we store your data

    4. How long we keep your information for

    5. Who has access to your data

    6. Our legal grounds for processing your information

    7. Your rights

    8. Further information and how to contact us

When you contact us to access our services, or we contact you as part of an investigation we may ask you for certain personal information in order to be able to assist you with your enquiry or to enable us to investigate fully. Some of this information will be recorded and stored on our systems.

1. What kind of personal data do we process?

When you register your food business with us, we require your name and date of birth, and contact details, such as your address, email address and telephone number. If you choose not to supply the required information, we will not be able to register your new business.

In the course of an investigation - for example into illness you may be suffering from, or an accident you have had, we may also require your date of birth, symptoms you are suffering from, details of injuries, the names and details of other people such as your family who may be linked, your occupation and those of your family, your GP surgery, your food history, and places you have visited. We will gather this information because it is in the public interest in the area of public health or health and safety. If you choose not to supply the requested information, we may not be able to carry out the investigation.

If you apply for a licence (e.g. animal welfare¸ or caravan site), registration (for skin piercing) or inclusion on the fit and proper persons register in relation to residential caravan site licensing,  we may require details including name, contact details, date of birth, details of specified offences, legal contraventions, harassment charges, insolvency details, information any disqualification from acting as company director, confirmation of the right to work in the UK, as well as a basic criminal records certificate. If you choose not to supply the requested information, we will not be able to progress an application or issue/renew a licence.

2. How will we use your data?

We will use this information to process applications and to investigate complaints. In addition we use the information collected to enable us to contact you in relation to food hygiene and health and safety inspections, during the investigation of complaints about your business and to keep you informed on new guidance or legal requirements. In the case of an investigation the information may be used to identify the source of an isolated case of illness, to identify an outbreak, or to identify the cause of the accident.

We will not use your information for any marketing purposes.

3. How do we store your information?

The information we collect is carefully stored electronically. NFDC takes security of your data seriously. All information provided is stored on our secure servers as managed by the IT Department. We have internal policies and controls in place to try to ensure that your data is not lost, accidentally destroyed, misused or disclosed, and is not accessed except by its employees in the performance of their duties.

4. How long do we keep your information for?

We will hold a completed registration form, certificate of registration or application for approval for the duration that the business is in operation to enable it to be used as evidence if required. Once the business is closed it is retained for seven years.

We will hold completed application forms and supporting documents during the lifetime of the licence. Once the licence has lapsed, been surrendered or revoked it is retained for seven years. This is in line with our retention policy.

Information collected as part of an investigation is kept for seven years following the completion of the investigation, except in the case of an accident to a minor when the data is retained for 7 years from attaining age 18. If the investigation relates to exposure to noise, vibration, lead, asbestos and chemicals, the information is retained for 40 years from attaining age 18.

5. who has access to your data?

We do not share your information with anyone else unless there is a legal basis to do so.

Below is a list of those who we may share your information with:

6. What are our legal grounds for processing your information?

• With your consent;
• Where it is in the public interest to do so or in the exercise of official authority vested in NFDC;
• To comply with a legal requirement - for example for example processing licence/registration applications, or processing enquiries relating to the setting up of a new food business;
• Where it is in the legitimate interest of NFDC to do so; for example where there may be a risk to health and safety;
• Where it is necessary for the performance of a contract;
• With your explicit consent or where there is a substantial public interest in relation to special categories data.

When we rely on your consent or explicit consent and you wish to withdraw this consent, you can do so by contacting us at the address above or at eho.office@nfdc.gov.uk

7. Your rights

As a data subject, you have the following rights with regards to your personal data:

·       the right to be informed about the collection and the use of your personal data;

• the right to access personal data and supplementary information;
• the right to have inaccurate personal data rectified, or completed if it is incomplete;
• the right to erasure (to be forgotten) in certain circumstances;
• the right to restrict processing in certain circumstances;
• the right to data portability, which allows the data subject to obtain and reuse their personal data for their own purposes across different services;
• the right to object to processing in certain circumstances;
• rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling;
• the right to withdraw consent at any time (where relevant);
• the right to complain to the Information Commissioner

8. Further information and how to contact us

We work hard to ensure that we only gather information that we need to, to deliver the services that you entitled to in the best way possible.

If you have any questions about this privacy notice, please email eandr@nfdc.gov.uk or telephone 023 8028 5411. Alternatively write to Environmental Health, Appletree Court, Beaulieu Road, Lyndhurst, Southampton, Hampshire, SO43 7PA.

You can contact the Council's Data Protection Officer at data.protection@nfdc.gov.uk

For further information, plus information on access, portability, withdrawal of consent, correction etc. please see:

Information Rights Policy (PDF, 237 KB)

For more information on Data Protection, or if you wish to make a complaint relating to how your personal data has been used, please contact the Information Commissioner's Office:

• Website - https://ico.org.uk/
• Telephone helpline - 0303 123 1113
• Email - casework@ico.org.uk

We keep our privacy policy under regular review and we will place any updates on this web page.