Privacy notice for Councillors

Elected councillors receive and process personal information as part of the their duties as councillors. The following Privacy Notice sets out how councillors will process this data in line with the requirements of data protection legislation.

Introduction

As an elected councillor for Camden Council I am the data controller accountable for the processing of personal information. This Privacy Notice provides information about how I process personal information as a member of the Council. This includes, for example, as a Cabinet Member or Member of a committee carrying out administrative functions or representing the authority (such as on a regional forum) or for the purpose of responding to requests from constituents, including complaints, about matters concerning the Council’s business or responsibilities. This notice provides information about the privacy rights of individuals. 

Any personal data I process for party political or campaigning purposes is not covered by this privacy notice.

As an elected councillor, I regularly hold advice surgeries and respond to casework and policy queries raised with me by residents in my ward. In order to provide assistance and respond to these enquiries where this concerns Council business, it is necessary to process personal data relating to the constituent making the request and other individuals who may be involved or identified during the course of my enquiries. 

As an elected member, I will only be able to look into the concerns you raise if I can use your personal information, for example so I can contact you with the result of my enquiries. If your query relates to your own involvement with the Council then I will need details of this involvement in order to be able to assist you. I will only collect the personal information I need to process your request or provide you with relevant information.

I may also receive information from the Council relating to individuals where the matter in question is being reported to a committee of the Council.

This will generally include personal information such as your name, address and contact information together with details of your problem or concern. 

The law treats some types of personal information as ‘special’ because the information requires more protection due to its sensitivity. This information consists of:

• racial or ethnic origin
• sexuality and sexual life 
• religious or philosophical beliefs
• trade union membership
• political opinions
• genetic and biometric data
• physical or mental health
• criminal convictions and offences

It will only be necessary to collect this type of information where it is of relevance to the request you are making.

Personal information about you will only be disclosed on a ‘need to know’ basis to a relevant organisation and/or individual who is able to provide information to help address or resolve your concern. 

A relevant third party organisation and/or individual will be determined by the nature of the concern you have raised and therefore will vary from case to case. As an elected member of Camden Council I would normally pass your personal details and the circumstances of your query/complaint to the relevant department within the Council to enable them to look into the issues. It is not unusual for constituents to raise issues with me about other bodies and therefore if that happens I will need to refer the question/complaint to them. By way of example, these third parties are likely to include:

• local and/or central government. 
• elected representatives and other holders of public office
• landlords
• statutory law enforcement agencies and investigating bodies
• healthcare, social and welfare advisers or practitioners
• Veolia our partner for waste and parks

Any third parties with whom I may share your data are obliged to keep your details securely, and to use your data for purposes already communicated to you.

The personal information you provide and 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 other 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.

In representing constituents, I will from time to time also process personal information relating to:

• employees working in the Council and/or other public sector, third sector or private sector organisations   
• elected representatives and others in public office
• complainants and enquirers
• relatives, guardians and associates of the constituent I represent  
• business or other contacts
• the subject of complaints

The legal bases relied on for processing personal information in relation to responding to requests from constituents are:

• necessary in pursuit of my legitimate interests as an elected representative and those of my constituent and it is assessed these interests override any privacy intrusion involved in processing personal data about other individuals  
• discharging functions as an elected representative, being a public task that supports and promotes democratic engagement, for the purpose of responding to requests from constituents where this is permitted, without explicit consent, by law 
• consent or explicit consent of the constituent making the request (or any other relevant persons where this is appropriate)   

For some activities I also need to process more sensitive personal data or criminal conviction data about you for reasons of substantial public interest, for example where this is necessary to respond to your request. However where that request comes from someone other than the data subject, data will only be processed without the consent of the data subject as permitted by law, namely (and this will be rare) only where the processing must be carried out without the consent of the data subject for one of the following reasons:

• in the circumstances where consent cannot be given by the data subject;
• in the circumstances I cannot reasonably be expected to obtain the consent of the data subject to the processing;
• obtaining the consent of the data subject would prejudice the action taken by me
• the processing is necessary in the interests of another individual and the data subject has withheld his consent unreasonably.

Unless the law requires or permits the sharing of information e.g. crime prevention or detection or the safeguarding of vulnerable children or adults, no personal information obtained by me will be further disclosed other than for the purpose of progressing and responding to requests from constituents as outlined above. 

Personal information may be stored on my behalf by the Council on a dedicated part of its secure network or on other computer services (such as cloud based systems).  Other than technical and monitoring operations, access and processing is undertaken only in accordance with my instructions. 

Personal information within my control will not be sent beyond the European Economic Area (‘EEA’) unless within stored cloud based and other computer services used by the Council. If this is done, appropriate procedures and technologies will be put in place to maintain the security of all personal information processed overseas. 

None of the processing of personal information controlled by me involves automated decision making or profiling. 

Unless specifically requested by you, personal data held for the purposes of responding to requests received from constituents and obtained in the course of my enquiries will only be kept for as long as the law specifies or, where the law does not specify this, for a suitable length of time after the case/enquiry is closed (normally 6 years).

Reasonable security measures are taken to ensure that personal information within my control is protected from accidental loss or alteration, inappropriate access, misuse or theft. 
 
As the Council provides support services for elected members, communications addressed by post to me at the Council or using my Council email address are held securely on a dedicated controlled area of the Council’s secure network with access restricted in accordance with my instructions

You have the right to request a copy of the information I hold about you, the right to ask me to rectify, erase or restrict processing of your data, the right to ask for your data to be transmitted (data portability), the right to object to automated decision making, and, if I am relying on consent, the right to withdraw consent at any time.  There are some exemptions to these rights. Please see the ICO website for more information. 

To exercise these rights please contact me and I will consider your request. Please note that I may not be able to put your request into effect if the information is subject to a legal exemption. If you wish to exercise any of your rights, including where you are seeking a copy of your personal information, please write to or email me.

You have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner if you are unhappy with how I have handled your personal data. It would be helpful if you contacted me first about a data protection concern to see if I can resolve the problem.

If you wish to complain to the Information Commissioner the contact details are:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

or by completing the ICO on line form at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/handling/