Surveys - Privacy Notice
Who the Council is and what the Council does
Cotswold District Council is a data controller under the Data Protection Legislation as the Council collects and processes the personal information about that you may disclose to us when completing a survey.
This notice explains why the Council asks for your personal information, how that information will be used and how you can access your records.
Any questions regarding our privacy practices should be sent to:
Data Protection Officer (DPO)
Cotswold District Council
Council Offices, Cirencester, GL7 1PX
Email: data.protection@cotswold.gov.uk
Tel: 01993 861194
Why the Council needs your information and how the Council uses it
The Council may use surveys to collect public opinion on a number of issues, such as initiatives, schemes or services. The completion of the survey is entirely optional, we will only use your information on the basis that you have given consent. We will use your data for statistical purposes.
The Council does not sell your personal information to anyone else.
What is the legal process for collecting and processing this data
Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018, the lawful base we rely on for processing this information is:
- UK GDPR Article 6 (1) (a) Consent – by completion of the survey consent has been given by the data subject, yourself, for the lawful processing of your personal data
What type of information is collected from you
Dependent upon the nature of the survey personal details may include:
- Identity Data – such as title, full name, username or similar identifier, date of birth etc
- Contact Data – such as address, email address and telephone numbers
Special categories of personal data
Dependent upon the nature of the survey we may collect special category personal data about you. Special category data encompasses details about your race or ethnicity, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union memberships, genetic data, biometric data where used for identification purposes, health, sex life and sexual orientation.
We collect this information directly from the data subject via the completion of a survey.
Who your information may be shared with (internally and externally)
Your data is shared internally only with the appropriate staff where it is necessary for the performance of their roles.
We will not normally share your information with organisations without your consent.
Your information will not be disclosed to any other organisations, except where the council is required and allowed to by law, to safeguard public safety and in risk of harm or emergency situations.
The Council will not share your information with third parties for marketing purposes.
Anonymisation
Your personal information may be converted into statistical or aggregated data in such a way that ensures that you cannot be identified from it. Anonymised data cannot, by definition, be linked back to you as an individual and may be used to conduct research and analysis, including the preparation of statistics for use in our reports.
How long the Council keeps your information (retention period)
We will retain your personal data for 12 months in line with our corporate data retention procedures: https://www.cotswold.gov.uk/about-the-council/council-data-and-access-to-information/data-protection/
Once your data is no longer needed it will be securely and confidentially destroyed or disposed of the data in line with retention schedules.
How the Council protects your Information
Your data is stored securely on our systems and accessed only by authorised officers using their own username and password created in line with pre-defined user credentials. Personal data is also held in electronic files on the council’s network drives. These are only accessible through personal logon credentials and access privileges to specific drives. Access to our council sites require a personal electronic pass to access staff only areas. The Council has strict procedures for the way this is done. Any and all information about you is treated as confidential and with respect. There are also clear rules and guidance about storing, recording and sharing information which staff receive training on.
If you use your credit or debit card to make payments, the Council passes your card details securely to our payment processing partner as part of the payment process. The Council does this in accordance with the Payment Card Industry Security Standard and does not store the details on its website. The information you give to the Council when using our online payment system will only be used for the recording of your payment
The Council will not transfer your personal data outside the EU without your consent.
The Council have implemented generally accepted standards of technology and operational security in order to protect personal data from loss, misuse or unauthorised alteration or destruction.
Please note however that where you are transmitting information to us over the internet this can never be guaranteed to be 100% secure.
The Council will notify you promptly in the event of any breach of your personal data which might expose you to serious risk.
Your rights
You have the following rights under the Data Protection Legislations:
- To access your personal data
- To be provided with information about how your personal data is processed
- To have your personal data corrected
- To have your personal data erased in certain circumstances
- To object to or restrict how your personal data is processed
- To have your personal data transferred to yourself or to another business in certain circumstances
- To be told if the Council have made a mistake whilst processing your data and the Council will self-report breaches to the Commissioner.
How you can access, update or correct your information
The Data Protection law gives you the right to apply for a copy of information about yourself. This is called a ‘Subject Access Request'.
If you wish to see a copy of your records you should contact the Data Protection Officer. You are entitled to receive a copy of your records free of charge, within a month.
In certain circumstances access to your records may be limited, for example, if the records you have asked for contain information relating to another person.
The accuracy of your information is important to us to be able to provide relevant services more quickly. The Council is working to make our record keeping more efficient. In the meantime, if you change your address or email address, or if any of your circumstances change or any of the other information the Council holds is inaccurate or out of date, please email us or write to us at:
Customer Services
Cotswold District Council
Council Offices, Cirencester, GL7 1PX
Email: customer.services@cotswold.gov.uk
Further information
If you would like to know more about how the Council uses your information, or if for any reason you do not wish to have your information used in any of the ways described in this privacy notice, please contact the Data Protection Officer at data.protection@cotswold.gov.uk
For more information about data protection please visit: www.cotswold.gov.uk/about-the-council/council-data-and-access-to-information/data-protection/
If you are concerned about the way the Council is handling your personal information you can contact the Information Commissioner (ICO): https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/
The Council reserve the right to update this privacy notice from time to time by publishing a new version on our website.