This page has been created to inform you about how the Council uses your personal data and how we comply with the General Data Protection Regulation. This page is here to answer any questions you may have around the use of your data by the Council and signpost you to where you can find out more information if you would like to.
What is Personal Data?
Personal data is information that either on its own, or when added to other information, can identify a living individual. This can include names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, dates of birth etc.
It can also include letters, emails, photographs, video footage and call recordings.
Some data is classified as Special Category Data. This data is sensitive and is treated with an extra level of confidentiality. This data includes data about ethnic origin, religious and philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation and preference, trade union membership and political views, health data, biometric data (e.g. fingerprints and facial recognition) and genetic data.
What is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)?
The General Data Protection Regulation is the replacement for the Data Protection Act 1998 and is enforceable in the UK from the 25th May 2018. The GDPR tells data controllers (organisations such as the Council) how to use, collect and share personal data in a legal and fair way.
The Principles of the GDPR tell the Council that they must process (use) your personal data in the following ways:-
- In a fair and transparent way which keeps you informed about how your data is used
- In a legal way that complies with the GDPR and all other laws
- For the specific purposes that we have told you about
- In a way that means we only use the correct amount of data and don’t use data about you that we don’t need
- Kept accurately and up-to-date
- Kept for no longer than is necessary, as advised by law and best practice
- Stored securely and protected from loss and unauthorised access
Why do we collect or use your information?
The Council provides a wide range of functions and services to members of the public and for its employees.
The majority of the functions and services the Council provides are because have an obligation or a power in law to provide them. This legal duty/power is also the reason we will collect personal data, as we need it perform our legal duties.
Examples of our legal powers can be found in legislation such as the Children Act 1989, the Local Government Act and the Localism Act 2011.
Where the Council has a power in law to provide a service and to collect your data for this reason, you will not be asked for your consent to provide the information.
We may use personal information for the following purposes:
- The reason why you provided the information (such as making a benefit claim)
- To monitor our performance in responding to your request
- To allow us to communicate with you and provide services appropriate to your needs (for example, arranging suitable access arrangements if you have mobility difficulties)
- To meet any legal requirements the Council is subject to
- To process financial transactions including grants, payments and benefits involving us, or where we are acting on behalf of other government bodies
- Where you have consented to the processing
- Where processing is necessary for the prevention and/or detection of crime (for example, where we are involved in the National Fraud Initiative)
- Where it is necessary to protect individuals from harm or injury
Service by Service Privacy Notice
Further details of the Council’s general purposes for processing information can be found on our Information Commissioner’s Office registration page.
Who do we share your information with?
The Council may need to share your personal information with a range of partners in order to provide you with services or to administer our functions.
We only share personal data where the law specifically allows it or we have a legal obligation (e.g. a court order) to do so. When we share your personal data, we will always do so in line with data protection legislation.
Examples of Partners we may share your information with are:
- Police Forces – where the information is required to prevent and detect crime
- The Cabinet Office – as part of the National Fraud Initiative
- Local Health Trusts – as part of our safeguarding obligations
- Contractors – where commissioned services need your personal data in order to provide Council services on our behalf
- Registered Social Landlords – as part of our housing obligations
- Schools – as part of our education obligations
- Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service – as part of our safeguarding and community care obligations
- Central Government – as part of our obligations under the National Impact Study
NHS Data Opt-out Scheme
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has produced guidance for all organisations that handle health data. This guidance says that the Council must give our service users the chance to opt-out of whether their sensitive health data is used for research purposes by the NHS. If you wish to opt-out of having your sensitive data used for research, please visit the NHS Make Your Choice website and opt-out of this service. If you have any questions about this, please contact a member of staff.
Marketing
You will not receive marketing communications from the Council useless you have given us your explicit consent to receive them. You can opt out of these communications at any point by clicking “unsubscribe” at the bottom of our emails or replying with “stop” to any text messages you receive.
External websites
Knowsley Council is not responsible for any material on external websites that are accessed from our websites and content should not be considered to be endorsed by Knowsley Council.
Photography
If you have previously consented to having your photograph used in council publicity, but would now like us to stop using your image, please email us at [email protected], or call 0151 443 3536.
CCTV
We have installed CCTV systems in some of our locations used by members of the public, for the purposes of public safety and the prevention and detection of crime. In these locations signs are prominently displayed notifying you that CCTV is in operation and providing you with details of who to contact for further information about them.
We will only disclose CCTV images to third parties for the purposes as stated above of public safety and the prevention and detection of crime. CCTV images will not be released to the media for entertainment purposes or placed on the internet.
If you would like to request a copy of footage of yourself, please see the Subject Access Requests section of our Data Protection section.
Cookies
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. They are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site. Details about how we use cookies.
Further Information
For further information about your data protection rights and Council policies, please visit our data protection section.
Registration
The Council is a registered data controller and has an up to date registration with the Information Commissioner’s Office. Our registration number is – Z5775143. You can view the Council’s registration here.
Contact
If you have any questions regarding how your personal data is used by the Council, please contact our Risk & Resilience Team in the first instance using the contact details below.
Data Protection Officer
Knowsley Council
Municipal Building
Archway Road
Huyton
Liverpool
L36 9UX
Or email: [email protected]
If you wish to complain about how the Council has handled your personal data, please do so via the Have Your Say section of the website.
The Information Commissioner’s Office is the regulator for information law in the UK and is responsible for Data Protection, Freedom of Information, Environment Information Regulations and direct marketing.
You have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office using the following details, however they may ask you if you have raised your complaint with the Council first:
The Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
Telephone: 08456 30 60 60 or 01625 54 57 45
Website: https://ico.org.uk/
This page was updated in January 2020.