Communications - Privacy Notice

Who the Council is and what the Council does

West Oxfordshire District Council is a data controller under the Data Protection Legislation as the Council collects and processes personal information about you in order to provide services and meet their statutory and regulatory obligations.

The Communications team works with all Council services to deliver and advise on communications activity including, but not exclusively, media relations, proactive campaigns, marketing, public information and internal (staff and Councillor) communications.

Any questions regarding our privacy practices should be sent to:

Data Protection Officer (DPO)
West Oxfordshire District Council
Council Offices, Witney, OX28 1NB
Email: data.protection@westoxon.gov.uk
Tel: 01993 861194

Why the Council needs your information and how the Council uses it

How we communicate with residents is really important to us. We are always working to let residents know about what we are doing for local communities, provide updates on vital services and help you better understand how the council operates and the decisions we take.

The Communications team processes personal data to enable the team to prepare communications and deal with media requests. The team does not routinely collect special category personal data.

We collect this information by:

telephone, email, social media, writing or in person
electronic sign up forms such as e-bulletin subscriptions

What is the legal process for collecting and processing this data

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018, the lawful bases we rely on for processing this information are;

Your consent. This is required if you appear in photographs or videos used for promotional or media coverage or if you subscribe to receive direct marketing from us e.g. newsletters. Consent only relates to the specific purpose for which it has been given and you can withdraw your consent at any time. We do not rely on consent as a legal basis for any other processing.
We need it to perform a public task Article 6(1)(e). To fulfil the Council’s duties to inform and engage with Cotswold residents and other partners.

What type of information is collected from you

Personal details, which may include:

Name
Address
Other contact details – email address and telephone number
Parental consent and contact details for those aged 18 or younger

Others include:

Video footage
Photographs
Films or words

Special categories of personal data

We will not purposely collect any special category or criminal data. Photographs or videos may collect special category data including:

personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin
personal data revealing political opinions
personal data revealing religious or philosophical beliefs
data concerning health

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 may also receive your personal information indirectly for PR or marketing purposes from:

Another Council service
A member of the Council
Other organisations (e.g. Emergency Services, Landlord, Housing Associations, third sector partners) regarding an individual

Your data may be shared externally with organisations for media publicity and via emailed press releases to organisations. You will also be asked if you consent to this beforehand.

Apart from where previously stated, we do not pass your details to third parties without your consent or unless we are lawfully required do so.

How long the Council keeps your information (retention period)

We will only retain your personal information for as long as we are required to do so by law and the purpose we collected it for.

The retention period is either dictated by law or by our discretion. Once your data is no longer needed it will be securely and confidentially destroyed or disposed of in line with retention schedules:

Photos/Video footage – three years
E-forms – one year

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 requires 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.

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:

Communications Team
West Oxfordshire District Council
New Yatt Road Witney OX28 1NB
Email: Communications@westoxon.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@westoxon.gov.uk

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner: https://ico.org.uk

The Council reserve the right to update this privacy notice from time to time by publishing a new version on our website.