CORPORATE PRIVACY NOTICE

We are committed to protecting your privacy when you use council services. The Privacy Notice below explains how the Council uses information about you and the ways in which we protect your privacy.
 

What is personal information?

Personal information (sometimes referred to as personal data) is any information that lets us identify a living individual from that information, either directly or indirectly. For example, basic details such as your:

• Name;
• Address;
• Telephone number;
• Date of birth;
• Family information;
• Lifestyle and social circumstances;
• Images, personal appearance and behaviour;
• School records; or
• Information held in paper files. 

 

Did you know that some of your personal information might be ‘special’?

Some information is ‘special’ and needs more protection due to its sensitivity. It is often information you would not want widely known and is very personal to you. This is likely to include anything that can reveal your:

• Racial or Ethnic Origin;
• Politics;
• Religion;
• Trade Union Membership;
• Genetic Information;
• Biometric Information (where used for ID purposes);
• Health Information; or
• Sex Life or Sexual Orientation Information.

 

Why do we need your personal information?

We may need to use some information about you to:

• Deliver services and support to you;
• Manage those services we provide to you;
• Train and manage the employment of our workers who deliver those services;
• Help investigate any worries or complaints you have about services;
• Keep track of spending on services;
• Check the quality of services; and
• To help with research and planning of new services. 

 

Where do we collect your information from?

Most of the personal information we process is provided directly by you for one of the following reasons;

• You have requested access to a service, or to make a change to a service you already receive
• You have made a complaint
• You have made an enquiry
• You have received contact from us
• You are applying to work for us
• You wish to attend an event, training or workshop
• You have requested a publication or information
• You are making a claim for compensation
• You are making a request under your data protection rights

 

How the law allows us to use your personal information

There are a number of legal reasons why we need to collect and use your personal information.
 
Each privacy notice from the menu on the left explains for each service which legal reason is being used. Generally we collect and use personal information where:

• You, or your legal representative, have given consent;
• You have entered into a contract with us;
• It is necessary to perform our statutory duties;
• It is necessary to protect someone in an emergency;
• It is required by law;
• It is necessary for employment purposes;
• It is necessary to deliver health or social care services; 
• You have made your information publicly available;
• It is necessary for legal cases;
• It is to the benefit of society as a whole;
• It is necessary to protect public health; or
• It is necessary for archiving, research, or statistical purposes. 

If we have consent to use your personal information, you have the right to remove it at any time. If you want to remove your consent, please contact the Risk Management and Audit Team at information.governance@tameside.gov.uk and tell us which service you are using so we can deal with your request.
 

We only use what we need! 

Where we can, we will only collect and use personal information if we need it to deliver a service or meet a requirement. 
 
If we do not need personal information we will either keep you anonymous if we already have it for something else or we will not ask you for it. For example, in a survey we may not need your contact details and therefore will only collect your survey responses.

If we use your personal information for research and analysis, we will always keep you anonymous or use a different name unless you have agreed that your personal information can be used for that research.
 
We do not sell your personal information to anyone else.   
 

What you can do with your information

The law gives you a number of rights to control what personal information is used by us and how it is used by us. 
 

You can ask for access to the information we hold on you 

We would normally expect to share what we record about you with you whenever we assess your needs or provide you with services. 
 
However, you also have the right to ask for all the information we have about you and the services you receive from us, this is known as a subject access request. When we receive a request from you in writing, we must give you access to everything we have recorded about you. 
 
However, we cannot let you see any parts of your record which contain:

• Confidential information about other people; or
• Information a professional thinks will cause serious harm to your or someone else’s physical or mental wellbeing; or
• If we think that giving you the information may stop us from preventing or detecting a crime.

This applies to personal information that is in both paper and electronic records. If you ask us, we will also let others see your record (except if one of the points above applies). 
If you cannot ask for your records in writing, we’ll make sure there are other ways that you can. If you have any queries about access to your information please contact the Risk Management and Audit Team at information.governance@tameside.gov.uk
 

You can ask us to change information you think is inaccurate

You should let us know if you disagree with something written on your file.
 
We may not always be able to change or remove that information but we will correct factual inaccuracies and may include your comments in the record to show that you disagree with it.  
 
If you have any queries about making changes to your information please contact the Risk Management and Audit Team at information.governance@tameside.gov.uk
 

You can ask us to delete information (right to be forgotten)

In some circumstances you can ask for your personal information to be deleted, for example: 

• Where your personal information is no longer needed for the reason why it was collected in the first place;
• Where you have removed your consent for us to use your information (where there is no other legal reason for us to use it);
• Where there is no legal reason for the use of your information; or
• Where deleting the information is a legal requirement.
• Where your personal information has been shared with others, we will do what we can to make sure those using your personal information comply with your request for erasure.  
  Please note that we cannot delete your information where:
• We are required to have it by law;
• it is used for freedom of expression; 
• it is used for public health purposes;
• it is for, scientific or historical research, or statistical purposes where it would make information unusable; or
• it is necessary for legal claims. 
  If you have any queries about requesting the deletion of your information please contact the Risk Management and Audit Team at information.governance@tameside.gov.uk 

For more information as your rights as an individual, and how you can exercise those, please click here

 

You can ask us to limit what we use your personal information for 

You have the right to ask us to restrict what we use your personal information for where: 

• you have identified inaccurate information, and have told us of it; or
• where we have no legal reason to use that information but you want us to restrict what we use it for rather than erase the information altogether. 
  When information is restricted it cannot be used other than to securely store the information and with your consent to handle legal claims and protect others, or where it is for important public interests of the UK.
   
  Where restriction of use has been granted, we will inform you before we carry on using your personal information.
   
  You have the right to ask us to stop using your personal information for any Council service. However, if this request is approved this may cause delays or prevent us delivering that service. 
   
  Where possible we will seek to comply with your request, but we may need to hold or use information because we are required to by law. 
   

You can ask us to have your information moved to another provider (information portability)

You have the right to ask for your personal information to be given back to you or another service provider of your choice in a commonly used format. This is called information portability.
 
However, this only applies if we are using your personal information with consent (not if we are required to by law) and if decisions were made by a computer and not a human being. 
It is likely that information portability will not apply to most of the services you receive from the Council. 
 
You can ask to have any computer made decisions explained to you, and details of how we may have ‘risk profiled’ you.
 
You have the right to question decisions made about you by a computer, unless it is required for any contract you have entered into, required by law, or you have consented to it. 
 
You also have the right to object if you are being ‘profiled’. Profiling is where decisions are made about you based on certain things in your personal information, e.g. your health conditions. 
 
If and when the Council uses your personal information to profile you, in order to deliver the most appropriate service to you, you will be informed. 
 
If you have concerns regarding automated decision making, or profiling, please contact the Information Protection Officer who will be able to advise you about how we are using your information.  
 

Who do we share your information with?

We will not share your information with any third parties for the purposes of direct marketing.
 
We use data processors who are third parties who provide elements of services for us. We have contracts in place with our data processors. This means that they cannot do anything with your personal information unless we have instructed them to do it. They will not share your personal information with any organisation apart from us. They will hold it securely and retain it for the period we instruct. 
 
In some circumstances we are legally obliged to share information. For example under a court order or where we suspect there may be a risk to the life or safety of another person and we must share information with the police. We might also share information with other regulatory bodies in order to further their, or our, objectives. Whenever we do share your personal information we will make sure that we have a lawful basis to share the information and will document our decision making to satisfy ourselves that we have a legal basis such as;

• You, or your legal representative, have given consent;
• You have entered into a contract with us;
• It is necessary to perform our statutory duties;
• It is necessary to protect someone in an emergency;
• It is required by law;
• It is necessary for employment purposes;
• It is necessary to deliver health or social care services; 
• You have made your information publicly available;
• It is necessary for legal cases;
• It is to the benefit of society as a whole;
• It is necessary to protect public health; or
• It is necessary for archiving, research, or statistical purposes.

As a local authority, there are some circumstances where we must cooperate with and help other local authorities, in handling complaints and investigations. This may lead to sharing personal information if it is relevant to that complaint or investigation.
 
Where we do need to share your information, we will only share what is necessary and where possible, this will be done in an anonymised or pseudonymised format.
 
The Cabinet Office currently requires the Council to participate in data matching exercises as part of the National Fraud Initiative (NFI) to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud. This is one of the ways in which the Minister for the Cabinet Office takes responsibility within government for public sector efficiency and reform.
 
Data matching involves comparing sets of data, such as the payroll or benefits records of a body, against other records held by the same or another body to see how far they match.  The data is usually personal information. The data matching allows potentially fraudulent claims and payments to be identified. Where a match is found it may indicate that there is an inconsistency that requires further investigation. No assumption can be made as to whether there is fraud, error or other explanation until an investigation is carried out.
 
The Council is required to provide particular sets of data to the Cabinet Office for the matching exercise, and these are set out in the Cabinet Office’s guidance. Data matching by the Cabinet Office is subject to a Code of Practice.
 
For more information please see our National Fraud Initiative (NFI) privacy notice
 

Data Sharing Agreement Protocol

Your personal data may be shared securely to other departments including Tameside MBC, Tameside & Glossop CCG and the Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF), only where it is both necessary and appropriate to do so.
 
In order to provide our services to you, we will need to securely share your personal data to other organisations outside of Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council such NHS Tameside & Glossop CCG for which we work together as a strategic commission and whom centrally manage requests on behalf of the CCG.
 
We will also need to securely share your personal data with GMPF who Tameside MBC administers for and who work together centrally to manage some requests on behalf of GMPF.
 
In order for data to be managed, and accessed by those who need to use information to deliver our best service, an agreement on data transfer is in place and has been established between Tameside MBC & GMPF and also between Tameside MBC & TG-CCG.
 
The agreement will provide the basis for the working practices within Tameside MBC and the development and implementation of a web-based data management system.
 

How do we protect your information? 

We will do what we can to make sure we hold records about you (on paper and electronically) in a secure way, and we will only make them available to those who have a right to see them. Examples of our security include:

• Encryption, meaning that information is hidden so that it cannot be read without special knowledge (such as a password). This is done with a secret code or what is called a ‘cypher’. The hidden information is said to then be ‘encrypted’;
• Pseudonymisation, meaning that we will use a different name so we can hide parts of your personal information from view. This means that someone outside of the Council could work on your information for us without ever knowing it was yours;
• Controlling access to systems and networks allows us to stop people who are not allowed to view your personal information from getting access to it;
• Training for our staff allows us to make them aware of how to handle information and how and when to report when something goes wrong; and
• Regular testing of our technology and ways of working, including keeping up to date on the latest security updates (commonly called patches). 

 

Where in the world is your information?

The majority of personal information is stored on systems in the UK. But there are some occasions where your information may leave the UK either in order to get to another organisation or if it is stored in a system outside of the EU. 
 
We have additional protections on your information if it leaves the UK ranging from secure ways of transferring information to ensuring we have a robust contract in place with that third party. 
We will take all practical steps to make sure your personal information is not sent to a country that is not seen as ‘safe’ either by the UK or EU Governments.
 
If we need to send your information to an ‘unsafe’ location we will always seek advice from the Information Commissioner first.  
 
How long do we keep your personal information?
There is often a legal reason for keeping your personal information for a set period of time; we try to include all of these in our retention schedule.
 
For each service the schedule lists how long your information may be kept for. This ranges from months for some records to decades for more sensitive records. 
 
Where can I get advice?
If you have any worries or questions about how your personal information is handled please contact our Data Protection Officer, Ridhwaan Hafezji, at information.governance@tameside.gov.uk or by calling 0161 342 8355
 
For independent advice about information protection, privacy and information sharing issues, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at:
 
Wycliffe House 
Water Lane 
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 (national rate number)
 
Alternatively, visit ico.org.uk or email casework@ico.org.uk