Customer Services privacy notice
The following privacy notice is designed to explain how we collect, process hold and share your personal data for the general enquiries not related to a specific service area. If accessing a specific service, please refer to the separate privacy notice for that service.
The categories of this information that we collect, process, hold and share include:
Information like your name, address, email or phone number. Sometimes we collect other information you may feel is sensitive to you. This might be financial, employment or health information for example.
CCTV recording is in place in our customer service centre.
If you contact us with an enquiry, we may keep a record of that enquiry such as a recording of a phone call.
Why we collect and use this information
We use your data to:
- deal with your enquiries;
- provide services to you and other residents in the District;
- prevention and detection of crime including fraud and abuse of public funds;
- enable us to carry out specific functions for which we are responsible including ensuring that you receive other council services to which you are entitled;
- assess performance and train our staff;
- investigate complaints made about the Council; and
- employee safety and wellbeing
Some of these services we are required to provide by law. For us to do this, you must provide your personal information to us. Other services we provide is because it is in the wider public interest to do so. If you do not give us your personal information, we may be unable to provide these services to you.
Your personal information will be treated as confidential but it may be shared with other Council services in order to ensure our records are accurate and up-to-date, and to improve the standard of the services we deliver. We will only use your information in ways which are permitted by the General Data Protection Regulation and the current UK Data Protection law. We won’t use it for any other purposes without your consent or without telling you first.
The lawful basis on which we use this information
The Council collects and uses information about you on the basis that it is necessary because of a legal obligation that applies to the Council. To do so is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority. Legislation is in place to allow the Council to provide assistance to any person in their area, including by helping the most vulnerable residents in meeting their need for support or to help people cope with special difficulties.
CCTV video images are recorded in our customer service centre in Kidderminster. The live imagery and footage we record is used for the prevention and detection of crime and to protect public and staff safety. Where fixed CCTV cameras are operating, there will be signs clearly displayed.
Storing this information
Your data will be securely held electronically and will not be stored in a country outside the UK.
CCTV video images are recorded in real time onto a secure CCTV locked system which is stand-alone and not connected to any internal or external network.
Other information is held on a secure electronic database hosted on the Councils secure internal network and both are fully access restricted / auditable
We make sure we do not keep your details for any longer than is necessary. Once we no longer need it we will keep it for a set period (retention period) but not use it. CCTV recordings are kept for 30 days and images can only be viewed by authorised staff. For further information on our policy for retaining personal information, you can request to see our data retention guidelines.
Who we share this information with
Where other departments of the Council have a legal right to data we hold, information shall be provided which is relevant to their legal powers.
We will only share CCTV footage where we are legally obliged to do so, or where we are allowed to do so under certain exemptions - for example, for the prevention or detection of crime.
This may involve making a copy of the storage media or a screen print, which may be used as evidence in any subsequent civil/criminal court proceedings. In cases of suspected criminal activity the storage media will normally be passed to the police for investigation and possible prosecution. The police and other law enforcement agencies may, on showing good cause, request copies of storage media or access to monitoring screens. In general such requests will be complied with.
Our software providers will store your information but only on our instructions. They won’t use it for any other reasons and they have to look after it in the same way we would.
Where you request a referral to an agency or one of our partner services, they will also use your information. They may use it for their own reasons that are different to organisations but they still have to look after it in the same way.
Why we share this information
We do not share information without consent unless the law and our policies allow us to do so.
We will not disclose your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes.
Requesting access to your personal data
Under data protection legislation, you have the right to request access to information about you that we hold. To make a request for your personal information, contact the Data Protection Officer, Wyre Forest District Council, Wyre Forest House, Fine Point Way, Kidderminster, Worcestershire DY11 7WF. Email dataprotection@wyreforestdc.gov.uk
You also have the right to:
- object to processing of personal data that is likely to cause, or is causing, damage or distress
- prevent processing for the purpose of direct marketing
- object to decisions being taken by automated means
- in certain circumstances, have inaccurate personal data rectified, blocked, erased or destroyed; and
- claim compensation for damages caused by a breach of the Data Protection regulations
If you have a concern about the way we are collecting or using your personal data, we request that you raise your concern with us in the first instance. Alternatively, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/
Further information
For enquiries about this privacy notice and for deletion of data held under consent please email customer services
The following privacy notice is designed to explain how we collect, process hold and share your personal data for the general enquiries not related to a specific service area. If accessing a specific service, please refer to the separate privacy notice for that service.