Terms & conditions

DATA PROTECTION PRIVACY NOTICE

The identity of the data controller and contact details of our Data Protection Officer.

The data controller is St Helens Borough Council.  The Council’s Data Protection Officer can be contacted at dataprotection@sthelens.gov.uk or by writing to the following address: Data Protection Officer, St Helens Council, PO Box 512, St Helens, WA10 9JX

Why we are collecting your personal data.

Your personal data is being collected as an essential part of the consultation process and for statistical purposes.  It will be used to identify issues and outcomes relevant to people who share different protected characteristics, which will help the Council to put actions in place to promote equality of opportunity, eliminate discrimination, harassment, and victimisation, and foster good relations between persons who share a protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.

We will collect your IP address if you complete a consultation online.  We may use this to ensure that each person only completes a survey once.  We will not use this data for any other purpose.

Sensitive types of personal data

We are collecting special category personal data which is necessary for the purposes of aggregating responses by people who share different protected characteristics to identify if there are any common themes or issues arising for different groups.  By ‘special category personal data’, we mean information about a living individual’s:

  • racial or ethnic origin
  • religious or philosophical beliefs
  • sexual orientation
  • health (including physical and sensory disabilities, neurodiversity, learning disabilities, and mental health)

Our legal basis for processing your personal data.

The collection of your personal data, including your special category data (race, religion, disability, sexual orientation) is lawful under Article 9 2 (g) of the UK GDPR states that special category data can be processed when there is a substantial public interest, based in law. The basis in law is the Equality Act 2010.  Article 9 4 (a) of the UK GDPR refers to specific conditions when processing information under the basis of substantial public interest. The specific condition is set out in the Data Protection Act 2018 Schedule 1 Part 2 8, defined as Equality of opportunity or treatment.  The processing of a specified category of personal data is necessary for the purposes of identifying or keeping under review the existence or absence of equality of opportunity or treatment between groups of people specified in relation to that category with a view to enabling such equality to be promoted or maintained.

With whom we will be sharing your personal data

St Helens Borough Council may appoint a ‘data processor’, acting on behalf of the Council and under our instruction, to help analyse the responses to this consultation.  Where we do share your special category personal data, we will ensure that the processing of your personal data remains in strict accordance with the requirements of the data protection legislation.

For how long we will keep your personal data, or criteria used to determine the retention period.

Your personal data will be held for 2 years from the closure of the consultation, unless we identify that its continued retention is unnecessary before that point.

Your rights, e.g. access, rectification, restriction, objection

The data we are collecting is your personal data, and you have considerable say over what happens to it.  You have the right:

  1. to see what data we have about you
  2. to ask us to stop using your data, but keep it on record
  3. to ask to have your data corrected if it is incorrect or incomplete
  4. to object to our use of your personal data in certain circumstances
  5. to lodge a complaint with the independent Information Commissioner (ICO) if you think we are not handling your data fairly or in accordance with the law. You can contact the ICO at https://ico.org.uk/, telephone 0303 123 1113, or post: Information Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Please contact us at the following address if you wish to exercise the rights listed above, (except the right to lodge a complaint with the ICO): dataprotection@sthelens.gov.uk or Data Protection Officer, St Helens Borough Council, Town Hall, Victoria Square, St Helens, Merseyside, WA10 1HP

Your personal data will not be sent overseas.  (NB Statements about whether or not personal information is sent overseas is dependent on whether “survey” providers have processors inside or outside of the UK.  When designing your Privacy Notice tailor this statement on the facts.  Always consultation with the Council’s Information Governance, Compliance and Complaints (IGCC) Team at the point of appointing a data processor.)

Your personal data will not be used for any automated decision making.

Your personal data will be stored in a secure council IT system.

If we use a third-party system to collect consultation responses.  In the first instance your personal data will be stored on their secure UK-based server.  Your personal data will be transferred to our secure Council IT system as soon as possible, and it will be stored there for two years before it is deleted.  (NB Statements about whether or not personal data is stored inside or outside of the UK, is dependent on the facts related to your data storage arrangements.  When designing your Privacy Notice tailor this statement on the facts.  Always consultation with the IGCC Team at the point of appointing a data processor.)