We will only hold your personal information for as long as necessary for business purposes or if we are required to keep it by law.
Source of data
You usually have the right to know where we obtain your data from. We obtain your personal data directly from you in a number of ways, for example:
- when you fill in a form on our website
- when you email or call us
- when you visit our offices or access Council services
We can also obtain your data indirectly from a variety of sources such as partner organisations or contractors that work with us.
Where necessary, particularly for investigations and regulatory work, we can also collect personal data from publicly available sources such as social media profiles, Companies House or freely available news articles.
We take our responsibilities for data protection seriously. Our privacy notice explains how we collect and use personal information about you in accordance with data protection law.
The Data Protection Act 2018 governs how all data controllers manage computerised and manual filing systems, detailing how personal information can be used.
As a data controller for various systems, the Council must ensure that personal information is collected and processed legally, used only for specified purposes, remains relevant and accurate, is not retained longer than necessary, and is protected by security measures to prevent unauthorised access and accidental loss.
Notification
The Council must declare what information it holds and how it is used through a Notification process. The Information Commissioner, appointed by the Government, is responsible for overseeing all data controllers.
Your rights
Any member of the public has the right to inspect the Council’s Notifications, there are separate Notifications for Electoral Registration and the Council’s other systems. These documents can be reviewed in person at Borough Hall, Cauldwell Street, Bedford, MK42 9AP or accessed online at www.ico.org.uk.
As an individual, you have the right to:
- apply for a copy of any personal information about you held on the Council’s computers and in manual filing systems – a subject access request (SAR)
- have any information corrected, if wrong, or erased if inappropriate – a data subjects rights request
Make a subject access request
You have the right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you; this is known as a subject access request (SAR).
You can apply for a copy of information we hold about you in several ways:
By emailing requestforinformation@bedford.gov.uk.
By completing and returning the subject access request form (PDF).
By writing to Request for Information, Bedford Borough Council, Borough Hall, Cauldwell Street, Bedford MK42 9AP.
Requests made over the phone, face to face and via social media will also be accepted.
Whichever way you choose to submit your request you will need to provide proof of identity. The request should provide as much detail as possible to enable us to process it without delay.
Your request will be passed to the Officer responsible within the service area concerned who will deal with it. It may be necessary to request more detailed information to be satisfied of the identity of the Data Subject or to enable the information to be located.
The Council will then respond to you detailing the information held about you within one calendar month either of receipt of the initial request or of the additional information requested.
Please see our Make a Subject Access Request guidance note (PDF) or visit the Information Commissioner's Office for further details.
Subject Access Requests will be free of charge unless there is a lot of work or a lot of photocopying and postage, which we are allowed to charge a reasonable fee for.
Make a data subject rights request
You can make a request to have your information corrected, if wrong or erased if inappropriate. This is called a data subject rights request.
You can ask us to do the following:
- Correct your data if you think it is wrong (Right to Rectification).
- Erase your personal data in certain circumstances (Right to Erasure).
- Stop using your data if you think it is wrong or we shouldn’t have it, until it’s put right or deleted (Right to Restriction).
- Stop using your data if you think we no longer should be using it (Right to Object).
- Transfer the information you gave us from one organisation to another, or give it to you. The right only applies if we are processing information based on your consent or under, or in talks about entering into a contract and the processing is automated (Right to Data Portability).
- Consider any complaint you have about how we have used your data.
You can do this by completing the Data Subject Rights request online form.
If you are unable to complete the request online you can print off and complete a paper version of the data subject rights form (PDF).
You can also do this by:
By writing to Data Protection Officer, Bedford Borough Council, Borough Hall, Cauldwell Street, Bedford MK42 9AP.
By emailing dpo@bedford.gov.uk.
Requests made over the phone, face to face and via social media will also be accepted.
Whichever way you choose to submit your request you will need to provide proof of identity. The request should provide as much detail as possible to enable us to process it without delay.
Your request will be passed to the Officer responsible within the Service Area concerned who will deal with it. It may be necessary to request more detailed information to be satisfied of the identity of the Data Subject or to enable the information to be located.
The Council will then respond to you within one calendar month either of receipt of the initial request or of the additional information requested.
Automated processing
In addition, you have the right:
- not to be subject to a decision that is based solely on automated processing if the decision affects your legal rights or other equally important matters (for example, automatic refusal of an online credit application, and e-recruiting practices without human intervention)
- to understand the reasons behind decisions made about you by automated processing and the possible consequences of the decisions, and
- to object to profiling in certain situations, including for direct marketing.
You can read more about this on the ICO website.
Challenging the response
When you have received a response, if you are not satisfied you may challenge the fact by writing to the relevant address within 40 days of receiving it. Please explain why you disagree with the response.
This Officer will normally, in the first instance, refer the complaint to the relevant manager for the service area concerned to examine the complaint and a response should be provided within 20 working days.
If you are remain unhappy with how the Council has answered your complaint, you can then contact the Information Commissioner’s Office, at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AX
Website: www.ico.org.uk
Email: casework@ico.org.uk