Privacy notice

This privacy notice provides you with general information about how we collect and use your information in the delivery of our services.

We are a local authority and known as the "Controller" of the information that we collect about you. 

Call: 01983 821000

Post: Isle of Wight Council, County Hall, High Street, Newport, Isle of Wight PO30 1UD

Email: DPO@iow.gov.uk

Post: Data Protection Officer, Corporate Information Unit, County Hall, High Street, Newport, Isle of Wight PO30 1UD

The information we collect about you is split into two categories that are determined by the definitions set out in law.

Personal data is information that identifies and relates to you, this may include:

• name, address, date of birth and other contact information
• unique identification numbers
• details of your social and/or economic status
• online identifiers (for example an IP address).

Special category data is personal data that is considered more sensitive and private in nature. This is information about your:

• race or ethnic origin
• political views and affiliations
• religious or philosophical beliefs
• trade union membership
• genetics
• biometrics (where used for ID purposes, for example, facial recognition)
• health
• sex life or sexual orientation.

We collect and use your information to help deliver public services. These services are divided into the following directorates:

• adult social care and community wellbeing
• children’s services
• corporate services
• financial management
• neighbourhoods
• public health
• regeneration
• strategy.

We process your information for the following purposes:

• for the service you requested, and to track and improve our performance in responding to your request
• to allow us to be able to communicate and provide services and benefits appropriate to your needs
• to ensure that we meet our legal obligations and to exercise our statutory powers in the public interest
• to conduct public consultations and engagement
• where necessary for law enforcement functions
• where necessary to protect individuals from harm or injury
• to allow the statistical analysis of data so we can plan the provision of services
• to support effective decision-making and improve efficiency of services
• for the purposes of public and staff safety, and crime prevention and detection.

We will only collect the information that we need to deliver services to you and as far as is reasonable and practicable. We will ensure that your information is accurate and kept up to date.

We must ensure that we have a lawful basis to collect and use your information. The lawful bases the council relies on vary depending on our involvement with you. They are:

• compliance with a legal obligation as required by UK or EU law to process for a specific purpose
• performance of a public task in the public interest or an official function which has a clear basis in law
• performance of a contract for the supply of goods or services with your consent, where there is documented evidence of that consent
• pursuit of a legitimate interest of the council or a third party
• to protect a person’s vital interests (for example, to protect someone’s life).

If the information you provide us contains special category data, this requires a further lawful basis to those listed above. In relation to the council’s processing activities, these are:

• for reasons of substantial public interest
• to establish, exercise of defend legal claims
• for preventative and occupational medicine and the assessment of the working capacity of an employee
• provision of health and social care treatment or the management of health and social care systems
• carrying out obligations and exercising specific rights in the field of employment and social security and social protection law
• with your explicit consent
• to protect an individual’s vital interests
• processing personal data which are made public by you.

The information we collect may be shared between council services and with other organisations such as government bodies, educational establishments, and health and social care organisations providing you with services. This may include the Safeguarding Partnership or other partnerships as required.

We will only share your personal information when we are allowed to, required to by law or we have your consent. We do not pass personal data to other organisations for marketing purposes without your consent. Your personal information may be processed by an external service provider acting on our behalf.

We are required by law to protect the public funds it manages. We may share information provided to us with other bodies responsible for auditing or managing public funds to prevent and detect fraud.

The Cabinet Office is responsible for carrying out data matching exercises, and we are required to provide particular sets of data to the Minister for the Cabinet Office for matching each exercise as detailed on the government's National Fraud Initiative (NFI).

We are required to keep your information for as long as necessary, after which, it will be securely destroyed.

Retention periods can differ and will depend on various criteria including:

• the purpose of processing, regulatory, and legal requirements
• internal organisational need.

We have retention schedules in place that set out in detail how long information will be held. If you need more information, please contact the relevant service.

We may process your information in both digital and hard copy format. Your information will be held within the United Kingdom, but, in some limited circumstances, it may be transferred overseas using web services that are hosted outside of the European economic area. Where this is the case, we will ensure that adequate and appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your information overseas.

You have several rights in relation to the information that we hold about you:

• access - you have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information
• rectification - you have the right to ask us to rectify information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete
• erasure - you have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances
• restriction of processing - you have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your information in certain circumstances
• object to processing - you have the right to object to the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances
• data portability - you have the right to ask that we transfer the information you gave us to another organisation or to you in certain circumstances
• automated decisions and profiling – you have the right to prevent your information being processed and decisions being made about you solely by automated means (without any human involvement).

If you wish to use your rights, please contact our Corporate Information Unit.

Email: information@iow.gov.uk

Post: Corporate Information Unit, Legal Services, County Hall, High Street, Newport, Isle of Wight PO30 1UD.

To view more information about your rights and when these might apply, visit the Information Commissioner's website.

View our data protection policy for more details about how the council handles personal data and complies with data protection legislation.

Please use the data protection appeal form if you wish to make an appeal.

You have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you are not satisfied with the way that the council has handled your information.

They can also provide advice and can be contacted through the Information Commissioner’s website.

Call: 0303 1231113

Post: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.