Privacy Notice
This Privacy notice explains how Harlow
District Council (the Council) collects, uses and protects personal
information that you give us when you visit this website.
Data Protection Act 1998
To ensure that the Council treats personal information
correctly, we seek to adhere in full to the eight principles set
out in the Data Protection Act 1998.
The Data Protection Act refers to obtaining, recording, holding
and dealing with personal information as ‘processing’. The
Council has notified the Information Commissioner’s Office of the
types of personal information it processes and the purposes for
which it does so.
The Information Commissioner's Office is the independent body
responsible for overseeing the Data Protection Act and maintains a
public register which contains the name and address of Data
Controllers with a description of the kind of processing they
do. Anyone can access this register and if you wish to view
the Council’s entry you can access it via the Information Commissioner’s Office
website. Also if you have questions about the use
of your personal information, the Information Commissioner’s
website offers useful advice and guidance.
Under the Data Protection Act 1998, we have a legal duty to
protect any information we collect from you. We use leading
technologies and encryption software to safeguard your data, and
keep strict security standards to prevent any unauthorised access
to it. Our website contains full details of Harlow
District Council’s Data Protection Policy which forms part of our
Access
to Information Policy.
Visitors to our website
You can visit our site without telling us who
you are or giving us any personal information. The Council
does not capture and store any personal information about
individuals who access this web site, except where you voluntarily
choose to give us your personal information via e-mail or by using
an electronic online form.
By entering your personal information (e.g.
name and e-mail address) in the fields requested in our electronic
online forms, you enable the Council and its service providers to
provide the services you requested.
Sharing and disclosing your information
Depending on the purpose for which we originally obtained your
personal information and the use to which it is to be put,
information may be shared with other organisations.
For example, information may also be shared, where necessary,
with other organisations that provide services on our behalf such
as contracts carrying out repairs to Council houses. In such cases,
the information provided is only the minimum necessary to enable
them to provide services to you.
Personal information about you may also be provided to other
local authorities. An example would be when you have moved from one
local authority to another and the new authority requires
confirmation of the services you were receiving.
In most cases we will not disclose personal data without
consent. However, there are situations where consent would
not be required such as:
- Where the Council is required to provide the information by
law
- Where the information is needed to prevent or detect a
crime
- Where the Council is obliged to publish the information by
law
- Where disclosure is in the vital interests of the person
concerned
Internal market information system
If you make any application online which is processed and
regulated by the Council it may fall within the scope of the EU
Services Directive. If that is the case we may use your
details provided in the application to help us process the
application using the IMI System (Internal Market Information
System).
The IMI is a web based portal developed by the EU Commission. It
allows authorities to share information in a secure way and
complies with data protection legislation.
IMI will only be used to exchange information regarding service
providers who are within the scope of the directive. Information
provided will be deleted from the system 6 months after the closure
of the request.
When a request is sent or received authorities will need to show a
good reason for asking or sharing requests. Only authorities
genuinely involved in the request for information will be able to
see the information supplied.
If we were to supply sensitive data using the IMI such as criminal
sanctions we will notify you that this has happened.
Audit Commission's data matching exercise
Harlow District Council is required by law to
protect the public funds it administers. It may share information
provided to it with other bodies responsible for auditing or
administering public funds, in order to prevent and detect
fraud.
The Audit Commission appoints the auditor to
audit the accounts of this authority. It is also responsible for
carrying out data matching exercises.
Data matching involves comparing computer
records held by one body against other computer records held by the
same or another body to see how far they match. This is usually
personal information. Computerised data matching allows
potentially fraudulent claims and payments to be identified. Where
a match is found it indicates that there is an inconsistency which
requires further investigation. No assumption can be made as to
whether there is fraud, error or other explanation until an
investigation is carried out.
More information about this data matching
exercise can be obtained via the Data
Protection page on our website.
Access to your information
The Council tries to be as open as it can be
in terms of giving people access to their personal information.
Individuals can find out if we hold any personal information by
making a ‘subject access request’ under the Data Protection
Act.
More information on making a request can be obtained via
the Data Protection page on our
website.
Changes to this privacy notice
If this privacy notice changes in any way, we will place an
updated version on this webpage. Regularly reviewing this page
ensures you are always aware of what information we collect, how we
use it and under what circumstances, if any, we will share it with
other parties.
Complaints or queries
The Council tries to meet the highest standards when collecting
and using personal information. For this reason, we take any
complaints we receive about this very seriously. We encourage
people to bring it to our attention if they think that our
collection or use of information is unfair, misleading or
inappropriate. We would also welcome any suggestions for
improving our procedures.
Please note that this privacy notice does not provide exhaustive
detail of all aspects of the Council’s collection and use of
personal information. However, we are happy to provide any
additional information or explanation needed.
If you have any enquiries, contact details are provided
below.
Contact details:
Marie Bentley
Corporate Information Manager
Harlow Council
Civic Centre
The Water Gardens
Harlow
Essex CM20 1WG
Tel: 01279 446736
E-mail: marie.bentley@harlow.gov.uk