Mayor and Councillors privacy notice

This privacy notice sits alongside the Council’s top level privacy notice and provides information about how personal data is used by the Elected Mayor and Councillors.

The Mayor and Councillors represent residents as part of their work in the community. In the course of their duties they contact officers of the Council and other organisations on your behalf to investigate your concerns and respond to your enquiries. They are data controllers in their own right, although they do not have to register with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

 

What type of Personal Data do the Mayor and Councillors collect?

When the Mayor and/or a Councillor deals with your enquiry, they might collect the following information to help you:

• name
• postal address
• contact phone number
• email address
• details of the enquiry

In some cases, such as assisting you with specific issues or specific organisations, they might need more information such as:

• National Insurance number
• reference number(s)
• date of birth
• signature
• information about your health needs
• details of family members

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) recognises that some types of personal data are very sensitive and states that data controllers must give it extra protection. This is known as special category data, and includes things such as medical information. The Data Protection Act (2018) allows elected Members to share and receive such data if acting on behalf of a request for information from the constituent.

How the Mayor and Councillors collect personal information

The Mayor and/or a Councillor might collect information from you in a number of ways, for example:

• when they meet you in the community or at their surgeries
• when you telephone or email
• when you send letters
• when you contact them via social media

What are the Mayor and Councillors’ powers to obtain and use personal data?

To collect and use your personal information, it is necessary for the Mayor and Councillors to have a lawful basis.

The ones that cover their work with your personal information are the following:

• ​consent – you provide your information and ask them to act on your behalf
• protect your vital interests – such as a life or death situation or to protect you from harm, or the vital interests of another person
• a task in the public interest or where because of their role as Mayor or a Councillor – they are authorised to use your personal information
• legitimate interests – they need to process your data for their legitimate interests, or the legitimate interests of a third party

For the special category data, such as your medical information, they rely on the following conditions:

• explicit consent – this will usually be in writing.
• protect vital interests – when you are unable to give consent and you or someone else is at risk of harm.
• establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims or whenever courts are acting in their judicial capacity

What is your personal information used for?

• to investigate and respond to your request for advice, guidance or information
• to investigate and respond to an enquiry or a complaint you have contacted us about.

Will your personal information be shared?

In some cases, to enable the Mayor or Councillor to deal with your issues, they may have to share your information with other organisations such as the DWP, the NHS, or other bodies, such as schools and charities. Where appropriate they may also share your information with the Mayor or other Ward Councillor colleagues in order to proactively work to resolve the issues you have raised.

Where possible, the Mayor or Councillor should let you know when they have shared information.

There may, however, be instances where it might not be possible to tell you that the information was shared because of public interest issues such as an investigation or a police matter.

When undertaking party political activities your information will only be shared where you have consented to the process.

How do the Mayor and Councillors keep your personal information secure?

The Mayor and all Councillors are required to keep your information safe and keep it secure. In addition, to the security provided by council devices and/or systems, they should have adequate measures in place to safeguard access to any information you have provided.

How long will Councillors keep your personal information?

As part of a Councillor’s work keeping track of your case, they will have to hold onto your information at least until the matter is resolved or they are no longer required to be involved in resolving the matter.

Any information the Councillor holds at the end of their term in office should be securely destroyed, unless the matter is not resolved in which case it would be passed to the appropriate Council representative.

Marketing (if applicable)

At no time will the Mayor or Councillors use your information or pass it to another organisation for marketing or sales purposes without your prior express consent.

What are your information rights?

Your information rights are set out in the law. Subject to some legal exceptions, you have the right to:

• have any inaccuracies corrected
• have your personal data erased
• place a restriction on any processing of your data
• object to processing
• request your data to be ported (data portability)

To exercise any of these rights please contact the Mayor or Councillor in the first instance.

You also have the right to request a copy of the personal information the Mayor or councillor holds about you.

To learn more about your rights please see the ICO website.

In the event of a complaint regarding the processing of your personal data you should contact the Councillor(s) involved immediately, along with members services (members.services@hackney.gov.uk), or the Mayor and Cabinet Office (if the matter relates to the Mayor or a Cabinet member) at mayor@hackney.gov.uk.

If you do not feel they have properly dealt with your complaint, you can also contact the Information Commissioner’s Office. Their details are below:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745
Fax: 01625 524 510