What is abuse and how to report it

Privacy statement

What is personal information?

Personal information can be anything that identifies and relates to a living person. This can include information that when linked with other information, allows a person to be uniquely identified. For example, this could be your name and contact details. The law treats some types of personal information as ‘special’ because the

information requires more protection due to its sensitivity. This information consists of:

• Racial or ethnic origin
• Sexuality and sexual life
• Religious or philosophical beliefs
• Trade union membership
• Political opinions
• Genetic and bio-metric data
• Physical or mental health
• Criminal convictions and offences

Why we process your data

As a local authority we deliver a variety of services to you. In order to deliver some of these services this requires us collecting and using personal information about you. Generally, we may need to use some information about you:

• in delivering services and support by ensuring other statutory or voluntary agencies with whom the council is working, are able to deliver ‘joined up’ services to you
• in planning future services.
• collecting taxes, administering grants and welfare benefits
• for managing and checking the quality of our services.
• keeping track of spending on services.
• if you apply for a job or become employed by us.
• for ensuring the health and safety of our staff
• to help investigate any concerns or complaints you have about our services and for answering enquiries under access legislation.
• in carrying out our regulatory activities, such as enforcement, planning, safeguarding, licencing etc.
• to improve the general experience of our customers and of visitors to our websites
• for managing any on-line transactions, you may elect to make and/or marketing choices or preferences you may have expressed
• in the event of civil disasters and/or emergencies
• for archiving, research, or statistical purposes (including research and evaluation undertaken by the Council or in combination with neighbouring authorities to inform future service planning where the use of fully anonymised information would frustrate the purpose of the research)

When we collect your personal data

Generally, we collect and process your personal information under Article 6 (1) (e) -processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller; however, we may also collect your personal information when.

• you, or your legal representative, have given consent
• you have entered into a contract with us
• it is required by law (such as where this is mandated by statute or under a court order)
• to perform a task in the public interest
• it is necessary to perform statutory functions (including law enforcement functions)
• it is necessary for employment related purposes
• it is necessary to deliver health or social care services
• it is necessary to protect you or others from harm (e.g.in an emergency or civil disaster)
• it is necessary to protect public health
• it is necessary for exercising or defending legal rights you have made your information publicly available
• it is necessary for archiving, research, or statistical purposes
• it is necessary in the substantial public interest for wider societal benefits and is authorised by law
• it is necessary for fraud prevention and the protection of public funds
• When it is in our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) provided your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests

Sharing your personal information

Bolton Council will only share your information when it is required to do so, for example your personal information may be shared with other organisations, such as those who assist us in providing services and those who perform technical operations such as data storage and hosting on our behalf.

These practical arrangements and the laws governing the sharing and disclosure of personal information often differ from one service to another.

If you are looking for how we use your information for a specific service, please see the full list of privacy notices 

Privacy notices

Each of our key service areas provide additional information about how we collect and use your information. These notices explain:

• why we need your information
• who else we obtain or receive it from
• the legal basis for collection and the choices you have
• who we share it with and why
• whether decisions which legally affect you are made solely using machine-based technologies
• how long we keep your information
• how to exercise your rights

For each specific service, see the full list of privacy notices 

Data transfers beyond the UK

We will only send your data outside the UK:

• with your consent, or
• to comply with a lawful and legitimate request, or
• if we use service providers or contractors in other countries.

If we do transfer your information beyond the UK, we will make sure that it is protected in the same way as if it was being used in the UK. We will use appropriate safeguards.

Unless the recipients are located in countries that have been deemed adequate by the European Commission, we will put in place data transfer agreements based on the applicable European Commission-approved Standard Contractual Clauses or rely on other available data transfer mechanisms (Binding Corporate Rules, approved Certifications or Codes of Conduct) to protect the personal data so transferred. In exceptional cases, we may rely on statutory derogations for international data transfers.

If we propose to make a transfer in response to a lawful and legitimate request, we will normally tell you in advance unless there are compelling reasons, such as law enforcement or, reasons of safety which justify not doing so.

Automated decisions

If we make a decision which legally affects you by using a computerised system or programme that does not involve a human being, our service specific privacy notices will explain this. Our Guide to exercising your rights outlines the procedure to ask us for an automated decision to be reviewed by an appropriate officer.

In certain limited cases the Council may use profiling techniques (Including analysis of post codes) to determine future service provision. It may also be used to gain a better understanding of our population and which residents use which services. This data will not however, be used to make decisions that relate only to specific individuals.

Data retention/criteria

We will only keep your personal information for as long as the law specifies or where the law does not specify this, for the length of time determined by our business requirements.

How we keep your information safe

We are committed to ensuring your personal information is safe and protected from accidental loss or alteration, inappropriate access, misuse or theft.

As well as technical, physical and organisational controls, we recognise that a well-trained, informed and security alert workforce minimises privacy risks from human error and/or threats from malicious actors.

We require our service providers to implement appropriate industry standard security measures and only permit them to process your personal information for specified

purposes in accordance with our contractual instructions.

Rights of individuals

You have certain rights in relation to the council’s use of your personal information.

To find out more about how these rights apply in particular circumstances, please refer to our Guide to exercising your Rights or alternatively visit the Information Commissioner’s web site at www.ico.org.uk

If you wish to exercise your rights or to raise a concern about the handling of your personal information by the council, please contact our Information Governance team.

Contact Information (rights/complaints)

Whether you are exercising your rights or raising a concern, you will normally need to include documents that prove your identity as well as a clear and precise description of your request/concern.

We will process requests in accordance with the legislative framework and the statutory time scales and inform you should an extension of time be necessary.

More information about how to exercise your rights

Complaints (ICO)

If you are not satisfied with the way we have answered a request from you or handled your personal information, you should contact the Council’s DPO at:

DPO Information Governance Team,

1st Floor, Town Hall, Victoria Square, Bolton, BL1 1RU

01204 332064

dpo@bolton.gov.uk

If you wish to exercise your rights (as outlined above) or if you are still unsatisfied you should contact The Information Commissioner’s Office by post at: The ICO, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF or by telephone:  0303 123 1113

Cookies

To find out about how we use cookies please see our cookie notice.

Updates

We may update or revise this Privacy Notice at any time so please refer to the version published on our website for the most up to date details