This notice should be read in conjunction with our corporate privacy notice.
Who are we?
North Yorkshire Council is a ‘Data Controller’ as defined by Article 4(7) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).
What personal information do we collect?
In order to deliver Democratic Services to our residents, we need to collect both personal and special category data depending on the specific service being delivered.
Personal data may include:
- name and contact details
- addresses
- date of birth
- case details and case history
- education history (for example, qualifications)
- financial information
- information relating to compliments or complaints
- photographs or video recordings
Special category data may include:
- racial or ethnic origin
- religious or philosophical beliefs
- health information (including dietary requirements, allergies and health conditions)
- sex life information
- sexual orientation information
- criminal conviction and offence history data may include criminal offence data (including Disclosure Barring Service (DBS), Access NI or Disclosure Scotland checks)
Why do we collect your personal information and what is our lawful basis for processing?
Complaints
Purpose
If you make a complaint to the Council, or if you are a direct or indirect party to a complaint, we will collect and use your personal data to investigate a complaint.
Lawful basis
UK GDPR Article 6 (1) (c) - processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject.
UK GDPR 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.
Council committees
Purpose
Legal and democratic services support the provision of comprehensive and efficient legal and democratic services to the directorates, our executive, full council, committees and members and external clients.
The administration of our committees typically does not involve the collection or dissemination of personal information.
The only exception to this is when a member of the public submits a statement or public question to a committee meeting.
On this occasion, we may collect the following categories of personal information from the person(s) submitting a public question and/or statement:
- name
- organisation that they are representing
- contact details
Lawful basis
UK GDPR Article 6 (1) (c) - processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject.
Councillors' information
Purpose
Legal and democratic services support the provision of comprehensive and efficient legal and democratic services to the directorates, the council’s executive, full council, committees and members and external clients. We process your information to fulfil our obligations associated with your holding office.
The council is processing your data as required by the local government act 1972 and subsequent legislation and regulations relating to elected members and council decision-making.
Lawful basis
UK GDPR Article 6 (1) (c) - processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject.
Petitions
Purpose
Legal and democratic services support the provision of comprehensive and efficient legal and democratic services to the directorates, the council’s executive, full council, committees and members and external clients.
For a petition to be accepted by the council, it must contain the name and address (including postcode) and signature of any person supporting the petition and the contact details, including an address, for the petition organiser.
Although the council does not routinely process ‘special category data’ when handling petitions, it is recognised that some petitions, by default, may reveal a person’s political opinions or affiliations, philosophical or religious beliefs, or trade union membership.
Lawful basis
Personal data is processed as part of the council’s statutory democratic responsibilities which are stipulated by various legislative texts including the local government act.
UK GDPR Article 6 (1) (c) - processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject
Who do we obtain your information from?
Most of the information we process will be obtained directly from you or from a complaint made by another individual. However, we may need to collect data about you from, but not necessarily limited to, the following organisations:
- our appointed data protection officer
- The Police and / or other law enforcement bodies
- local health and/or social care providers
- local government and Social Care Ombudsman
- Housing Ombudsman
We may also receive your information via a councillor and/or member of parliament (MP) if you have nominated one to make your complaint on your behalf.
Who do we share this information with?
We may need share your information with a number of external agencies who are key to delivering our services. These include:
Within the council we will disclose any relevant information to any officer that requires the information in order to complete the investigation, to administer the complaint, or to receive advice about how to handle a complaint.
The following organisations may also receive your information if required by law:
- Local government and Social Care Ombudsman
- Housing Ombudsman
- Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman
- Care Quality Commission
- Information Commissioner’s Office
- any other organisation and / or regulator when the council is legally required to disclose your information
- the details of paper-based petitions and the petition organiser are not published
- e-petitions, which are submitted online, are published online alongside the petition organiser’s name
- for both paper-based petitions and e-petitions, a full copy of the petition may be shared with relevant officers of the council and / or councillors where this is necessary for a response to that petition to be made
For councillors:
Your information will only be made available to those who need it to do their job. This includes legal and democratic services and the teams supporting their services and corporate management.
Your name, address, council email address, contact telephone number (as provided by you), photograph, political affiliation and ward will be published on our website.
Information on attendance at meetings, interests declared / registered, representation on outside bodies and voting records will also be included on our website.
Any private telephone numbers provided to us will only be used by corporate management and legal and democratic services and will not appear on our website.
How long do we keep your information for?
Complaints
| Data held | Retention period |
|---|---|
| Standard complaint In some cases, information gathered as part of a complaint investigation will need to be kept for longer than six years in accordance with various legislation. For example, any complaints in relation to Looked After Children will be kept for 70 Years from closure of the file |
6 years upon closure |
Council committees
| Data held | Retention period |
|---|---|
| Council committee minutes | Indefinitely |
Councillors information
| Data held | Retention period |
|---|---|
| P45 | 6 years after leaving office |
| Payroll record | 6 years after leaving office – retain skeleton record after this time |
| Payslip and claims information | 6 years after leaving office |
| LGPS scheme information | 20 years after leaving office |
| Training records | 6 years after leaving office |
Petitions
| Data held | Retention period |
|---|---|
| Petitions | 5 years from the year the petition was started |
Other relevant transparency information
A copy of the public question or statement will be included in the minutes for the committee. Other than the name of the person and the organisation that they are representing, all other details will not be included in the minutes.
The only committee meetings that are currently recorded (audio) are ours, which meet four times a year. Therefore, details of the public question or statement, the person who submitted it and the organisation they are representing may be included in the recording and accessible to those listening to the recording.
The legislation, policies and guidance that relates to these services include, but is not limited to:
- The Local Government Act 2000
For more information about how we use your data, including your privacy rights and the complaints process, please see our corporate privacy notice.