Amended August 2018

This Privacy Notice tells you what to expect when Bow Brickhill Parish Council (BBPC) collects personal information. It applies to information we collect about:

People who email us

Any email sent to us, including any attachments, may be monitored and used by us for reasons of security and for monitoring compliance with office policy. Email monitoring or blocking software may also be used. Please be aware that you have a responsibility to ensure that any email you send to us is within the bounds of the law.

People who make a complaint to us

When we receive a complaint, we make up a file containing the details of the complaint. This normally contains the identity of the complainant and any other individuals involved in the complaint.

We will only use the personal information we collect to process the complaint and to check on the level of service we provide. We usually have to disclose the complainant’s identity to whoever the complaint is about. This is inevitable where, for example, the accuracy of a person’s record is in dispute. If a complainant doesn’t want information identifying him or her to be disclosed, we will try to respect that. However, it may not always be possible to handle a complaint on an anonymous basis.

We will keep personal information contained in complaint files in line with our Retention Policy. This means that information relating to a complaint will be retained for two years from closure. It will be retained in a secure environment and access to it will be restricted according to the ‘need to know’ principle.

Similarly, where enquiries are submitted to us, we will only use the information supplied to us to deal with the enquiry and any subsequent issues and to check on the level of service we provide.

When we take enforcement action against someone, we may publish the identity of the defendant. Usually we do not identify any complainants unless the details have already been made public.

Job applicants, current and former employees

When individuals apply to work for the Parish Council, we will only use the information they supply to us to process their application and to monitor recruitment statistics. If we need to disclose information to a third party, for example, if we want to take up a reference or obtain a ‘disclosure’ from the Criminal Records Bureau, we will not do so without informing them beforehand unless the disclosure is required by law.

Personal information about unsuccessful candidates will be held for 12 months after the recruitment exercise has been completed; it will then be destroyed or deleted.

Once a person has taken up employment with the Parish Council, we will compile a file relating to their employment. The information contained in this will be kept secure and will only be used for purposes directly relevant to that person’s employment.

Once their employment with the Council has ended, we will retain the file in accordance with the requirements of our retention schedule and then delete it.

Complaints or queries

Bow Brickhill Parish Council aims 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.

This Privacy Notice was drafted with brevity and clarity in mind. It 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. Any requests for this should be sent to the address below.

Access to personal information

The Parish 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 1998 and or General Data Protection Regulation 2018. If we do hold information about you we will:

  • give you a description of it;
  • tell you why we are holding it;
  • tell you who it could be disclosed to; and
  • let you have a copy of the information

To make a request to the Parish Council for any personal information you will need to put the request in writing addressing it to The Parish Clerk, to the address provided below.

If you agree, we will try to deal with your request informally, for example by providing you with the specific information you need over the telephone.

If we do hold information about you, you can ask us to correct any mistakes, or request your information is deleted, by contacting the Parish Clerk.

Disclosure of personal information

In most circumstances we will not disclose personal data without consent.

You can also get further information on:

  • agreements we have with other organisations for sharing information;
  • circumstances in which we can pass on personal data without consent – for example, to prevent and detect crime and to produce anonymised statistics;
  • our instructions to staff on how to collect, use and delete personal data; and
  • how we check that the information we hold is accurate and up to date.

How to contact us

If you want to request information about our privacy policy, you can email us or write to:

Parish Clerk
Bow Brickhill Parish Council
C/O 41 Berry Way
Newton Longville
Bucks
MK17 0AS