Why Is Personal Data Held by the Council?

Subject access request Guidance for accessing personal data

Why is personal data held by the council?

North Somerset Council keeps personal data about you in order to provide you with the services you require.

How is information kept and who is responsible for it?

The information is held securely and confidentially, either on computer systems or in manual filing systems.

Maintaining your records and keeping them secure is the responsibility of the department of the council providing services to you.

The council’s employees have a duty of care when providing services to you, which includes ensuring that information is only used and given to others for the purpose of the service being provided.

Do I have a right to see my personal data?

You have the right to know if we hold personal data about you, what it is used for and to be provided with a copy. You also have the right to know whether we disclose your personal data to other people or organisations.

You are entitled to see all your personal data, with some exceptions. For example, you will not be allowed to see personal data that contains details about someone else, even a member of your own family, unless that person gives permission.

How can I apply for access to my personal data?

Requests must be made in writing to the council. You will need to supply us with enough information to confirm your identity and any other detail that you think may help us to locate your information, for example: name and address, date of birth, departments you dealt with, dates you dealt with us.

To submit a request, complete the form and return it to us by email or post. The form can be completed electronically or manually, but please note that some sections require a physical signature, not an electronic one.

Email: [email protected] Post: North Somerset Council, Information Governance, Town Hall, Walliscote Grove Road Weston-super-Mare, BS23 1UJ

If you have difficulty with the form, our Information Governance team can help you. If there is a council officer you are already working with, like a social worker, they may be able to help. You may wish to find support from outside the council, in which case the Citizen’s Advice Bureau (CAB) may be able to help you.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998, the council has 40 calendar days to respond after receiving your correctly completed application and ID. Data Protection Act 1998 Application for access to personal data

 All applicants should complete sections 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7.  If you are applying on behalf of someone else you will also need to complete section 4. This section requires a physical signature not an electronic signature.  If you are a parent applying for access on behalf of your child, please also complete section 5. This section requires a physical signature not an electronic signature.  If you are requesting a copy of CCTV images, these are only held by the council for 28 days.

Section 1: applicant details

Name of applicant: Address of applicant: Email address: Telephone number: Date of birth:

Section 2: data subject details

Tick if the data subject details are the same as the applicant’s details.

Name of data subject: Address of data subject: Telephone number: Date of birth:

Section 3: information requested

To help us locate any personal information that we hold, tick the box of the relevant department and complete the questions.

corporate services

 performance management and human resources Including: HR, equality and diversity, health and safety, emergency management, safer and stronger communities.  legal and democratic services  policy, communications and customer services Including: marketing and communications, customer services, information management, policy and partnerships.  support services partnership Including: commercial and contracts, commissioning, revenues and benefits.  property and asset management  financial management  CCTV people and communities

 housing Including: private sector housing, housing strategy, HomeChoice, housing advice.  strategy, commissioning and quality assurance Including: resources and strategic planning, contracts and commissioning, safeguarding and quality assurance.  adult support and safeguarding Including: learning disabilities and mental health, adult care, safeguarding adults.  learning and achievement Including: early years and childcare, prevention and re-engagement, vulnerable learners, music service, planning and access, school improvement.  children’s support and safeguarding Including: community family teams, resource service, high impact families.

development and environment

 development management Including: building control, economic development, planning applications and consents, planning policy, regeneration, strategic development.  highways and transport Including: engineering and design, flood risk management, highways and asset management, parking services, public transport, road safety and sustainable travel.  operations Including: environmental protection and licensing, food safety, trading standards, highway operations, libraries, leisure, sport and active lifestyles.  streets and open spaces Including: area officers, community response, natural environment, recycling and waste, seafront events and concessions.

What service(s) was used or received?

When was the service used?

What data would you like?

Additional information for requests for CCTV footage:

You should include details of:

 date, time and location of the recording (CCTV images are only held for 28 days)  details that will help us identify you in the footage (for example, your clothing)  details of the event that would have been captured on the footage

Section 4: applying on someone else’s behalf

Complete this sections if you are authorised to become the agent acting on behalf of the application. This section requires physical signatures. To be completed by the agent:

“I have been authorised to act on behalf of the data subject. I declare that I will not disclose any information from the records other than to the data subject, on whose behalf I am acting, unless they give me their express permission.”

Signed (agent): Date:

To be completed by the data subject:

I authorise (the agent) to seek access to personal information held by North Somerset Council on my behalf. I declare that this authorisation is freely given.

Signed (data subject): Date:

Section 5: parent applying on behalf of a child

A parent can only be granted access to their child’s records if this is considered to be in the child’s interest. The council generally requires the consent of the child if they are aged 12 or over.

Name of child: Address of child: Date of birth of child:

I (the parent) am making a request for access to records on behalf of the child named on this form and…

the child is incapable of understanding the request and I am making it on their behalf. the child has consented to me making this request on their behalf and this consent was freely given.

Signed (child – where consent is given): Signed (parent):

Section 6: contacting third parties

The council may need to get consent from third parties to disclose information to you. These third parties may be other individuals, or they may be other organisations such as health bodies or other councils.

Indicate whether you consent to us informing third parties that you have made a request, in order to gain their consent for disclosure.

Yes No

Section 7: evidence of identity

Everyone requesting access to personal data must provide evidence of their identity and that of the individual they are acting on behalf of before we will process the request. Each individual will need to provide two forms of identification:

 one photo ID, for example a driver’s license or passport  one document with name and address, for example a utility bill

We will accept copies of identification but we reserve the right to inspect original documents. We will securely destroy any copies once they have been used to verify your identity.