FAQ

Data Controller and Purpose

The information you provide will be used by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets’ Safer Neighbourhoods Operations Service, to process your personal data.

We process your data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018 and if you have any concerns the council’s Data Protection Officer can be contacted on DPO@towerhamlets.gov.uk. 

Condition for processing personal data

It is necessary for us to process your personal data including name, date of birth, address and other contact details such as school or college where appropriate, under Part 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018 as necessary for a law enforcement task in the substantial public interest.

It is also necessary for us to process your special category data including gender, disability and ethnicity, under Schedule 8 of the Data Protection Act 2018.

A delay in you providing the information requested may result in a delay in providing appropriate services.

How long do we keep your information?

We will only hold your information for as long as is required by law and to provide you with the necessary services. This is likely to be for 6 years after the case is closed. For further details, you can view our retention schedule.

We may also anonymise some personal data you provide to us to ensure that you cannot be identified and use this for statistical analysis of data to allow the Council to effectively target and plan the provision of services.

Information sharing

Your personal information may be shared with internal departments or with external partners and agencies involved in delivering services on our behalf. As stated above, this will include internally, drug and alcohol services, housing, business support and externally Police, Registered Housing Providers and agencies involved in the Criminal Justice process.

The council has a duty to protect public funds and may use personal information and data-matching techniques to detect and prevent fraud, and ensure public money is targeted and spent in the most appropriate and cost-effective way. Information may be shared with internal services and external bodies like the Audit Commission, Department for Work and Pensions, other local authorities, HM Revenue and Customs, and the Police. This activity is carried out under social protection law and in accordance with data protection legislation.

We have a duty to improve the health of the population we serve. To help with this, we use data and information from a range of sources including hospitals to understand more about the nature and causes of disease and ill-health in the area. This data would normally be anonymised and never used to make decisions on a specific individual or family.

Your rights

You can find out more about your rights on our data protection page and this includes details of your rights about automated decisions and how to complain to the Information Commissioner. 

We are not accepting any more marriage or civil partnership bookings. More information will be provided once we receive official advice from the government.

The council is working closely with Public Health England, the NHS and others and we are responding as the situation evolves.

We are following all official guidance to help protect our residents and our staff.

This includes making hand sanitiser readily available in our Register Office.

Please check the latest information about COVID-19 before visiting us

Ensure you are following the latest NHS advice at all times.

You must stay at home if you, or if anyone you live with has coronavirus symptoms.   

You can subscribe to council updates on coronavirus at www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/signup

The coronavirus business interruption loan scheme offers finance to smaller businesses that are viable but unable to obtain finance due to insufficient security to meet the lender’s normal requirements.

Businesses with a turnover of no more than £41 million can apply for a loan of between £1,000 and £5 million, from a range of lenders. 

At the discretion of lenders, for loans below £250,000 the scheme can be used for unsecured lending.

Commercial tenants unable to pay rent because of coronavirus will be protected from eviction.

No interest is due on the loan for the first 12 months and there are no fees.

You should talk to your bank or finance provider (not the British Business Bank) as soon as possible and discuss your business plan with them.

If your business premises are eligible for Small Business Rate Relief, grants of up to £10,000 are being made available.

A new helpline (0800 015 9559) to the HMRC's Time to Pay service is open, so businesses and the self-employed can arrange to defer tax payments. More information is also available online.     

VAT payments are going to be deferred for three months. The deferral will apply from 20 March 2020 until 30 June 2020 and businesses will not need to make a VAT payment during this period.

Advice for businesses that trade internationally has been published by the Department for International Trade.