Personal data
The following is to explain your rights and give you the information you are entitled to under the Data Protection Act 2018. Please note that this section only refers to the personal data that you provide us with not the content of your response to the consultation.
The identity of the data controller and contact details of our Data Protection Officer
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is the data controller. The Data Protection Officer can be contacted at DPO@towerhamlets.gov.uk
Why we are collecting your personal data and how will we use it?
Your personal data (e.g. name, address and post code) is being collected as an essential part of the consultation process, so that we can contact you regarding your response and for monitoring and statistical purposes. Where you consent to provide us with more sensitive (special category) personal data (such as gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, faith, health, etc) we will depersonalise (anonymise) this data before analysis.
Our legal basis for processing your personal data
The Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR Article 6 states that, as a local government body, the London Borough of Tower Hamlets may process personal data as necessary for the effective performance of a task carried out in the public interest. i.e. a consultation. The London Borough of Tower Hamlets may also, with your consent, collect and process more personal data (such as gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, faith, health, etc.) under GDPR Article 9 of the GDPR and DPA 2018.
With whom we will be sharing your personal data
Your personal information may be shared with internal departments or with external contractors analysing consultation findings on our behalf. Once data has been analysed and consultation is concluded, it will then be stored by the council with all more sensitive personal data (e.g. gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, faith, health etc.) redacted (removed).
For how long we will keep your personal data, or criteria used to determine the retention period
Your personal data (e.g. name, address, post code) will be held for two years from the closure of the consultation and then destroyed.
Your rights, e.g. access, rectification, erasure
The data we are collecting is your personal data, and you have considerable say over what happens to it. You have the right:
- to see what data we have about you
- to ask us to stop using your data, but keep it on record
- to ask to have all or some of your data deleted or corrected
- to lodge a complaint with the independent Information Commissioner (ICO) if you think we are not handling your data fairly or in accordance with the law. You can contact the ICO at https://ico.org.uk or telephone 0303 123 1113.
You can find out more about your rights on our Data Protection page www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgnl/council_and_democracy/data_protection__freedom_of/
Your personal data will not be sent overseas
The data you provide through the online survey will be stored by SmartSurvey on their servers in the UK / European Union. We have taken all necessary precautions to ensure that your rights in terms of data protection will not be compromised by this. Your personal data will not be used for any automated decision making
Your personal data will be stored in a secure IT system
SmartSurvey will be used through the council’s internal systems; therefore data will be stored here throughout with secure, limited access.