Privacy notice for customer services

Devon County Council (DCC) is a Data Controller under Data Protection Legislation and our ICO registration number is Z6475582.  This privacy notice concerns the processing of personal data that takes place by the Customer Service Centre (CSC).

This notice explains what information we collect, why we collect it and how we keep it secure. It also explains your rights and our legal obligation. Should you wish to find out more about Devon County Council’s data protection policies please contact our Data Protection Officer.

Will we notify you of any changes to this privacy notice?

This privacy notice was last updated 11/11/2019. If we use your personal data for any new purposes, updates will be made to the policy information and changes communicated, where necessary in accordance with current data protection legislation.  Any queries relating to this privacy notice please contact the Data Protection Officer.

How will we use your personal data?

We will use your personal data to enable us to respond effectively to the following:

  • Complaints, queries and other feedback
  • Requests for a service
  • Reports of issues

We may also use your information for training, monitoring and service improvement purposes within the council. Please note that failure to provide your personal data may make it difficult for us to respond to your service request, complaint or feedback effectively.

Information that we collect from you will be obtained via emails, paper and electronic forms, and telephone discussions. The council only uses IT systems for these purposes which are supplied under a contract and where the security has been assessed.  For more details about the council’s security arrangements please visit https://www.devon.gov.uk/security/.

What information do we collect?

We may collect and store records about you which may include:

  • Recordings of telephone discussions you have with the Customer Service Centre
  • Social care information you provide us on forms, in emails or via telephone discussions
  • Information you provide us in email correspondence regarding complaints, queries or issues you are experiencing

Why we collect and use your personal data

We will only collect personal data where it is necessary for us to respond to the complaints, queries or feedback that you present to us.

Personal data that is collected for any of the purposes outlined in this notice is never used for direct marketing purposes and is not sold on to any other third parties.

The legal basis for us collecting your personal data

Where we are collecting personal data about you for the provision of one of the services outlined in this privacy notice, we rely upon the following lawful conditions:

  • If you are providing feedback in the form of a complaint or are reporting an issue with a service that the council is responsible for providing, we rely upon the lawful condition for processing outlined in article 6(1)(e) of the General Data Protection Regulation (processing for the purposes of delivering a public task that is carried out in the public interest.
  • If you are contacting us about one of the services we provide, we rely upon the lawful condition for processing outlined in article 6(1)(e) of the General Data Protection Regulation (processing for the purposes of delivering a public task that is carried out in the public interest.
  • If you are making a general enquiry to the council, we will rely upon your consent to process your personal data.
  • If you are raising a safeguarding concern or are raising a question regarding any of our social care functions, we rely upon the lawful condition for processing outlined in article 6(1)(c) of the General Data Protection Regulation (processing that is necessary for DCC to fulfil a statutory obligation.  We may also rely upon article 9(2)(h) of the General Data Protection Regulation (processing that is necessary for the performance of social care functions) if it is necessary for us to process sensitive special category data.

To deliver services to you it may be necessary to share your personal data with other County Council services and the following partner organisations:

  • Commissioned service providers
  • District councils
  • Libraries Unlimited
  • Unitary authorities

Please note that we will always endeavour to share only the minimum amount of personal data that is necessary for the intended purpose.

If we feel that it is necessary to share your personal data with professionals to ensure you or someone you work with is safeguarded from harm, we rely upon the provisions of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 and Children Act 1989 and 2004.  Where it is necessary to share medical or social care information for these purposes, we rely upon article 9(2)(h) of the General Data Protection Regulation (information necessary for medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems).

We may also need to share some personal data about you, so that we can support third party organisations to discharge their regulatory requirements. This includes organisations such as:

  • The data protection regulator (the Information Commissioner’s Office)
  • The Care Quality Commission

We may also share information to enable us to comply with court orders and other legal obligations.  If this is necessary, we will only share the minimum amount of personal data needed for this purpose.

How long will we hold your personal data?

We will retain your personal data for only as long as is necessary, and in line with our organisation’s record retention schedules.

Your data protection rights

Under Data Protection Legislation, you have the right to obtain a copy of their personal records held by us, this is called a Subject Access Request (SAR).

Details of how to make a request can be found here.

Further details on your rights under data protection legislation and how to exercise them, are available here.

International transfers

We will not transfer any personal data to countries outside of the territorial scope of UK data protection laws for any of the processing activities outlined in this privacy notice.

Complaints

If you have any comments, queries or complaints about this privacy notice or the processing of your personal data please contact our Data Protection Officer.

Alternatively, if you are not happy with the way that DCC is handling your personal data, you are entitled to appeal to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO). The Information Commissioners Office enforces and oversees the Data Protection Regulations.

Contact details are below:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Email: casework@ico.org.uk

Automated decisions

No automated decisions will be taken regarding personal data that is processed for any of the purposes outlined in this privacy notice.