It is subject to review and may change as the pandemic unfolds.

What personal information are we processing?

In order for the council to provide you with the appropriate service or support during the pandemic, we need to process personal information about you and/or your family. This means that we collect, use and store your information to provide the best support in the current circumstances. We may collect the information when you, someone else (e.g. a concerned family member or neighbour), or a partner service or agency concerned about you, contacts us. We may use new information or information we already hold about you, for example, if we are already assisting you with social services.

The information which we process can include personal information and special categories information (more sensitive information). This can include:

• contact details – title, full name, address, email address, telephone number etc
• date of birth / age
• NHS number or other identification numbers
• date of travel / last visit to high risk countries
• health information relating to your physical and/or mental health
• financial information for purposes of receiving and/or making payments
• housing information relating to your council tenancy
• information on whether you hold a driver’s license
• information about whether you have a current DBS
• next of kin details

The council will only process the minimum amount of information necessary and relevant, in order to provide you with the support and services you need, and to perform its statutory functions. We will not process or share any information unless it is absolutely necessary to do so.

How we use your personal information

The information we already hold or new information you share with us, may be processed so that we can support and protect vulnerable children and adults at risk, and to carry out our public health functions in any of the following ways:

• manage risks to public health
• control of infection
• provide support and health protection
• preventing illness
• monitoring safety
• research and emergency planning
• analyse patterns and trends to help us create strategies and decision making
• future epidemiological analysis
• register you as a volunteer and facilitate volunteering efforts
• other reasons necessary as referenced in the council's general privacy notice

If you register to volunteer, this will include consent to share your personal information. The council will process your personal information to direct you to a suitable voluntary organisation who may contact you and request further details to enable you to volunteer.

 

Lawful basis for processing your personal information

The council must have a lawful reason to process your information. These are:

• performance of a task carried out in the public interest - Article 6(1)(e)
• reasons of public interest in the area of public health - Article 9(2)(i)
• protect vital interests of a person – Article 6(1)(d) and 9(2)(c)
• legal obligation – Article 6(1)(c)

If there is a significant threat to health of the public, for instance an outbreak of an infectious disease, the council has the legal right to use identifiable data under: 

Section 42(4) of the Statistics and Registration Service Act (2007) as amended by section 287 of the Health and Social Care Act (2012) and Regulation 3 of the Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002.

When you register as a volunteer, the lawful basis for processing your information is:

• explicit consent – Article 6(1)(a) and 9(2)(a)

You may revoke your consent at any time by contacting the council.

Sharing your personal information

In order to provide the necessary services and support, and so that we can perform our statutory functions, it may be necessary to share personal information, for example, for emergency planning purposes or to protect your vital interests. We could share personal information with organisations such as:

• Public Health England
• NHS
• GP practices
• central government
• other local authorities
• local voluntary partners
• emergency services
• care providers
• contracted suppliers who have been procured to provide support and services to our residents

How long do we keep your personal information for?

The council will only keep your personal information for as long as is necessary.

At this stage it is not known how long the council will have to keep information relating to the COVOID-19 pandemic and will follow any guidance issued. Once guidance becomes available, we will update this notice, and ensure we comply with retention requirements.

To learn more about your rights, please go to our general privacy notice page