Privacy Notice

Waltham Abbey Town Council

This website is run by Waltham Abbey Town Council (WATC). We regard your privacy as important and comply with the Data Protection Act 1998 and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). We process and hold information in order to provide public services. This notice explains how we use and share your information. Information may be collected on a paper or online form, by telephone, email or by a member of our staff, or one of our partners.

We record personal information if you:

subscribe to or apply for services that require personal information
report a problem and leave contact details for us to respond
contact us and leave your details for us to respond
are employed by WATC

Why we collect information

We collect and hold information about you, in order to:

deliver public services
confirm your identity to provide some services
contact you by post, email or telephone
understand your needs to provide the services that you request
understand what we can do for you and inform you of other relevant services and benefits
obtain your opinion about our services
update your customer record
help us to build up a picture of how we are performing at delivering services
prevent and detect fraud and corruption in the use of public funds
allow us to undertake statutory functions efficiently and effectively
make sure we meet our statutory obligations

Our Right to Process Information

We are permitted to process information under GDPR Article 6 (1) (a) (b) and (e) when:

Processing is with consent of the data subject, or
Processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation, or
Processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller

How we use your information

We will only use any personal information you send us for the purposes for which you provide it. We will only hold your information for as long as necessary. All employees who have access to your personal data and are associated with the handling of that data are obliged to respect the confidentiality of your data. All your communications to us are protected against unauthorised access by third parties.

The Council tries to keep the information we have about you accurate and up to date. If you find errors or inaccuracies in your data we will erase, complete or amend that information upon request. Please email the Town Clerk or telephone 01992 714949.

We will process your information for the following purposes:

for the service you requested, and to monitor and improve the council’s performance in responding to your request
to allow us to be able to communicate and provide services and benefits appropriate to your needs
to ensure that we meet our legal obligations
where necessary for the law enforcement functions
to prevent and detect fraud or crime
To process relevant financial transactions including grants and payments for goods and services supplied to the Council
where necessary to protect individuals from harm or injury
to allow the statistical analysis of data so we can plan the provision of services

Information Security

WATC understands the importance of the security of personal data. We make sure that your information is protected from unauthorised access, loss, manipulation, falsification, destruction or unauthorised disclosure. This is done through appropriate technical measures and appropriate policies. We will only keep your data for the purpose it was collected for and only for as long as is necessary. After which it will be deleted. You may request deletion of your data at any time.

Children

We will not process any data relating to a child (under 13) without the express parental/ guardian consent of the child concerned.

Access to Information

You have the right to request access to the information we have about you. You can do this by contacting our Data Protection Officer.

Information Correction

If you believe that the information we have about you is incorrect, you may contact us so that we can update it and keep your data accurate. Please contact the Data Protection Officer.

Information Deletion

If you wish WATC to delete the information about you please contact the Data Protection Officer.

Right to Object

If you believe that your data is not being processed for the purpose it has been collected for, you may object: Please contact the Data Protection Officer.

Complaints

If you have a complaint regarding the way your personal data has been processed you may make a complaint to Waltham Abbey Town Council.

Data Protection Officer : townclerk@walthamabbey-tc.gov.uk

Information Commissioners Office casework@ico.org.uk Tel: 0303 123 1113

Waltham Abbey Town Council, Town Hall, Highbridge Street, Waltham Abbey. Essex EN9 1DE

Use of Cookies

What are Cookies?

We use cookies on this website. A cookie is a small piece of text stored on your computer, phone or whatever you use to surf the Internet. Cookies have many uses, but fundamentally they are used to store information about you on your computer.

How We Use Cookies

We do not use cookies on this website for the collection of personal data, however temporary cookies are used by the website statistics package to log you into the system. This policy applies to this website but not to sites to which we provide links.

Deleting Cookies

If you do not want to receive cookies from this website, select cookie settings under the privacy settings in your browser options, then add our domain to the list of websites you do not want to accept cookies from. Under settings you can also delete individual cookies or any cookies that your browser has stored. You can find more information on how to delete and control cookies at aboutcookies.org. If you set your browser to refuse cookies, please be aware that there may be functionality on various websites that does not work.

Summary

In accordance with the law, WATC only collects a limited amount of information about you that is necessary for correspondence, information and service provision. WATC does not use profiling and does not sell or pass your data to third parties. WATC does not use your data for purposes other than those specified. WATC makes sure your data are stored securely. WATC deletes all information deemed to be no longer necessary. WATC will regularly review procedures and policies to ensure that these keep up to date in protecting your data.