GUILDFORD BOROUGH COUNCIL DATA PROTECTION POLICY

Introduction
The Data Protection Act 1998 came into force on 1 March 2000. Guildford Borough Council - its entire staff and members - are placed under the legal obligation to comply with the Act.  Guildford Borough Council is committed to fulfilling its legal obligations and has produced this policy and associated practice notes to assist staff and members to do the same.

It should be noted that this policy is intended to set out common standards to be adopted by all departments.  However, in order for this policy to be effective it must be supported by detailed working procedures specific to each service area.  It is also intended to update this policy on a regular basis as and when circumstances make this necessary and/or as the Information Commissioner issues further guidance.

Statement of Data Protection Policy
Guildford Borough Council needs to collect and use certain types of information about people with whom it deals in order to operate.  These include members of the public, clients and customers, current past and prospective employees, suppliers, and others with whom it communicates.  In addition, it is required by law to collect and use certain types of information to comply with the requirements of government departments for council tax and electoral registration, for example.  This personal information must be dealt with properly and securely however it is collected, recorded and used – whether on paper, in a computer, or recorded on other material – and there are safeguards to ensure this in the Data Protection Act 1998.

Guildford Borough Council regards the lawful and correct treatment of personal information as very important to the successful and efficient performance of the Council’s functions, and to maintaining confidence between those with whom we deal and ourselves.  We ensure that our organisation treats personal information lawfully and correctly.

To this end the Borough Council fully endorses and adheres to the Principles of Data Protection, as enumerated in the Data Protection Act 1998.
 
The Data Protection Principles
Specifically, the Principles require that personal information:

1. shall be processed fairly and lawfully and, in particular, shall not be processed unless specific conditions are met;
2. shall be obtained only for one or more specified and lawful purposes, and shall not be further processed in any manner incompatible with that purpose or those purposes;
3. shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose or purposes for which they are processed;
4. shall be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date;
5. shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes;
6. shall be processed in accordance with the rights of data subjects under the Act;
7. appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal data;
8. shall not be transferred to a country or territory outside the European Economic Area unless that country or territory ensures an adequate level of protection for the rights and freedoms of data subjects in relation to the processing of personal data.

The Standards Adopted
Therefore, Guildford Borough Council will, through appropriate management and strict application of criteria and controls:

• observe fully conditions regarding the fair collection and use of information;
• meet its legal obligations to specify the purposes for which the information is used;
• collect and process appropriate information, and only to the extent that it is needed to fulfil operational/service needs or to comply with any legal requirements;
• ensure the quality of information used;
• apply strict checks to determine the length of time information is held;
• ensure that the rights of people about whom information is held can be fully exercised under the Act.  (These include:  the right to be informed that processing is being undertaken:  the right of access to one’s personal information; the right to prevent processing in certain circumstances; the right to correct rectify, block or erase information which is regarded as wrong information);
• take appropriate technical and organisational security measures to safeguard personal information;
• ensure that personal information is not transferred abroad without suitable safeguards.

In addition, Guildford Borough Council will ensure that:

• there is someone with specific responsibility for data protection in the organisation.  (Currently, the Nominated Person is the Information Rights Officer);
• everyone managing and handling personal information understands that they are contractually responsible for following good data protection practice;
• everyone managing and handling personal information is appropriately trained to do so;
• everyone managing and handling personal information is appropriately supervised;
• anyone wanting to make enquiries about handling personal information, whether a member of staff or a member of the public, knows what to do;
• queries about handling personal information are promptly and courteously dealt with;
• methods of handling personal information are regularly assessed and evaluated;
• performance with handling personal information is regularly assessed and evaluated.