Data Protection Act
The Data Protection Act 1998 gives legal
rights to individuals in respect to personal data held about
them.
The Data Protection Act 1998 is regulated by
the information commissioner who is
the independent authority responsible for ensuring compliance with
the Act. You can read more about data protection on the
information commissioner's
website.
Purpose of the Act
The Data Protection Act 1998 governs how
organisations can use the personal information they hold, including
how they collect, store, share or dispose of it. The Act includes
eight data protection principles.
Organisations must be open about the use of
personal data through notification to the Information
Commissioner.
Your rights
The Data Protection Act gives people the right to access the
information held about them by organisations. This is called a
Subject Access
Request.
This applies to all individuals whether they are an employee,
elected member or a member of the public.
People also have the right to information
about automated decisions taken about their personal data, as
well as the right to:
- take action for compensation if they suffer
damage by any contravention of the Act by the organisation
- prevent information being passed on for the purposes of direct
marketing
- rectify, block, erase or destroy inaccurate data
- make a request to the Information Commissioner for an
assessment to be made by the data controller if they feel that the
Act has been contravened
How to access the information held about you by the
council
You can make a subject access request by:
or by writing to:
The Information Governance Team
Chief Executive’s Directorate
Town Hall
5 Clove Crescent
London E14 2BG
In order to process your request, we will need
to receive COPIES of two official documents that between them
clearly authenticate your name, and current address. This is a
standard practice in all applications for personal data under the
Data Protection Act 1998, in order to prevent fraud.
You will need to provide one document from
each list below.
List A
- driving license
- medical card
- birth/ adoption certificate
- passport
List B
- bank/building society statement
- utility bill (gas, water, electric or telephone)
- council tax bill
- Inland Revenue
- benefit agency
- solicitor
- mortgage lender
- professional body
- employer (payslip/letter of appointment)
Note: Please delete any
financial information you do not wish us to see. We will only be
examining the name and address portion.
Your request will be placed on hold until we
have received the proof of identity and address documentation.
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Responding to your request
We will provide the requested information
within 40 calendar days as stipulated by the Act, once you
have provided us with the required details to processing your
request.
How we use your information
The information that you provide will be
processed according to the Data Protection Act 1998 and relevant
legislation.
We have a duty to protect public funds we
administer, and may use information held about you for the
prevention and detection of fraud and other lawful
purposes.
We will also use the information to perform
our statutory enforcement duties. We will make any disclosures
required by law and we may also share this information with other
bodies responsible for detecting/preventing fraud or
auditing/administering public funds. This may include, but is
not limited to, matching council tax data with electoral
registration records and the passing of the full version
of the electoral register to the Audit Commission for the National
Fraud Initiative.
We will not disclose your information to third
parties for marketing purposes and your data will be secure and
confidential at all times.
Complaints
If you wish to complain about any aspect of
the operation of the Data Protection Act you should first contact
the Information Governance Team.
The Information Governance Team
Chief Executive’s Directorate
Town Hall
5 Clove Crescent
London E14 2BG
Tel: 020 7364 4354
Fax: 020 7364 4804
Email: dataprotection@towerhamlets.gov.uk
If the Information Governance team
is unable to resolve your complaint, you should contact Ruth
Dowden, the council’s corporate complaints manager.
Corporate Complaints
Chief Executive’s Directorate
Town Hall
5 Clove Crescent
London E14 2BG
Tel: 020 7364 4161
Email: complaints@towerhamlets.gov.uk
If you are still not satisfied with our
response to your complaint, you can appeal to the
independent Information Commissioner at:
Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
Tel: 016 2554 5700
Visit the information commissioner's
website.
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