Freedom of Information

Question:
Freedom of Information
Answer:

Data controller and purpose

The information you provide will be used by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets’ Complaints and Information Service, to process your name and address. Tower Hamlets Council is the Data Controller

We have received [your name and address data from you and will use this for processing your request for Freedom of Information.

We process your data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and if you have any concerns the council’s Data Protection Officer can be contacted on DPO@towerhamlets.gov.uk.

Condition for processing personal data

It is necessary for us to process your personal data (name, address, contact details), under the GDPR as a task carried out in the public interest.

A delay in you providing the information requested may result in a delay in providing appropriate services.

How long do we keep your information?

We will only hold your information for as long as is required by law and to provide you with the necessary services. This is likely to be for seven years after the case is closed. For further details, you can view our Retention Schedule.

We may also anonymise some personal data you provide to us to ensure that you cannot be identified and use this for statistical analysis of data to allow the council to effectively target and plan the provision of services.

Information sharing

Your personal information may be shared with internal departments or with external partners and agencies involved in delivering services on our behalf.

The council has a duty to protect public funds and may use personal information and data-matching techniques to detect and prevent fraud, and ensure public money is targeted and spent in the most appropriate and cost-effective way. Information may be shared with internal services and external bodies like the Audit Commission, Department for Work and Pensions, other local authorities, HM Revenue and Customs, and the Police. This activity is carried out under social protection law.

We have a duty to improve the health of the population we serve. To help with this, we use data and information from a range of sources including hospitals to understand more about the nature and causes of disease and ill-health in the area. This data would normally be anonymised and never used to make decisions on a specific individual or family.

Data transfer to non EEA territory

We will not transfer your data to non EEA territory.

Automated decision making and profiling

The service will process some of the data by computer and may therefore make automated decisions on your case. You can ask for this to be explained to you, please see the ‘your rights’ section that follows. We may also to some degree use the data to build a profile for you regarding service provision and priority.

Your rights

You can find out more about your rights on our Data Protection page and this includes details of your rights about automated decisions, such as the ranking of Housing Applications, and how to complain to the Information Commissioner.