Chard Town Council -Data Protection Policy

Source page 1

Chard Town Council - Data
Protection Policy
1. Introduction
Chard Town Council has a responsibility under the Data Protection Act
2018 to hold, obtain, record, use and store all personal data relating to an
identifiable individual in a secure and confidential manner. This Policy is a
statement of what the Town Council does to ensure its compliance with the
Act.
The Data Protection Policy applies to all Town Council employees,
Councillors, volunteers, and contractors. The Policy provides a framework
within which the Town Council will ensure compliance with the
requirements of the Act and will underpin any operational procedures and
activities connected with the implementation of the Act.
2. Background
The Data Protection Act 2018 governs the handling of personal information
that identifies living individuals directly or indirectly and covers both
manual and computerised information. It provides a mechanism by which
individuals about whom data is held (the “data subjects”) can have a
certain amount of control over the way in which it is handled.
Some of the main features of the Act are:
• All data covered by the Act must be handled in accordance with the Six
Data Protection Principles (see Appendix 1)
• The person about whom the information is held (the Data Subject) has
various rights under the Act including the right to be informed about what
personal data is being processed, the right to request access to that
information, the right to request that inaccuracies or incomplete data are
rectified, and the right to have personal data erased and to prevent or
restrict processing in specific circumstances. Individuals also have the right
to object to processing based on the performance of a task in the public
interest/exercise of official authority (including profiling), direct marketing
(including profiling); and processing for the purposes of scientific/historical
research and statistics. There are also rights concerning automated
decision making (including profiling) and data portability.
• Processing of special categories of data must be done under a lawful
basis. This data includes information about race, ethnic origin, political
persuasion, religious belief, trade union membership, genetics, biometrics
(where used for identification purposes), health, sex life and sexual
orientation.
• The Data Protection Act deals with criminal offence data in a similar way

Source page 2

to special category data and sets out specific conditions providing lawful
authority for processing it.
• There is a principle of accountability of data controllers to implement
appropriate technical and organisational measures that include internal
data protection policies and procedures, staff training and awareness of the
requirements of the Act, internal audits of processing activities, maintaining
relevant documentation on processing activities, appointing a data
protection officer, and implementing measures that meet the principles of
data protection by design and data protection by default, including data
minimisation, transparency, and creating and improving security features
on an ongoing basis.
• Data protection impact assessments are carried out where appropriate as
part of the design and planning of projects, systems and programmes.
• Data controllers must have written contracts in place with all data
processors and ensure that processors are only appointed if they can
provide ‘sufficient guarantees’ that the requirements of the Act will be met
and the rights of data subjects protected.
• Data breaches that are likely to result in a risk to the rights and freedoms
of individuals must be reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office
within 72 hours of the council becoming aware of the breach. Where a
breach is likely to result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of
individuals, the council will notify those individuals concerned directly.
• The Information Commissioner is responsible for regulation and issue
notices to organisations where they are not complying with the
requirements of the Act. She also has the ability to prosecute those who
commit offences under the Act and to issue fines.
3. Policy Statement
The Town Council is committed to ensuring that personal information is
handled in a secure and confidential manner in accordance with its
obligations under the Data Protection Act 2018 and professional guidelines.
The Town Council will use all appropriate and necessary means at its
disposal to comply with the Data Protection Act and associated guidance.
4 Roles and Responsibilities

4.1 Data Protection Officer

The appointment of a Data Protection Officer is discretionary. If appointed
they are responsible for the following tasks, (In the absence of a DPO,
these tasks will be covered by the council directly):

Source page 3

• informing and advising the Town council, any processor engaged by the
Town council as data controller, and any employee of the Town council
who carries out processing of personal data, of that person’s obligations
under the legislation
• providing advice and monitoring for the carrying out of data protection
impact assessments
• co-operating with the Information Commissioner’s Office,
• acting as the contact point for the Information Commissioner’s Office
• monitoring compliance with policies of the Town council in relation to the
protection of personal data
• monitoring compliance by the Town council with the legislation.
In relation to the policies mentioned above, the data protection officer’s
tasks include—
(a) assigning responsibilities under those policies, (b) raising awareness of
those policies, (c) training staff involved in processing operations, and (d)
conducting audits required under those policies.
The Town council must provide the Data Protection Officer with the
necessary resources and access to personal data and processing operations
to enable them to perform the tasks outlined above and to maintain their
expert knowledge of data protection law and practice.

4.2 Town Council

The Town Council will be responsible for ensuring that the organisation
complies with its responsibilities under the Data Protection Act through
monitoring of activities and incidents via reporting by the Data Protection
Officer. The Town Council will also ensure that there are adequate
resources to support the work outlined in this policy to ensure compliance
with the Data Protection Act.

4.3 All Staff and Councillors

All staff and councillors will ensure that:• Personal information is treated in a confidential manner in accordance
with this and any associated policies.

Source page 4

• The rights of data subjects are respected at all times.
• Privacy notices will be made available to inform individuals how their data
is being processed.
• Personal information is only used for the stated purpose, unless explicit
consent has been given by the Data Subject to use their information for a
different purpose.
• Personal information is only disclosed on a strict need to know basis, to
recipients who are entitled to that information.
• Personal information held within applications, systems, personal or
shared drives is only accessed in order to carry out work responsibilities.
• Personal information is recorded accurately and is kept up to date.
• They refer any subject access requests and/or requests in relation to the
rights of individuals to the Data Protection Officer.
• They raise actual or potential breaches of the Data Protection Act to the
Data Protection Officer as soon as the breach is discovered.
It is the responsibility of all staff and councillors to ensure that they comply
with the requirements of this policy and any associated policies or
procedures.

4.4 Contractors and Employment Agencies

Where contractors are used, the contracts between the Town Council and
these third parties should contain mandatory information assurance clauses
to ensure that the contract staff are bound by the same code of behaviour
as Town council members of staff and councillors in relation to the Data
Protection Act.

4.5 Volunteers

All volunteers are bound by the same code of behaviour as Town council
members of staff and councillors in relation to the Data Protection Act.
5 Records Management
Good records management practice plays a pivotal role in ensuring that the
Town council is able to meet its obligations to provide information, and to
retain it, in a timely and effective manner in order to meet the
requirements of the Act. All records should be retained and disposed of in
accordance with the Town Council retention schedule.
6 Consent
The Town council will take all reasonable steps to ensure that service
users, members of staff, volunteers, and contractors are informed of the
reasons the Town council requires information from them, how that

Source page 5

information will be used and who it will be shared with. This will enable the
data subject to give explicit informed consent to the Town council handling
their data where the legal basis for processing is consent.
Should the Town council wish to use personal data for any purpose other
than that specified when it was originally obtained, the data subject’s
explicit consent should be obtained prior to using the data in the new way
unless exceptionally such use is in accordance with other provisions of the
Act.
Should the Town council wish to share personal data with anyone other
that those recipients specified at the time the data was originally obtained,
the data subject’s explicit consent should be obtained prior to sharing that
data, failure to do so could result in a breach of confidentiality.
7 Accuracy and Data Quality
The Town council will ensure that all reasonable steps are taken to confirm
the validity of personal information directly with the data subject.
All members of staff and councillors must ensure that service user personal
information is checked and kept accurate and up to date on a regular
basis, for example, by checking it with the service user when they attend
for appointments in order that the information held can be validated.
Where a member of the public exercises their right for their data to be
erased, rectified, or restricted, or where a member of the public objects to
the processing of their data, the Data Protection Officer must be notified,
and the appropriate procedures followed.
8 Data Protection Impact Assessments
A data protection impact assessment is a process which helps to assess
privacy risks to individuals in the collection, use and disclosure of
information. They must be carried out at the early stages of projects and
are embedded in to the Town council’s decision-making process.
9 Providers
The Town council must have written contracts in place with all suppliers
who process personal data on behalf of the Town council as “data
processors”. The Town council will ensure that processors are only
appointed if they can provide ‘sufficient guarantees’ through the
procurement process that the requirements of the Act will be met, and the
rights of data subjects protected.
10 Complaints
Any expression of dissatisfaction from an applicant with reference to the

Source page 6

Town council’s handling of personal information will be treated as a
complaint and handled under the Town council’s complaint’s processes.
The Data Protection Officer will be involved in responding to the complaint.
Should the complainant remain dissatisfied with the outcome of their
complaint to the council, a complaint can be made to the Information
Commissioner’s Office who will then investigate the complaint and take
action where necessary.
11 Security and Confidentiality
All staff and councillors must ensure that information relating to identifiable
individuals is kept secure and confidential at all times. The Town council
will ensure that its holdings of personal data are properly secured from loss
or corruption and that no unauthorised disclosures of personal data are
made.
The Town council will ensure that information is not transferred to
countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA) unless that country
has an adequate level of protection for security and confidentiality of
information which has been confirmed by the Information Commissioner.
12 Rights of Data Subjects
Individuals wishing to request their information as a subject access request
should contact the Town council, who will arrange for the information to be
processed in accordance with the Data Protection Act. Further information
on this is available in a separate document, ‘How to access your records’.
Individuals should also make requests in writing to the Town council if they
wish to exercise their other rights under the legislation.

APPENDIX 1
DATA PROTECTION PRINCIPLES
First Principle
processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to
individuals;
Second Principle
collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further
processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes; further
processing for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or

Source page 7

historical research purposes or statistical purposes shall not be considered
to be incompatible with the initial purposes;
Third Principle
adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the
purposes for which they are processed;
Fourth Principle
accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date; every reasonable step
must be taken to ensure that personal data that are inaccurate, having
regard to the purposes for which they are processed, are erased or
rectified without delay;
Fifth Principle
kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer
than is necessary for the purposes for which the personal data are
processed; personal data may be stored for longer periods insofar as the
personal data will be processed solely for archiving purposes in the public
interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes
subject to implementation of the appropriate technical and organisational
measures required by the GDPR in order to safeguard the rights and
freedoms of individuals;
Sixth Principle
processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal
data, including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing and
against accidental loss, destruction or damage, using appropriate technical
or organisational measures.