Citizen panel privacy notice
To be able to serve you effectively City of Lincoln Council need to be able to collect, hold and use your personal data.
How we use your personal information
City of Lincoln Council is what is known as the ‘controller’ of the data you provide to us and is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office.
We take your privacy seriously and laws state that we must:
- use your data fairly, lawfully and be open with you about how we use it;
- use your data for a particular purpose and we must not do anything with your; data which is not compatible with this
- keep your data accurate and delete any inaccuracies without delay
- obtain from you only the data which is necessary for the purpose
- keep your data only for as long as necessary and no longer than one year after you have been a member of the panel unless you request to be removed
- We will retain your personal details for one year after you leave the panel to ensure you are not re-invited during that period (you may receive an invitation once your details have been deleted from the system after this time).
- Each time we contact you we will check that you still wish to be a member of Lincoln Citizens Panel
We are processing your personal data for the purposes of consulting with you to monitor and improve our services, by obtaining feedback from those using our services. This is on the legal basis that this is necessary for a task we are carrying out to benefit society as a whole and in accordance with our powers as set out on s111 of the Local Government Act 1972.
What data do we collect?
We require certain personal information from you so that we can contact you to send you surveys or invitations to events in order to gain your views on our services and ensure you wish to remain a member of the panel.
We may also from time to time wish to obtain sensitive personal information (referred to as special category data) such as your ethnicity, religion or disability details to enable us to ensure these groups of individuals are represented when asking specific questions (equality of treatment). This information will be retained for no longer than one year.
The personal information we collect is listed below:
- Title
- Forename
- Surname
- Address
- Year of Birth
- Email Address (to contact you only in relation to your panel membership)
- Gender
The information you provide in response to our surveys will not be linked to your personal information in any way and will be anonymous.
The council will only ever publish results to surveys in an anonymous manner and special category personal data will not be disclosed. Where the council engages third party organisations to handle personal information relating to the panel on its behalf, this will be on anonymous basis only. The data is held under a 4 digit secure identifier code with no personal identifying information attached.
Who might we share your personal information with?
Your information will only ever be stored on a single, secure database managed by the Corporate Policy Unit. We may also share your information with other sections of the council, where you have highlighted a particular concern that requires action, however we only share the information which is necessary for this purpose. In all other circumstances we will always ask you before sharing your information with another department within the council for a specific survey.
We will not share your information outside the council without your express permission, unless the law requires us to. For further information please see our privacy notice for customers ‘Your data privacy’ on our website or request a copy from our Corporate Policy Unit team using the contact details provided below.
We will not transfer your personal data to any countries outside of the United Kingdom without informing you of this and ensuring that necessary safeguards are in place.
How can i be removed from the Panel?
Whenever we contact you regarding a new survey we will ask you whether you wish to continue being a member of the panel. If you do not complete this question when returning the survey we will assume that you no longer wish to partake and your contact details will be deleted from the panel.
Retaining your details to prevent you from be contacted again
We will retain your personal details (in a separate secure list) for one year after you leave the panel to ensure you are not re-invited during that time and will then remove your details entirely from our database.If at any point you would like to be removed from the Lincoln Citizens Panel and your contact details deleted immediately please contact the Corporate Policy Unit by emailing policy@lincoln.gov.uk or by calling 01522 873 315.
Please note following complete removal of your details from our database, as individuals are picked randomly from the electoral roll we may contact you in the future to enquire whether you wish to become a panel member.
How can I access the personal information you hold about me?
You have the right to request access to your information, to request that it be rectified if incorrect, to object to or restrict its processing and to its erasure (deletion) in certain circumstances.
If you want to know more about your rights relating to the personal information we hold about you or you have a complaint regarding the way we have handled your personal information please contact our Data Protection Officer by emailing dpo@lincoln.gov.uk.
If however you remain unhappy, then you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner at:
Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF Telephone: 01625 545 700/01625 545 745
