How we use your personal information for Consultation purposes
The Council provides services for local communities and the people who live in them. Undertaking this work means that we must collect and use information about the people we provide services to and keep a record of those services. Because we collect and use personal information about individuals we must make sure that they know what we intend to do with their information and who it may be shared with.
We have summarised in this privacy notice some of the key ways in which we use your personal information for consultation purposes. This information should be read in conjunction with the Council’s corporate privacy notice.
1. Who we are, what we do.
Consultation captures the views of residents, service users and staff via a range of methods with information collected helping to inform Cabinet and Senior Officer decisions affecting service planning, delivery and budget setting.
The methods include the collection of information via surveys (online and paper), forums, focus groups, through the Citizens’ Panel, drop-in events, meetings and social media.
The Council’s Consultation
Team take a lead on consultations and support other Council service areas to
undertake this activity, although different service areas can also run
consultations independently.
2. What and whose personal information we hold?
We hold information and views from staff, the public and other stakeholders from the various consultations people have taken part in. We also have the personal details of residents who have elected to be on our Citizens’ Panel, so we can ensure that the panel is representative of Rhondda Cynon Taf.
The types of information we hold and process will typically include:
- Views on service or policy change
- Contact details, including name, address etc. where required and requested for follow up
- Date of birth
- Equality Questions - gender, sexuality, language of choice, disability, religion, ethnicity
- Information on preferred method of communication
3. Where does the service get my information from?
We can get information directly from you if you are a member of our Citizen’s Panel, or you may be approached through general consultation activity, for example if you are in a town centre, at a Council event or using a Council facility.
We may also contact you directly if the consultation activity is personally relevant to you, for example if it concerns a service you use or are a member of, such as a library, day centre, leisure centre or a school your child attends.
4. What we will do with your personal information?
We will use the personal information you provide to assess what impact any decision or service change will have on you by demographic characteristic. We will also use your contact details to contact you again to feedback to you or to ask you further questions, but we will always ask you if you want this to happen first.
If you have asked to be on our Citizens’ Panel you will be contacted with updates on consultations and asked to give your views on a variety of subjects. You can opt out at any time. We may contact you with relevant consultations from some of our Public sector partners, but we will never give them your details, we will contact you on their behalf.
Some special categories of personal data, such as information about ethnic origin, sexual orientation and religion or belief are processed for the purposes of equal opportunities monitoring. This is in order for the service to carry out its obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to our public sector equality duty.
Data that the organisation uses for these purposes is anonymised for reporting and you are entirely free to decide whether or not to provide such data and there are no consequences of failing to do so. If you are a member of the Citizen’s Panel, special category data asked for on our membership form is stored securely on your membership file and securely destroyed when your membership ends.
For more information about how we use information for equality monitoring purposes please see our Equality and Diversity Privacy Notice
5. What is the legal basis for the use of this information?
The legal basis for our use of your personal information will generally be one or more of the following:
a) we need to process your personal information to satisfy our legal obligations as a Local Authority, for example to conduct RCT Council budget consultations
b) we need to process your personal information to carry out a task in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority in our capacity as a public body; for example to find out how to improve services.
6. Does the service share my personal information with any other organisation?
Your information may be shared internally, examples include:
- Service manager or equivalent who requested report
- Depending on the consultation, statutory consultation responses are available for Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and Cabinet to view, responses are redacted so that participants are not identifiable
Main software provider:
- Snap Survey
- Delib for budget consultations
The Council may also use alternative survey software providers such as Survey Monkey and will advise you accordingly.
We do not usually share your information with other organisations. If we intend to share your information, we would advise you of the organisations we intend to share with and why before you give us your data so that you can chose whether to provide information. We may also rely on commissioned services to conduct consultations, if this happens we would let you know as part of the consultation process.
Final consultation reports are shared and sometimes published on the Council website, however final reports are anonymous and do not contain any personal identifiable information.
7. How long will my information be kept?
The Council's Consultation Team will keep the information you provide at our consultations for 5 years for statutory or significant service change consultations and for 2 years for smaller policy change consultations.
We aim to refresh the Citizens’ Panel every 3 years and at this time we would contact existing members and dispose of all information we have on those people who no longer wish to be on the panel.
Other Council service areas may keep your information for different time periods, depending on the nature of the information.
8. Your information, your rights
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) gives you important rights, including the right to access the personal information the services hold about you.
View further details on your information rights and how to exercise them.
9. Contact us
If you have any concerns or would like to know more about how the service using your personal information please contact us in one of the following ways:
By email : consultation@rctcbc.gov.uk
By telephone : 01443 424136
In writing : RCTCBC, The Pavilions, Cambrian Park, Clydach Vale, Tonypandy, CF40 2XX