Consultation Service

Introduction

This privacy notice is intended to provide information about how Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council (referred to as ‘RCTCBC’, ‘Council’, ‘Local Authority’, ‘we’) will use (or ‘process’) personal data about individuals for the purpose of Consultation.

This notice should be read in conjunction with;

• The Council’s corporate privacy notice

The Data Controller

The Council is the data controller for the personal data processed for the purposes of Consultation & Engagement.

The Council is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) as a controller under reference Z4870100.

Queries relating to this privacy notice

If you have any questions or queries relating to this privacy notice please contact the Consultation Team:

By email : consultation@rctcbc.gov.uk

By telephone : 01443 424014

In writing : Consultation Team, Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council, Third Floor Office, 2 Llys Cadwyn, Pontypridd, CF27 4TH 

Who we are what we do

Consultation & Engagement 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.

Whose personal data we process

The Consultation team may process personal data relating to the following individuals to capture their views;

• Residents
• Stakeholders, such as service users
• Staff

The categories of personal data we process

Consultation may process the following caterories of personal data;

•   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

Why we process the personal data

We process personal data 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 if you have requested feedback/asked further questions from consultation you have taken part in, we will always ask you if you want this to happen

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.

To comply with equal opportunities monitoring we may ask for details of special categories of personal data, such as ethnic origin, sexual orientation and religion or belief. 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 Council uses for these purposes is anonymised for reporting purposes and it is up to you if you decide ro provide it or not. If you are a member of the Citizen’s Panel, special category data is asked for on our membership form is stored securely on your membership file and securely destroyed when your membership ends.  You do not have to provide us with this type of information, its optional, but we use this to ensure we’re engaging with a wide range of people within our community.

For more information about how we use information for equality monitoring purposes please see our Equality and Diversity Privacy Notice here.

Our lawful basis for processing the personal data

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), our lawful basis for processing the personal data to Consultation is;

• Legal Obligation (c) – processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject. 
• Public Task - Article 6 (e) – processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller.
• Substantial public interest - Article 9 (2) (a) – explicit consent – information has been provided by the individual.

The primary legislation, regulations and guidance that supports this includes, but is not limited to;

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.

Who or where we get the personal data from

We may receive the personal data from the following categories of individuals or organisations;

• Directly from yourself if you are a member of our Citizen’s Panel or have taken part in online consultations.
• 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.

Who we share personal data with

We do not usually share your information with other organisations. If we would like to share your information, we would advise you of the organisation(s) 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 other organisations/research companiesto conduct our consultations, who will provide us with anonymous results from the consultation. If this happens we would let you know as part of the consultation process.

When sharing the personal data, we only share the minimum amount necessary in relation to the purpose. Final consultation reports are shared and sometimes published on the Council website, however final reports are anonomised and do not contain any personal identifiable information.

Who	Purpose
Service who requested the consultation	View the outcomes/findings of the consultation so they can assess the outcome of the findings
Councils Senior Leadership Team/Cabinet	View the outcomes/findings

Data Processors

A data processor is a company or organisation that processes personal data on our behalf. Our data processors act only upon our instruction. They cannot do anything with the personal data unless we instruct them to do so. They will not share the personal data with any organisation apart from us or use it for their own purposes. They will hold it securely and retain it for the period we instruct.

The categories of data processors we use for the purpose of Consultation is/are;

-       Snap Survey

-       Granicus Engagement HQ - Let’s Talk RCT website

How long we retain the personal data

We retain the personal data contained within Consultation records for:

Length of time	Reason
5 Years	For statutory or significant service change consultations
2 Years	For smaller policy change consultations.

In keeping with the General Data Protection Regulation storage limitation principle, records are periodically reviewed. Not all personal data is retained. Only personal data that is relevant to the record is retained for the entire retention period.

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.  Information that has no long term or evidential value is routinely destroyed in the normal course of business.  

Your data protection rights

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) gives individuals important rights, including the right of access to the personal data that the Council holds about you.

Click here for further information on your information rights and how to exercise them. 

Your right to make a data protection complaint to the Council

You have the right to complain to the Council if you believe we have not handled your personal data responsibly and in line with good practice.

You can do this by contacting the Consultation Team directly via one of the following communication methods. Most concerns can be resolved relatively quickly through a simple phone call or email;

• Email : consultation@rctcbc.gov.uk
• Telephone : 01443 424014

In writing : Consultation Team, Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council, Third Floor Office, 2 Llys Cadwyn, Pontypridd, CF27 4TH 

Alternatively, you can raise a formal complaint via the Council’s Customer Feedback Scheme using the following link (Make a comment, compliment or complaint online) or you can contact the Council’s Data Protection Officer at Information.management@rctcbc.gov.uk.

Your right to make a data protection complaint to the ICO

You also have the right to complain to the ICO if you are unhappy with how we have used your data. However, we encourage you to contact us first and provide us with an opportunity to look into your concern and put things right.

The ICO can be contacted:           

• Address: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
• Helpline number: 0303 123 1113
• Website: https://www.ico.org.uk