How we use your personal information in Legal Services
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 in our capacity of the provision of Legal Services to the Council. This information should be read in conjunction with the Councils corporate privacy notice
1. Who we are, what we do.
The Legal Services team is the primary source of legal advice to the Authority, its Cabinet, Committees, Elected Members, Departments and Officers. The team is made up of four specialist sub-teams, being Childcare, Litigation, Planning, & Property.
Legal Services conduct legal matters on behalf of the Council in areas such as (but not limited to):
- Property & Conveyancing
- Contract Advice & Preparation
- Licensing
- Compulsory Purchase
- Building Control & Grants
- Education
- Highways Road Traffic & Transportation
- Planning
- Public Law
- Corporate Finance
- Child Protection & Adoption
- Harassment
- Trading Standards & Public Operation
- Environmental Health
- Health & Safety
- Community Care & Mental Health
- Criminal & Civil Litigation including arbitration
- Human Resources & Employment matters
2. What and whose personal information we hold?
We hold information which is pertinent and relevant to the subject of and parties to a legal transaction. In our conduct of the same, we will collect the following personal information, for example:
- Name, address, date of birth, contact information (telephone and email where appropriate)
- National Insurance number (where appropriate)
- Identity information and documentation
- Additional information in relation to the legal transaction to enable us to progress the case. This will depend on the type of legal work being undertaken. For example in a matter relating to Child Protection, we may require access to your medical records. In addition to health information, we may also need to process other special category data such as biometric information, which could include CCTV footage and photographs, however we would only use this information if it was required to conduct legal matters on behalf of the Council.
We process -
Personal information relating to identified natural persons used to deliver services such as:
- Adult and children's social care
- Special educational needs
- Planning applications
- Legal claims
- School appeals
- Highways claims and complaints
- Pensions
- Children's services
- Youth offending
- Trading standards
3. Where does the service get my information from?
The information comes from a variety of sources, but in most cases the information comes from you. Sometimes other people or organisations provide personal information by making a complaint or submitting information on behalf of someone else. In addition, outside agencies such as other local authorities may provide us with personal information.
4. What we will do with your personal information?
We will use personal information held to –
- Undertake our instructions on a legal transaction
- Conduct enforcement functions in relation to (but not limited to) licensing, planning and trading standards
- Process financial transactions on behalf of the Council
- Protect individuals from the risk of harm or injury where necessary
From time to time it may be necessary to share your information with third parties, including legal advisors, government bodies, dispute resolution and law enforcement bodies, insurers or other service providers in order to comply with our obligations under law.
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:
- 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.
- We need to process your personal information for the legitimate interests of representing the Council in a legal transaction.
- We need to process your personal information to satisfy our obligations under law in representing the Council in a legal transaction.
- We need to process your personal information to meet contractual and legal obligations in relation to the performance of a contract.
In limited circumstances direct consent may be obtained, for example when undertaking a village green non-statutory public inquiry, those who wish to submit evidence at the inquiry will be given the option of signing a form consenting to the processing of personal information.
6. Does the service share my personal information with any other organisation?
From time to time we will share your personal information with advisers, service providers and service departments, so that they can assist us in processing a legal transaction. Some of those organisations will simply process your personal information on our behalf and in accordance with our instructions. Other organisations will be responsible to you directly for their use of personal information that we share with them. They are referred to as information controllers and will be subject to their own data protection policies (which will apply to their use of your information).
In each case we will only do this to the extent that we consider the information is reasonably required for these purposes.
In addition, where required by law or to carry out a public task under the official authority of the Council, we may share your personal information with:
Other public bodies:
- Healthcare, social and welfare organisations
- Educators and examining bodies
- Local and central government
- Ombudsman and regulatory authorities
- Courts and tribunals
- International law enforcement agencies and bodies
- Law enforcement and prosecuting authorities
- Police complaints authority
- The disclosure and barring service (DBS)
Other organisations / individuals:
- Family, associates or representatives of the person whose personal data we are processing
- Students and pupils including their relatives, guardians, carers or representatives
- Financial organisations
- Debt collection and tracing agencies
- Private investigators
- Press and the media
- Professional advisers and consultants
- Housing associations and landlords
- Voluntary and charitable organisations
- Security companies
- Partner agencies, approved organisations and individuals working with the police
- Healthcare professionals
- Legal representatives, defence solicitors
7. How long will my information be kept?
We will only keep your personal information for as long as we need it.
However, we are required to retain your information for a period at the end of the transaction. In practice, this means that your personal information may be retained for a period of between 7 and 93 years depending on the nature of the transaction.
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 our use of personal information, please contact us in one of the following ways:
By email: legaladmin@rctcbc.gov.uk
In writing : RCTCBC, The Pavilions, Cambrian Park, Clydach Vale, CF40 2XX