Emergency Planning Privacy Notice

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 Emergency Planning purposes. This information should be read in conjunction with the Council’s Corporate Privacy Notice.

1. Who we are, what we do? 

The Emergency planning department are responsible for the Co-ordination and preparation of contingency plans to deal with the challenges of major incidents or emergencies that occur in Rhondda Cynon Taf, for example, flooding.

2. What and whose personal information we hold? 

The information we hold and process will typically include: 

Individuals affected by Incidents or Emergencies, such as Victims and/or Survivors (and their family and friends)

• Name, Address, D.O.B, Telephone Number, Email, Next of Kin, Health Information. 

Dialysis Patients 

• Name, Address, Health Information 

Volunteers, Staff (Council and Partner Agencies), Responder Personnel 

• Name, address, telephone number, e-mail addresses 

Event Organisers 

• Name, Address,

3. Where does the service get my information from? 

We will get this information from a variety of people/organisations depending on the incident, or from yourself when you are responsible for holding an event

• When you, friends, neighbours or family complete a registration form or incident log at a rest centre
• For Category 1 and Category 2 Responders, we will receive information via resilience Direct
• Other Council Departments, such as Environmental Health. Events etc
• Emergency Services, such as the Fire Service, Police etc
• Volunteers and Employees.
• Event Organisers

4. What will we do with your personal information? 

We will use your information to: 

• Prepare for, respond to and recover from incidents. 
• Risk assess and co-ordinate Events.
• From time to time we will share your personal information with third parties including; our contractors, response partners and statutory bodies such as the Coroner. 

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) In fulfilment of the statutory obligations placed on us, primarily under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, the Control of Major Accident (COMAH) Regulations 2015, the Pipeline Safety Regulation 1996 and CONTEST – The United Kingdom’s Strategy for Countering Terrorism. 

b) We need to utilise 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.

6. Does the service share my personal information with any other organisation? 

We will share your personal information with partner agencies to ensure the best approach to prepare for, manage and recover from emergencies.

In each case we will only do this to the extent that we consider the information is reasonably required for these purposes. 

Other Organisations:

• Police
• Fire and Rescue
• Health
• Maritime and Coastguard
• Welsh Local Authorities
• Natural Resources Wales
• Utility companies such as Welsh Water, Gas and Electric companies
• Telecommunications
• Transport Providers
• Highways Agency
• Health and Safety Executive
• Red Cross
• St Johns Ambulance
• Central Government
• Welsh Government
• Coroner
• Coal Authority
• Mines Rescue
• Royal Mint
• Military Forces
• Contractors 
• Elected Members

In some emergency situations we may need to share information with other Internal Council Departments as follows:

• Human Resources to ensure the wellbeing of staff involved in the emergency.
• Finance where there is 3^rd party blame.
• Legal Services for the purpose of any court cases.
• Public Health & Protection to assist with temporary accommodation
• Community & Children Services to offer practical support, advice and assistance to people during the emergency.
• Education Psychology Service to offer support and advice to children in evacuation centres.

Event Safety Advisory Group

Information is shared internally to members of ESAG for appropriate event planning and risk assessing as follows: 

• Environmental Health
• Trading Standards
• Community Safety
• Building Control
• Leisure
• Parks & Countryside
• Events
• Traffic Management
• Highways
• Social Services 

7. How long will my information be kept? 

We will only keep your personal information for as long as needed to fulfil the reason it has been provided. In practice this will vary: 

• Community Risk Register – kept up to date (annual review);
• Contacts - kept up to date (annual / statutory review period);
• Incident logs / reports – current year + 12 years (maybe longer for major incidents);
• Training records – current year + 3 years;
• Emergency Plans – current plan + 1;
• COMAH / Pipeline Safety Plans – Review period not exceeding 3 years; 

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. 

Click here for further information 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 : Emergency.Planning@rctcbc.gov.uk 

By telephone : 01443 827726