Privacy and elected councillors

Elected Councillors are responsible for telling residents what they do with personal information they collect. This notice is provided by Buckinghamshire Council for Councillors to adopt if they wish. This notice only applies to a particular Councillor if they have provided it to you or where they have given you a link to this page on the Buckinghamshire website.

This page tells you about how Councillors work with people’s personal information in their different roles.

Buckinghamshire Council Councillors hold an elected position within the Council. Buckinghamshire Council shares information with Councillors as part of their role. Sometimes this is because they have a legal need to know the information. Where this applies it is Buckinghamshire Council who is the data controller (the person or organisation deciding how the information is handled and who receives it). When this applies they work to Buckinghamshire Council rules about handling personal information. For more information about how Buckinghamshire Council handles personal information please visit our Privacy page.

Councillors deal with casework raised by local residents as part of their work in the community. This means that they may contact officers of the Council or other organisations on your behalf to investigate your concerns and respond to your enquiries.

Councillors will only be able to help with the concerns you raise with them if they can use your personal information. When Councillors are doing this themselves they are acting as the data controller under the data protection rules, but it is not necessary for Councillors to be registered with the Information Commissioners Office for this.

Councillors will receive whatever information you send them as part of your enquiry including your contact details and the details of your query.

If Councillors contact the Council or another organisation they may also receive information from that organisation in order to allow the Councillor to respond to your enquiry. This might be from the Council or from another local authority. This might include information such as information about your health or whether or not you are alleged to have committed a criminal offence.

Councillors may collect information from you when you contact them by telephone, email or letter or if you meet them in person.

The legal basis for processing the data under the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 is:

• Article 6(1)(a) Your consent - Where you provide a Councillor with your information and ask a Councillor to act on your behalf then they have your consent to hold that information. The Councillor may also ask you to agree that they can share your information with another organisation such as the police or another local authority. You are able to remove your consent at any time. You can do this by contacting the Councillor.
• Article 6(1)(e) To perform a Public task (or because of their role as a Councillor) - Councillors have a role in ensuring that the Council carries out its legal duties. This means that they may share information you give them with the Council, and they may use your information to do their job as a Councillor.

The main area where Councillors may hold sensitive information for casework purposes is health information. They will normally deal with this information if you consent or if there are reasons of substantial public interest, proportionate to the aim pursued. If this happened there would be suitable protection for your information.

A Councillor may sometimes need to share your data on a ‘need to know’ basis with Council officials or with agencies such as the NHS, charities or other Councillors, in order to resolve your issue or respond to your query.

Councillors will not pass your personal details to anyone else, unless required to do so by law, and will not use them for any other purpose.

In rare cases Councillors may not be able to tell you that information has been shared (for example, if it would prejudice the prevention or detection of crime).

Personal information will not be shared with other Councillors unless they need assistance from another Councillor, or a new Councillor is elected to replace them - in which case information may be passed to the new Councillor.

Councillors will not use information given for case work purposes for marketing, newsletter or political campaigning without your permission.

Councillors have a Council email address for Council business. If you contact a Councillor by email you are advised to contact them using the Council email address as this is a secure system for storing information. Where information is held on paper, Councillors will store the information securely and ensure that it is securely destroyed when no longer needed.

Unless you are advised otherwise, Councillors hold personal information on a computer system provided and managed by Buckinghamshire Council.

To ensure that records are retained in order to deal with a legal claim – or a potential claim, records may be retained for up to six years. Routine casework may be destroyed once no longer required. Your Councillor can give you more details.

Councillors will securely dispose of your information in line with retention periods held by the Council.

Councillors hold office for a term of up to four years. If a Councillor is not re-elected then they may destroy case work or they may pass it to their successor or to the Council.

Councillors do not carry out any automated decision making in relation to this information.

You have legal rights over your information. For details of those rights, see our corporate Privacy Policy. Your rights will differ depending on the lawful basis for processing your data.

Please note that Councillors do not always have to agree to any rights request you make, and it will depend on the individual circumstances. If they do agree to a request it may mean they cannot continue to deal with your enquiry.

Our Data Protection Officer can be contacted by email at [email protected], by writing to:

Buckinghamshire Council
The Gateway
Gatehouse Road
Aylesbury
HP19 8FF

Or by phone at 0300 131 6000.

If you have any concerns about a Councillors use of your personal information during their role within Buckinghamshire Council, you can make a complaint to the Data Protection Officer. You can also then complain to the ICO if you remain unhappy with how they have used your data.

If you have any concerns about a Councillors use of your personal information during their role as a community leader or when handling constituents’ casework, you can make a complaint to the Councillor. You can also then complain to the ICO if you remain unhappy with how they have used your data.

Last updated 25 June 2022.