Emergency flooding response privacy notice
This privacy notice is designed to help you understand how we use personal information when delivering our Emergency Flooding Response we have set out below the services types, the information we may use to deliver the services, who we may share it with, and how long we will keep it.
The services covered within this privacy notice
Providing reassurance visits and coordinating support from various services.
Provides advice on health and safety management to comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act and all subordinate regulations.
Providing practical support to remove damaged items, deliver sandbags and clean up streets.
Providing signage, road closures, sandbags, deploying officers to support the emergency.
Providing support to affected businesses.
Coordinate cross service response.
Information we hold about you
We only collect and use the minimum amount of personal information required when delivering a service to you. Wherever possible we use non-identifiable personal information.
The service may use some or all of the personal information provided:
- your name, address, contact details
- details about your housing needs (as part of the emergency evacuation and ongoing need)
- details related to the flooding incident (if you are insured, support requirements)
We get most of this information from you, but we may also get some of this data from:
- central Government agencies
- members of the public (referrer)
- family members
Why we need your information and how we use it
We use your information to:
- respond to and support you in the emergency through a multi service response
- access additional support from central government
Who your information may be shared with
Sometimes we may need to share your information, but we will only do so where it is necessary or required by law. We will only share the minimum information for each circumstance.
We may sometimes need to share some of your information with:
- Government agencies (e.g. Department of Health, Department of Work and Pensions)
- local Government
- police
- fire and rescue services
- environment agency
We may also use data processors to support activities, for example by providing the systems we need or delivering services on our behalf. This includes our case management system (Firmstep).
The Data Controller
We are the Data Controller for this processing.
The personal information we have collected from you will be shared with fraud prevention agencies who will use it to prevent fraud and money-laundering and to verify your identity. If fraud is detected, you could be refused certain services, finance, or employment.
The lawful basis for the processing
Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you, under the Data Protection Act 2018, the lawful bases we rely on for using your personal information are:
- we need it to perform a public task (GDPR Article 6 (e)
The legislation we rely on when using your personal information to meet our legal obligations or public tasks includes but is not limited to:
- Civil Contingencies Act 2004
- Flood and water management act 2010
Protecting your information
Your information will be securely stored on our network.
How long will we keep your personal information?
We will only use your personal information whilst delivering the service to you and to deal with any questions or complaints that we may receive about this, unless the law requires us to keep it for a longer period. In practice, this means that your information will be kept for five years then deleted.
If we need to use your information for research or reports, your information will be anonymised, and any information taken from notes (hand written or typed) during any consultation sessions will be securely destroyed. The information will continue to be used in a summarised and anonymised form in any research reports or papers that are published. The anonymised information in the papers may be of historic interest and may be held in public archives indefinitely
Your rights
Under data protection law, you have rights including:
- your right of access - you have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information
- your right to rectification - you have the right to ask us to rectify information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.
- your right to restriction of processing - you have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your information in certain circumstances
- your right to object to processing - you have the right to object to the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances
You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.
To make a request follow the instructions on our Data Protection for you page.
How to complain if you are unhappy about how your data is used
You can complain directly to our Data Protection team online or by post
- Contact the DPO
- By post: Data Protection Officer, The Portal, Wellington Road, Ellesmere Port, CH65 0BA
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office using the following details:
- Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) website
- By post: The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
- Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Will my personal information be accessible outside the UK?
Should the transfer of personal information outside of the UK become necessary, it will only take place if permitted by law, and then only where there are appropriate safeguards in place to protect the personal information.
Your information is stored within the UK.