Privacy Notices - Housing services duty to consult Privacy Notice

The Housing Act 1985 is the legal basis for providing you with the service you require, and the need to collect and store the personal information relating to tenants and their representatives. We are committed to protecting the personal information we collect about you.

This privacy notice explains what happens to the information we collect for the purposes of tenant engagement, housing management and maintenance of your home.

A Privacy Notice is a statement issued by an organisation which explains how personal and confidential data about individuals is collected, used and shared.

Swindon Borough Council will act as a “Data Controller” for any personal data that you provide to us.  We will ensure that the data given to us is processed in line with our Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 18) and the EU General Data Protection Regulations. (GDPR)

Please note: not providing your personal data may lead to you being unable to use services provided by the Housing department.
 

Personal data relates to a living individual who can be identified from that data. Identification can be by the information alone or in conjunction with any other information in the data controller’s possession or likely to come into such possession. The processing of data is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (the “GDPR”).

We will hold personal information about you such as your photograph, your name, date of birth, address and contact details (including telephone number(s) and email addresses).

Swindon Borough Council complies with its obligations under the GDPR by keeping personal data up to date; by storing and destroying it securely; by not collecting or retaining excessive amounts of data; by protecting personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access and disclosure and by ensuring that appropriate technical measures are in place to protect personal data.

Swindon Borough Council has a statutory duty to consult. Under Section 105 of the Housing Act 1985, a landlord authority shall maintain such arrangements as it considers appropriate to enable those of its secure tenants who are likely to be substantially affected by a matter of housing management, for example:

• to be informed of the authority’s proposals in respect of the matter
• to make their views known to the authority within a specified period

The authority shall, before making any decision on the matter, consider any representations made to it in accordance with those arrangements.

A matter is one of housing management if, in the opinion of the landlord authority, it relates to:

• the management, maintenance, improvement or demolition of dwelling-houses let by the authority under secure tenancies, or
• the provision of services or amenities in connection with such dwelling-houses but, not so far as it relates to the rent payable under a secure tenancy or to charges for services or facilities provided by the authority

This applies to matters of housing management which, in the opinion of the landlord authority, represent:

• a new programme of maintenance, improvement or demolition, or
• a change in the practice or policy of the authority and are likely substantially to affect either its secure tenants as a whole or a group of them who form a distinct social group or occupy dwelling-houses which constitute a distinct class (whether by reference to the kind of dwelling-house, or the housing estate or other larger area in which they are situated)

We collect and use this information under Article 6 (lawful processing), and Article 9 (special categories of data), of GDPR 2018.

Article 6 of GDPR

Public task: the processing is necessary for the local authority to perform a task in the public interest or for official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law in terms of Health and Social Care Provision.

For those early help services where the above does not apply:

Consent: the individual has given clear consent for the local authority to process their personal data for a specific purpose.

Article 9 (2) of GDPR – special categories of data and lawful processing

Processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest, on the basis of Union or Member State law which shall be proportionate to the aim pursued, respect the essence of the right to data protection and provide for suitable and specific measures to safeguard the fundamental rights and the interests of the data subject.

The Data Protection Act 2018 (12, Schedule 1, part 2 specifically outlines the responsibilities in relation to processing data for the purposes of safeguarding children and individuals at risk.

Further information is available at the GOV.UK website.

Your personal information will be seen by Swindon Borough Council staff and may be disclosed to third parties where the data will be represented in an anonymised manner.

When you provide us with information, you will be told what we will use it for and who we will share it with.
 

We will maintain the reliability, accuracy, completeness and currency of personal data in our databases and to protect the privacy and security of our databases. We keep your personal data only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected.

Our servers and databases are protected by industry standard security technology.

The employees who have access to personal data have been trained to handle such data properly and in accordance with latest regulation.

We will hold this information for a retention period of 2 months, from completion of the survey.
 

Subject to an exemption under GDPR, you have the following rights with respect to your personal data:

• The right to request a copy of your personal data which Swindon Borough Council holds about you
• The right to request that Swindon Borough Council corrects any personal data if it is found to be inaccurate or out of date
• The right to request your personal data is erased where it is no longer necessary for Swindon Borough Council to retain such data
• The right, where there is a dispute in relation to the accuracy or processing of your personal data, to request a restriction is placed on further processing
• The right to object to the processing of personal data
• The right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioners Office

For further details on how your information is used, how we maintain the security of your information, and your rights to access information we hold on you, contact customerservices@swindon.gov.uk or contact the Data Protection Officer at:

Swindon Borough Council
Civic Offices
Euclid Street
Swindon
SN1 2JH
 

You also have a right of complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at www.ico.org.uk if you think we have dealt with your information in an inappropriate manner.

You can ask to see what information we hold about you and have access to it. You can do this by contacting: Data Protection Officer, Swindon Borough Council dataprotection@swindon.gov.uk

Any further questions regarding the data being processed may also be sent to the Data Protection Officer at the above email address.
 

You are under no statutory obligation to provide personal data to Swindon Borough Council during the application process. However, if you do not provide the data, we may not be able to process your application properly or at all.

A yearly audit will take place on personal data to ensure that we remain legally compliant in accordance with current data protection legislation.

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