Privacy Notices - Broadcasts of council meetings in public and planning inquiries Privacy Notice

You need to be aware of this notice if you attend a Council meeting in public or a Planning Inquiry and are:

• a Borough Councillor
• a member of the public
• the parent or guardian of a child
• a council employee (including locumns, temps, interns and those on work experience)
• any other person, for example: journalist, business owner, developer, stakeholder etc.

Meetings in public are those summoned or convened under either the Local Government Act 1972 or the Licensing Act 2003.

A Privacy Notice is a statement issued by an organisation that explains how the Council collects, uses, and shares personal and confidential data about individuals.

Swindon Borough Council is the data controller. The data controller decides how your personal data are processed and for what purposes.

Personal data relate 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. 

We may collect video images and audio recordings as a result of broadcasting meetings. This content can include names and addresses of individuals both present during meetings or mentioned as part of meeting business.

The council broadcasts meetings in public, except when those meetings have, under Schedule 12A, Local Government Act 1972, resolved to exclude the press and public.

We comply with our obligations under the Data Protection Act and the UK GDPR. This means it keeps personal data up to date; stores and destroys it securely; does not collect or retain excessive amounts of data; protects it from loss, misuse, unauthorised access and disclosure; ensures that appropriate organisational and technical measures are in place to protect it.

The information is necessary for the council to: 

• make its meetings in public more accessible to residents, local businesses and other stakeholders
• to assist in the preparation of the Minutes

Processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest, or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller.Relevant legislation includes but is not limited to:

• Local Government Act 1972
• Town and Country Planning Act 1990
• Licensing Act 2003
• The Town and Country Planning (Inquiries Procedure) (England) Rules 2000
• The Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014

The broadcast meetings may be accessed by:

• members of the public
• those present at the meeting
• the media
• residents
• other stakeholders

Recordings used for the preparation of minutes may be accessed by:

• Committee Services Officers
• the Monitoring Officer (or her deputy)

These recordings are only retained for meetings in public under the Local Government Act 1972 or the Licensing Act 2003.
 

All raw data are stored securely on Swindon Borough Council’s IT systems, which comply with the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR.

Audio visual recordings from the Council Chamber are retained until after the the Minutes of the meeting are signed, then they are destroyed.

Audio recordings from Committee Room 6 are retained until after the the Minutes of the meeting are signed, then they are destroyed.
 

The law gives you a number of rights to control what personal information is used by us and how it is used by us.

You can ask for access to the information we hold on you.

We would normally expect to share what we record about you with you whenever we assess your needs or provide you with services.

However, you also have the right to ask for a copy of all the information we have about you and the services you receive from us. When we receive a request from you in writing, we must give you access to everything we have recorded about you, however, we cannot let you see any parts of your records that contain: 

• confidential information about other people
• data a professional thinks will cause serious harm to you or someone else’s physical or mental wellbeing
• information that may stop us from preventing or detecting a crime

This applies to personal information that is in both paper and electronic records. If you ask us, we will also let others see your record (except if one of the points above applies).

If you cannot ask for your records in writing, we will make sure there are other ways that you can.

If you have any queries about access to your information contact DataProtection@Swindon.gov.uk.

You can ask to change information you think is inaccurate

You should let us know if you disagree with something written on your file.

We may not always be able to change or remove that information but we will correct factual inaccuracies and may include your comments in the record to show that you disagree with it.

You can ask to delete information (right to be forgotten).

In some circumstances, you can ask for your personal information to be deleted, for example: 

• where your personal information is no longer needed for the reason it was collected in the first place
• where you have removed your consent for us to use your information and where there is no other legal, legitimate or lawful reason for us to keep it
• where there is no legal reason for the use of your information
• where deleting the information is a legal requirement
• where your personal information has been shared with others, we will do what we can to make sure those using your personal information comply with your request for erasure

Please note that we cannot delete your information where:

• we are required to have it by law
• it is used for freedom of expression
• it is used for public health purposes
• it is used for, scientific or historical research, or statistical purposes where it would make information unusable
• it is necessary for legal claims

You can ask us to limit the purpose for which we use your personal data.

You have the right to ask us to restrict what we use your personal information for where:

• you have identified inaccurate information, and have told us of it
• we have no legal reason to use that information, but you want us to restrict what we use it for rather than erase the information altogether
• information is restricted, it cannot be used other than to securely store the data and with your consent to handle legal claims and protect others, or where it is for important public interests of the UK

Where restriction of use has been granted, we will inform you before we carry on using your personal information.

You have the limited right to ask us to stop using your personal information for some council services. 

Where possible we will always seek to comply with your request, but we may need to hold or use information because we are required to by law.

You can ask to have your information moved to another provider (data portability).

You have the right to ask for your personal information to be given back to you or another service provider of your choice in a commonly used format. This is called data portability.

However, this only applies if we are using your personal information with consent (not if we are required to by law) and if decisions were made by a computer and not a human being. 

You have the right to question decisions made about you by a computer, unless it’s required for any contract you have entered into, required by law, or you have consented to it.

You also have the right to object if you are being 'profiled'. 'Profiling' is where decisions are made about you based on certain things in your personal information. For example, your health conditions.

If the Council uses your personal information to profile you, in order to deliver the most appropriate service to you, you will be informed.

If you have concerns regarding automated decision-making, or profiling, 
Please contact our Data Protection Officer who will be able to advise you about how we are using your information.
 

In the event that you wish to complain about the way that your personal data has been handled by Swindon Borough Council, you should write to the Data Protection Officer and clearly outline your case. Your complaint will then be investigated in accordance with our customer complaint procedure.

If you remain dissatisfied with the way your personal data has been handled, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at www.ICO.org.uk. You may refer the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office whose contact details are below:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Email: casework@ico.org.uk

This website also contains information on data protection and your rights and remedies.
 

The Committee Services team applies an approved Retention Schedule, which is scrutinised by the line manager and may be subject to review by both IT services and Internal Audit.

You are viewing the Privacy Notice for broadcasts of council meetings in public and planning inquiries.

Read the main Privacy Notice