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Privacy notice

How we use the data

Learn about how Westmorland and Furness users personal data.

Legal basis

Where the council identifies the requirement to process personal, special category/sensitive or criminal/law enforcement data, depending on the specific data being shared, it must have at least one of the following:

If we are relying on consent to process your personal, special category personal or criminal/law enforcement data, you have the right to object at any time by contacting the service or officer the data was provided to.

CCTV and surveillance

We have installed CCTV systems in some of our premises used by members of the public, for the purpose of either, public and staff safety, or the prevention and detection of crime. CCTV is also installed on the outside of some of our buildings for the purposes of monitoring building security and crime prevention and detection.

Images captured by CCTV will be kept in accordance with the council’s Retention and Disposal Schedule. However, on occasions there may be a need to keep images for longer, for example where a crime is being investigated. Images can be requested by writing to: dataprotection@westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk.

We will only disclose images and audio to other authorised bodies who intend to use it for the purposes stated above. Images and audio will not be released to the media for entertainment purposes or placed on the internet for public viewing.

We operate CCTV and disclose in accordance with the codes of practice issued by the Information Commissioner and Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner.

Please note: From 1 April 2023, for a transitional period, individuals wishing to make enquiries about the deployment of CCTV and Surveillance, should in the first instance search the relevant website, as listed below:

Once new systems and processes have been agreed and implemented, they will be made available on the Westmorland and Furness Council website.

National Fraud Initiative/Data Matching

The Council is required by law to protect the public funds it administers. It may share information provided to it with other bodies responsible for auditing, administering public funds or where undertaking a public function, in order to prevent and detect fraud.

The Council is required to participate in the Cabinet Office's National Fraud Initiative: a data matching exercise to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud. The Council is obliged to provide particular sets of data to the Minister for the Cabinet Office for matching for each exercise. The Cabinet Office is responsible for carrying out data matching exercises in accordance with the https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-data-matching-practice-for-national-fraud-initiative.

Data matching involves comparing computer records held by one body against other computer records held by the same or another body to see how far they match. This is usually personal information. Computerised data matching allows potentially fraudulent claims and payments to be identified. Where a match is found it may indicate that there is an inconsistency which requires further investigation. No assumption can be made as to whether there is fraud, error or other explanation until an investigation is carried out.

For further information on the Cabinet Office exercise please see:

•    https://www.gov.uk/guidance/national-fraud-initiative-public-sector-data-requirements 
•    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fair-processing-national-fraud-initiative/fair-processing-level-3-full-text

For further information please contact: nfi.WAF@westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk.

Alternatively, you can refer to the Privacy Notice - National Fraud Initiative: https://www.westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk/your-council/data-protection-and-privacy/services-privacy-notices.

Elected Members

In order for Elected Members to act on your behalf and resolve the issues you have raised they may need to collect some personal, special category personal or criminal/law enforcement data.  This could include your name and address, and/or sensitive personal data, which could be concerning your health or ethnic origin.

In some circumstances your explicit consent may be needed to allow for the processing of your data.  If this is needed the relevant Elected Member will contact you directly.

Elected Members will:

  • only share data with the organisations necessary to deal with your enquiry i.e., different council departments, and to resolve any issues you have raised
  • not share your data with third parties, unless it is required for law enforcement purposes to prevent or detect crime, to protect public funds or where required or permitted to share data under other legislation
  • keep your data secure using the council's secure IT and email systems
  • retain/destroy your data in accordance with the council's Retention and Disposal Schedule

You have the right to access your personal, special category personal or criminal/law enforcement data and to rectify mistakes, erase, restrict, object or move your data in certain circumstances.

You can withdraw your consent for your personal, special category personal or criminal/law enforcement data to be processed as described above at any time.  If you would like this to happen or you have a complaint about how your data is handled, please contact your Elected Member.

If you are not satisfied with the response or believe the Elected Member is not processing your personal, special category personal or criminal/law enforcement data in accordance with the law you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) using ICO Data protection and personal information complaints tool.

Data transfers

It may sometimes be necessary to transfer personal, special category personal or criminal/law enforcement data beyond the UK to comply with legal or other obligations.

Where data is required to be transferred to the European Union or other adequate countries the council will ensure that all relevant safeguards are in place before this takes place and that all aspects of the UKGDPR/Data Protection Act 2018 are complied with.

Data requested for transfer to non-adequate countries will be subject to a Transfer Impact Assessment, that includes the identification of appropriate safeguards prior to data being authorised for transfer.

Data security and retention

The council is required by UKGDPR Article 32 to ensure that appropriate organisational and security measures are in place to protect your personal, special category personal or criminal/law enforcement data. 

Security measures include: anonymisation, pseudonymisation, encryption, access controls on systems, regular testing of our systems, security training for all employees. You can find further information in the following documents:

If you access information online, the council website does not store or capture personal information, but merely logs a number called your IP address which is automatically recognised by the system. The system will record personal information if you:

  • subscribe to or apply for services that require personal information
  • report a fault and give your contact details for us to respond
  • contact us and leave your details for us to respond

See our Cookie Policy.

Westmorland and Furness Council will only store your information for as long as is legally required or in situations where there is no legal retention period established best practice will be followed. In accordance with our Retention and Disposal Schedule (XLSX, 339KB).

To help you understand the Schedule the council has published a Retention Schedule quick user guide (PDF, 584KB).

If you have any questions about the Schedule or the Quick User Guide, please contact record.centre@cumberland.gov.uk.

If you experience any problems in relation to your personal data or you see something that doesn't look right, contact the council by email at: databreaches@westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk.

Contacting the council

Emails

If you email us, we may keep a record of your contact and your email address and the email for our record keeping of the transaction. We suggest that you keep the amount of confidential information you send to us via email to a minimum and use our secure online forms and services. Where available, you can sign up for email alerts for selected services using an external service from GovDelivery, with control over your preferences.

Telephone calls

The council will inform you if your telephone calls are being recorded or monitored and will not record any financial card details if you make payments by telephone.