Democratic Support privacy notice
Democratic Support at Lancaster City Council is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This privacy notice is designed to help you understand how and why Democratic Support processes your personal data.
This notice should be read in conjunction with the council's main privacy notice.
This Privacy Notice aims to explain:
- Who we are
- What kind of personal data we process
- Why we collect your personal information
- Who we obtain your information from
- Who we share your personal information with
- How long we keep your information
- Our lawful basis for processing your information?
- Your rights
- Your right to complain
1. Who we are
Democratic Support provides advice, support and training for elected members of the Council and senior officers in the discharge of their democratic roles. We create and publish agendas and minutes for all council decision making meetings, as well as any background information that may inform discussion and decision-making. We also process information to facilitate wider public involvement through the live streaming of Council meetings. We will process petitions submitted to the Council.
Democratic Support also supports the Mayor of Lancaster City Council and organises civic events.
The Data Controller for the personal data we process is Lancaster City Council, Lancaster Town Hall, Dalton Square, Lancaster LA1 1PJ.
You have a number of rights under data protection law, including the right to ask for a copy of the information we hold about you, and the right to object to our use of your information in certain circumstances.
For further information about your rights, how the Council uses your information, and how to get in touch if you have a query or complaint, please see the Council’s main privacy notice
We may amend this privacy policy from time to time to ensure it remains up-to-date and continues to reflect how and why we use your personal data. The current version of our privacy policy will always be posted on the Lancaster City Council website.
2. What kind of personal data do we process
Democratic Support may collect the following categories of personal data:
- Name
- Address
- Contact details (telephone number and email address)
- Details of any representations, contributions, complaints, text of speeches and questions you may submit to the Council
- Digital footage (visual and audio) of your participation in the democratic process
3. Why do we collect your personal information?
We collect your information for the following purposes:
- To facilitate service delivery
- To undertake statutory functions or to comply with a legal obligation to which the Council is subject
- To support the Council in fulfilling its democratic duties such as enabling you to participate in the democratic process
- To maintain a record of Council meetings and decision making and facilitate public observation of such meetings
- To allow us to contact you via post, email or telephone
- To enable us to process and investigate complaints submitted against Council officers or Councillors
- To consider any petitions submitted to the Council to which you have signed
The Council formally publishes agendas and minutes for all official meetings held by the Council on our website. Therefore, any contributions you make through your participation in the democratic process may be included in the agendas/minutes and be accessible to the public unless restricted due to confidentiality. Reports and records of decision-making will also be published accordingly unless restricted due to confidentiality.
To encourage participation and engagement, and ensure transparency, the Council broadcasts its public meetings live via MS Teams. If attending a Council meeting, your image will be processed in order for the Council to deliver this service.
4. Who do we obtain your information from?
The categories of personal data we collect, as outlined above, will be collected from you directly (as the data subject) or from a representative acting on your behalf.
5. Who do we share this information with?
Information you provide may be shared with elected members and if it is a matter of public record (such as names of people who have made representations on a Licensing Application), then this may be included on the relevant agenda/minutes.
We may need to share the information that you give us with other services within the Council, or other external organisations such as local Town and Parish Councils or Lancashire County Council.
6. How long do we keep your information?
We keep your personal data for as long as is reasonably required for the purposes explained in this privacy notice.
To support us in managing how long we hold your personal data and our record management, we maintain a Retention and Destruction Schedule which includes clear guidelines on data retention and deletion.
Where your personal data is included within Council, Cabinet, Committee or Panel minutes this will be retained in perpetuity.
7. What is our lawful basis for processing your information?
We rely on the following lawful basis to process your personal data:
- Legal Obligation: The processing is necessary for the Council to comply with a legal obligation.
- Public Task: The processing is necessary for the Council to perform a task in the public interest or for its official functions with a basis in law.
The legislation that relates to Democratic Support includes, but is not limited to:
- The Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985
- Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960
- Local Government Act 1972
- Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012
- Responsibilities Regulations' (Local Authorities (Functions and Responsibilities) (England) Regulations 2000
- Local Government Act 2000
- Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014
- Localism Act 2011
8. Your rights
Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. You have the following rights:
- Request access to your personal data.
- Request correction of your personal data.
- Request erasure of your personal data.
- Object to processing of your personal data.
- Request restriction of processing your personal data.
- Request transfer of your personal data.
- Right to withdraw consent
If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact the Data Protection Officer at info@lancaster.gov.uk or 01524 582205
9. Your right to complain
We work to high standards when it comes to processing your personal data. If you have queries or concerns, please contact our Data Protection Officer at info@lancaster.gov.uk
We hope that our Data Protection Officer can resolve any query or concern you raise about our use of your personal data. If you feel we have not handled your query or concern to your satisfaction you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office ('the ICO') who are the UK supervisory authority for all data protection matters.
You can contact the ICO at:
- Website: https://ico.org.uk/concerns
- Telephone: 0303 123 1113
- Post: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
- Email: casework@ico.org.uk
Last updated: 23 June 2023