The Data Protection Act 1998

What the Data Protection Act does

The Data Protection Act is designed to safeguard and protect information or data that the Council processes and holds about you.

The Council is required by law to process information in accordance with the eight principles of ‘good information handling’, which say that data must:

• Be fairly and lawfully processed
• Be processed for specific purposes
• Be adequate, relevant and not excessive
• Be accurate and kept up to date
• Not be kept for longer than necessary
• Be processed in line with peoples’ rights
• Be processed and stored securely
• Not be transferred to other counties who do not have adequate data protection.
  

You have the right to request ‘personal information’ held about you by the Council on computers or in paper records subject to certain exceptions. This is called a ‘Subject Access Request’.

You can make a request in writing to the Council on a ‘Subject Access Request’ form. A request can only be accepted on these forms which are available from the Council as follows:

1. By telephone to the Council’s Customer Service Centre on 01562 732928 
2. By e-mail to customer.service@wyreforestdc.gov.uk
3. By downloading the ‘Subject Access Form' (32K)

The Council will charge you an Access Fee of £10 in advance, for each ‘Subject Access Request’ received.

The Council will provide the information to you within the 40-day time period laid down by the law.

When completing the form, please be as specific as possible about the information you wish to see and give us as much information as you can to help us find it.

To ensure that your personal information is not given to the wrong person we need you to be able to prove your identity. Such proof could include:

• Birth Certificate
• Passport
• Driving Licence
• Any other official documents that can verify your name and address
  

• Where the information is not in a permanent format
• Where the information could affect the way that crime is detected or prevented
• Where the information could compromise the capture or prosecution of offenders
• Where the information could affect the assessment or collection of taxes or duty
• Where providing the information would involve disproportionate effort.
  

Any complaints about the way that the Council manages Data Protection can be made to the Council’s Data Protection Officer who can be contacted as follows:

* By telephone on 01562 732928
* By fax on 01299 879688
* By e-mail to corporate.complaints@wyreforestdc.gov.uk
* By completing the online complaint form

Visit our website information page to find out how to make a complaint.

Complaints may be made at any time to the Information Commissioner about the way in which Wyre Forest District Council or any other organisation is processing information about you. The Information Commissioner, however is unlikely to consider a complaint about the Council unless it has passed through the Council’s own complaints procedure first.

Contact details for the Information Commissioner

You can write to:

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

Telephone: 01625 545745
Fax: 01625 524510
E-mail: mail@ico.gsi.gov.uk
Website: www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

You can download the Council’s Data Protection Policy (102K) from the Council’s website.

Wyre Forest District Council’s Data Protection Registration entry – Z6103875, may be viewed at the Civic Centre, Stourport-on-Severn, DY13 8UJ, or on the Information Commissioner’s website under the Public Register of Data Controllers.