Wealden District Council
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Privacy Statement

Wealden District Council (the “Council”) is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Any information you provide to us when using this website will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement.

We treat any personal information you provide (for example, your name and address) in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection. This requires the Council to:

  • keep your personal information secure;
  • use your personal information only for the purposes set out in the privacy statement;
  • keep your personal information accurate and up to date (and we would like you to do the same);
  • ensure that any service providers who are entitled to access your personal information keep it secure and only use it for the purposes stated (we have Information Sharing Protocols and Agreements in place to formalise this);
  • dispose of your personal information in a secure manner when we no longer need it.

Why the Council needs your personal information

By holding personal information about you, we are able to:

  • provide you with a better level of service;
  • ensure that the public (taxpayers’) money is spent wisely and efficiently;
  • avoid people being paid money to which they are not entitled;
  • avoid having to ask people to pay money back when it has been paid to them incorrectly;
  • reduce fraud and crime in the District.

How the Council uses your personal information

The Council does not capture and store any personal information about you, except where you voluntarily provide the Council with the information, whether by completing a form on the website, by email or by otherwise enquiring about any of the Council’s services.

Any personal information you provide to us will be used only to provide you with the requested information or service. From time to time the Council may use your personal information for other purposes, which will be specified at the point we collect your information.

[The Council may also use anonymised and aggregated information for the purposes of monitoring the way our website and our services are used. This information may from time to time be passed on to third parties.]

Consent

By providing your personal information to the Council you consent to the use of that information as set out in the privacy statement. The Council may change this policy by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are aware of any changes.

Security

The Council is committed to ensuring that your personal information is held securely. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure of your personal information the Council has put in place suitable procedures to maintain the security of the information we collect online.

Fair Processing Notice

Wealden District 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 or administering public funds, in order to prevent and detect fraud.

The Audit Commission appoints the auditor to audit the accounts of this authority. It is also responsible for carrying out data matching exercises.

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 indicates 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.

The Audit Commission currently requires us to participate in a data matching exercise to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud. We are required to provide particular sets of data to the Audit Commission for matching for each exercise, and these are set out in the Audit Commission’s guidance, which can be found on the Audit Commission – National Fraud Initiative (external link) website.

The use of data by the Audit Commission in a data matching exercise is carried out with statutory authority under its powers in Part 2A of the Audit Commission Act 1998. It does not require the consent of the individuals concerned under the Data Protection Act 1998.

Data matching by the Audit Commission is subject to a Audit Commission – Code of Data Matching Practice (external link).

For further information on the Audit Commission’s legal powers and the reasons why it matches particular information, see their website: Audit Commission – Fair Processing Notice (external link)

Related Information

Cookies

Information about cookies and how they are used on our website.

Link Policy

This site contains links to other sites. Wealden District Council is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of these sites.

Information Charter

This sets out the standards you can expect from us when we handle information, including but not limited to personal information about you and your enquiries.