Electronic newsletter - Privacy notice

Who we are and what we do

Your privacy is very important to Forest of Dean District Council.

You need to be aware of this Privacy Notice if you are signing up to receive digital newsletters from the Forest of Dean District Council and its service areas.

A Privacy Notice is a statement issued by an organisation which explains how personal and confidential data about individuals is collected, used and shared.

Any questions regarding our privacy practices should be sent to:

Data Protection Officer (DPO)
Forest of Dean District Council
Council Offices,
Coleford
GL16 8HG

Email: data.protection@fdean.gov.uk
Tel: 01993 861194

Why we need your information and how we use it

We may need to use some information about you:

to deliver newsletters and update you on the services we provide
to check the quality of services
to help with research and development of existing services
to help with research and planning of new services

What is the legal process for collecting and processing this data

The law requires that we collect and record your explicit consent before providing you with our email newsletters, but you have the right to remove your consent at any time.

If you want to remove your consent, either use the unsubscribe option provided on any emailed newsletter from us (the Communications team), or contact the Data Protection Officer: data.protection@fdean.gov.uk and tell us which service you are using and wish to unsubscribe from, so we can deal with your request promptly.

You are under no statutory obligation to provide personal data to Forest of Dean District Council during the newsletter sign-up process; however, your email address is mandatory to receive the service. If you decline to provide it, we will not be able to provide this service to you.

What type of information is collected from you

Forest of Dean District Council collects data about you and when you sign up to receive our newsletters.

This includes:

your email address
your explicit consent to receive newsletter(s)

We collect this data in a variety of ways. For example, through our website, external microsites, social media channels and within newsletters where a sign up form can be embedded.

Data reports are automatically generated by our mailing provider Mailchimp and information such as your location, browser data, device type and link clicks are also stored for reporting and evaluation purposes

Who your information may be shared with (internally and externally)

We do not share your council newsletter information with other organisations.

How long we keep your information (retention period)

We will hold the personal data provided by you on an on-going basis unless you decide to opt out from receiving the newsletter/s.

How we protect your Information

We will not transfer your personal data outside the EU without your consent.

We will do what we can to make sure we hold records about you (electronically) in a secure way, and we will only make them available to those who have a right to see them.

Examples of our security include:

Encryption, meaning that information is hidden so that it cannot be read without special knowledge (such as a password)
Controlling access to systems and networks allows us to stop people who are not allowed to view your personal information from getting access to it
Training for our staff allows us to make them aware of how to handle information and how and when to report when something goes wrong

Please note however that where you are transmitting information to us over the internet this can never be guaranteed to be 100% secure.

We will notify you promptly in the event of any breach of your personal data which might expose you to serious risk.

Your rights

You have rights under the Data Protection Legislations:

to access your personal data
to be provided with information about how your personal data is processed
to have your personal data corrected
to have your personal data erased in certain circumstances
to object to or restrict how your personal data is processed
to have your personal data transferred to yourself or to another business in certain circumstances
to be told if we have made a mistake whilst processing your data and we will self-report breaches to the Commissioner

Will this information be used to take automated decisions about me?

No.

How you can access, update or correct your information

The Data Protection law gives you the right to apply for a copy of information about yourself. This is called a ‘Subject Access Request'.

If you wish to see a copy of your records you should contact the Data Protection Officer. You are entitled to receive a copy of your records free of charge, within a month.

The accuracy of your information is important to us to be able to provide relevant services more quickly. We are working to make our record keeping more efficient. In the meantime, if you change your address or email address, or if any of your circumstances change or any of the other information we hold is inaccurate or out of date please email us or write to us at:

Communications Team
Forest of Dean District Council
Council Offices,
Coleford
GL16 8HG

Email: Communications@fdean.gov.uk

Further information

If you would like to know more about how we use your information, or if for any reason you do not wish to have your information used in any of the ways described here, please tell us. Contact the Data Protection Officer.

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner: https://ico.org.uk

We reserve the right to update this privacy notice from time to time by publishing a new version on our website.