Who is the data controller for the information we collect
Leeds City Council is the data controller for the purposes of the Data Protection Act 2018 and other regulations including the UK General Data Protection Regulation, which means it determines what your data is used for and why it is collected. The purpose of this privacy notice is to tell you about what information we collect about you when you use our service, how we use that information and who we may share it with. The contact details of the data controller are Leeds City Council, Merrion House, 110 Merrion Way, Leeds, LS2 8BB.
The data we will collect
It is the responsibility of any service area, within the council, that carries out monitoring to provide a clear rationale for the collection of data. Service areas may collect and process the following information:
- personal information (date of birth)
- characteristics (such as ethnicity, sex, gender identity, religion or belief, disability including the type of disability, sexual orientation, caring responsibilities)
- additional categories (Location data (including postcode), relationship status, if someone is/has experienced domestic violence, if someone is/has experienced bullying or harassment, if someone is/has experienced any form of hate crime)
Please note that the above information is only collected if it is relevant to the purposes mentioned above. Any personal data collected will not be used to identify responses and will be stored appropriately.
How do we collect information about you
We collect information about you from you directly (e.g. by asking you to complete one of our forms, via the telephone through our contact centre or face-to-face). Please note that this is not an exhaustive list and it is down to individual service areas how information is collected.
Why we process your data
The council has a ‘public sector equality duty’ to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations in the community. This includes monitoring and understanding the impact of the decisions we make on the services we provide and how these will impact on different people or groups because of a protected characteristic that they hold.
It will help us to better understand the diverse make-up of our workforce and our customer base and the profile of our communities, whether this be our customers, our citizens, our staff or our contracted service providers. It can also highlight what we do not know about the profile of our communities.
It will help us to monitor fairness and effectiveness of the services we deliver, employment practices and to develop future policies and services.
We recognise that your personal information is important to you, and we take our responsibilities for ensuring that we collect and manage it proportionately, correctly, and safely very seriously.
All the data collected will be treated in strict confidence and in accordance with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). The data provided by you will only be used for the purpose(s) specified.
Lawful basis for processing
We will process your data in accordance with UK GDPR Article 6(1). The processing shall be lawful only if and to the extent that the following applies:
Article 6(1)(c) We have a legal obligation. We collect and lawfully process your personal information under the following:
- Equality Act 2010
- The Human Rights Act 1998
Article 6(1)(e) - We need it to perform a public task. With the underlying law the same as above.
We will process your data in accordance with UK GDPR Article9(2). The processing shall be lawful only if and to the extent that the following applies:
- Article 9(2)(g)(a) - Substantial public interest laid out in law. With the underlying law being the same as given for Article 6 above
And:
- DPA 2018 Schedule 1, part 2(8) - Equality of opportunity or treatment
Data retention, storage and destruction
There are retention schedules in place to ensure that information is only held for as long as it is needed. We will not keep your information for longer than is required by law. Your information will be disposed of in a controlled and secure manner in accordance with the council’s Records Retention and Deletion Policy. The council’s IT security and confidentiality policies ensure that your information is protected and accessed only by staff who is authorised to do so.
Who can we share your data with
Equality data (such as anonymous data on numbers or percentages relating to each protected characteristic) is captured corporately, in order to comply with our legal obligations, under the Equality Act 2010 and in particular the Public Sector Equality Duty. There are no personal identifiers contained within the data published.
Needs assessments are often carried out in partnership with other public sector bodies. This is made clear in any surveys/consultations that are a part of this assessment process. Therefore, we may disclose your information to others, but only where this is necessary either to comply with our legal obligations or as permitted by Data Protection legislation. We may share it with other public service bodies including the NHS, social care, the police, and other local authorities.
The reasons why we may share your data with other public bodies are as follows:
- to review and improve our performance and delivery of services
- for the prevention and or detection of crime
- where necessary to protect individuals from the risk of harm or injury
- where otherwise permitted by Data Protection legislation
We will only disclose your sensitive or confidential information, such as medical details to a third party, if we are legally required to do so, or where we have good reason to believe that failing to share the information would put you or someone else at risk of harm.
We will not pass your personal information to external organisations for marketing or sales purposes or for any commercial use without your prior expressed consent.
Automated decision making
Your data will not be used for any automated decision making, including profiling.
Your rights
The following rights under data protection law are applicable for this processing:
- the right to access - you can ask for copies of your personal data
- the right to rectification - you can ask us to rectify inaccurate personal data and to complete incomplete personal data
- the right to erasure - you can ask us to erase your personal data
- the right to restrict processing - you can ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data
- the right to data portability - you can ask that we transfer your personal data to another organisation or to you
- the right to object to processing - you can object to the processing of your personal data
- the right to complain to a supervisory authority - you can complain about our processing of your personal data
Where we process data under legal obligation the following will not apply:
- the right to erasure - you can ask us to erase your personal data
- the right to data portability - you can ask that we transfer your personal data to another organisation or to you
- the right to object to processing - you can object to the processing of your personal data
- the right to withdraw consent - to the extent that the legal basis of our processing of your personal data is consent, you can withdraw that consent
Where we process data under public task the following will not apply:
- the right to erasure - you can ask us to erase your personal data
- the right to data portability - you can ask that we transfer your personal data to another organisation or to you
- the right to withdraw consent - to the extent that the legal basis of our processing of your personal data is consent, you can withdraw that consent
These rights are subject to certain limitations and exceptions. You can learn more about your rights through the your rights and how to exercise them page, and the Information Commissioner's Office website. You may exercise any of the above rights in relation to your personal data by writing to us, using the contact details provided below.
Contact us
Any queries in relation to this Privacy Notice should be forwarded to:
Email:
EqualityTeam@leeds.gov.uk
Data Protection Officer
Aaron Linden
Head of Information Management and Governance - Data Protection Officer
Leeds City Council
Merrion House
110 Merrion Way
Leeds
LS2 8BB
DPO@leeds.gov.uk
The council privacy notice is available to view online.
If you are unhappy with the way in which your information has been handled you should speak with the specific service in the first instance.
Any data protection complaints about how the council has processed your personal data, will be handled in accordance with the council's complaints policy. You can find out how to submit a complaint online.
You can refer to the Information Commissioner if you consider that there has been an infringement of data protection legislation. Further details can be found on the Information Commissioner's website.
Changes to this notice
We keep our privacy notice under regular review. We will notify you of significant changes to this notice by email or other means as appropriate. This privacy notice was last updated 4 November 2024.
