Privacy Notices - Insurance Department Privacy Notice

This is the privacy notice of the Insurance Department, Swindon Borough Council, Euclid Street, Swindon SN1 2JH referred to as we, us or our in this privacy notice.

This privacy notice sets out how we collect and process your personal data. This privacy notice also provides certain information that is legally required and lists your rights in relation to your personal data.

This privacy notice relates to personal information that identifies you as a natural person.  We refer to this information throughout this privacy notice as personal data or personal information and further detail of what this includes are set out in this privacy notice below.

The privacy and security of your personal information is very important to us so we want to assure you that your information will be properly managed and protected by us at all times. Please read this privacy notice carefully as it explains how we may collect and use your personal data.

This privacy notice may vary from time to time so please check it regularly. This privacy notice was last updated in July 2018.

Swindon Borough Council will act as a “Data Controller” for any personal data that you provide to us. We will ensure that the data given to us is processed in line with our Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 18) and the EU General Data Protection Regulations. (GDPR)

To find out more about Swindon Borough Council’s data protection policies please contact our Data Protection Officer. dataprotection@swindon.gov.uk or in writing to Data Protection Officer, Civic Offices, Euclid Street, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN1 2JH.

Please note that not providing your personal data may lead to you being unable to utilise services provided by parking services.

Personal data relates to a living individual who can be identified from that data. Identification can be by the information alone or in conjunction with any other information in the data controller’s possession or likely to come into such possession. The processing of data is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (the “GDPR”).

The personal data that we collect about you may include the following information:

• Personal data you provide to us in person, on an insurance claim form or covering letter of claim, via our website or by telephone
• Personal data you provide when you enquire about insurance making an insurance claim, when you submit an insurance claim, or when you provide additional information during the course of our investigation, including information about what personal injury was sustained and any medical attention received; property damage sustained and vehicle details in respect of motor claims
• General information about you, such as your name, address, contact details, date of birth and national insurance number
• Financial details, such as your bank account and card details in the event of a claim settlement

We collect your personal data from you as a controller when we receive an enquiry about you making a claim or receive a formal claim from you. This may also involve the collection of data from or about others who are associated with you and your claim such as witnesses. By giving us information about someone else for the purpose of handling your claim you confirm that you have their permission to do so and that you have shared this privacy notice with them.

We also collect information from publically available sources and third party databases made available to the insurance industry for the purposes of reducing fraud and financial crime as well as any other third party databases where your personal data may be held, provided such third parties have lawful bases on which to share such personal data with us. 

Swindon Borough Council complies with its obligations under the GDPR by keeping personal data up to date; by storing and destroying it securely; by not collecting or retaining excessive amounts of data; by protecting personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access and disclosure and by ensuring that appropriate technical measures are in place to protect personal data.

The personal data you provide to us may be used in connection with the key acts governing the relevant claim type, such as Highways Act 1980, Occupiers Liability Act 1957, Motor Vehicles Act 1988 and others.

We may need to use some information about you:

• to deliver services and support to you
• to manage those services we provide to you
• to train and manage the employment of our workers who deliver those services
• to help investigate any worries or complaints you have about your services
• to keep track of spending on services
• to check the quality of services
• to help with research and planning of new services

Generally we collect and use personal information in circumstances where:

• you have entered into a contract with us
• it is necessary to perform our statutory duties
• it is necessary to protect someone in an emergency
• it is required by law
• it is necessary for employment purposes
• it is necessary to deliver health or social care services
• you have made your information publicly available
• it is necessary for legal cases
• it is to the benefit of society as a whole
• it is necessary to protect public health
• it is necessary for archiving, research, or statistical purposes
• you, or your legal representative, have given consent

If we have consent to use your personal information, you have the right to remove it at any time.

If you want to remove your consent, contact DataProtection@Swindon.gov.uk and tell us which service you are using so we can deal with your request.

We may need to pass your personal data to other companies which may include:

• the insurers, intermediaries and third party service providers that we use for the purpose of handling insurance claims. This may also include uninsured loss recovery agencies, loss adjusters, solicitors and other third parties involved (directly or indirectly) in the handling of your insurance claim
• firms that provide claims handling services to us or on our behalf
• organisations that have a specific role laid out in law, such as statutory bodies, regulatory authorities and other authorised bodies
• other organisations where we have a duty to or are permitted to disclose your personal information by law, for example if we received a valid request from the police following an incident such as a motor collision
• fraud prevention agencies and operators of registers available to the insurance industry to check information and prevent fraud
• third parties we use to recover money you may owe us, for example if we are holding you responsible for damage to our vehicle in the event of a motor collision

We will do what we can to make sure we hold records about you (on paper and 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). This is done with a secret code, or what is called a 'cypher'. The hidden information is said to then be 'encrypted'
• Pseudonymisation, meaning that we will use a different name so we can hide parts of your personal information from view. This means that someone outside of the Council could work on your information for us without ever knowing it was yours
• 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
• Regular testing of our technology and ways of working including keeping up to date on the latest security updates (commonly called patches).

There is often a legal reason for keeping your personal information for a set period, so we try to include all of these in our corporate Retention and Disposal schedule.  

The law gives you a number of rights to control what personal information is used by us and how it is used by us.

You can ask for access to the information we hold on you

We would normally expect to share what we record about you with you whenever we assess your needs or provide you with services.

However, you also have the right to ask for a copy of all the information we have about you and the services you receive from us. When we receive a request from you in writing, we must give you access to everything we have recorded about you, however, we cannot let you see any parts of your records that contain: 

• confidential information about other people
• data a professional thinks will cause serious harm to you or someone else’s physical or mental wellbeing, or if we think that giving you the information may stop us from preventing or detecting a crime

This applies to personal information that is in both paper and electronic records. If you ask us, we will also let others see your record (except if one of the points above applies).

If you cannot ask for your records in writing, we will make sure there are other ways that you can.

If you have any queries about access to your information contact DataProtection@Swindon.gov.uk.

You can ask to change information you think is inaccurate

You should let us know if you disagree with something written on your file.

We may not always be able to change or remove that information but we will correct factual inaccuracies and may include your comments in the record to show that you disagree with it.

You can ask to delete information (right to be forgotten)

In some circumstances, you can ask for your personal information to be deleted, for example:

• Where your personal information is no longer needed for the reason it was collected in the first place
• Where you have removed your consent for us to use your information and where there is no other legal, legitimate or lawful reason for us to keep it
• Where there is no legal reason for the use of your information
• Where deleting the information is a legal requirement

Where your personal information has been shared with others, we will do what we can to make sure those using your personal information comply with your request for erasure.

Please note that we cannot delete your information where:

• we are required to have it by law
• it is used for freedom of expression
• it is used for public health purposes
• it is used for, scientific or historical research, or statistical purposes where it would make information unusable
• it is necessary for legal claims

You can ask us to limit what we use your personal data for

You have the right to ask us to restrict what we use your personal information for where:

• you have identified inaccurate information, and have told us of it
• where we have no legal reason to use that information, but you want us to restrict what we use it for rather than erase the information altogether

When information is restricted, it cannot be used other than to securely store the data and with your consent to handle legal claims and protect others, or where it is for important public interests of the UK.

Where restriction of use has been granted, we will inform you before we carry on using your personal information.

You have the right to ask us to stop using your personal information for any council service. However, if this request is approved this may cause delays or prevent us from delivering that service to you.

Where possible we will always seek to comply with your request, but we may need to hold or use information because we are required to by law.

You can ask to have your information moved to another provider (data portability)

You have the right to ask for your personal information to be given back to you or another service provider of your choice in a commonly used format. This is called data portability.

However, this only applies if we are using your personal information with consent (not if we are required to by law) and if decisions were made by a computer and not a human being.

It is likely that data portability will not apply to most of the services you receive from the Council.

You can ask to have any computer made decisions explained to you, and details of how we may have 'profiled' you.

You have the right to question decisions made about you by a computer, unless it’s required for any contract you have entered into, required by law, or you have consented to it.

You also have the right to object if you are being 'profiled'. 'Profiling' is where decisions are made about you based on certain things in your personal information. For example, your health conditions.

If the Council uses your personal information to profile you, in order to deliver the most appropriate service to you, you will be informed.

If you have concerns regarding automated decision-making, or profiling, please contact our Data Protection Officer who will be able to advise you about how we are using your information.

In the event that you wish to complain about the way that your personal data has been handled by Swindon Borough Council, you should write to the Data Protection Officer and clearly outline your case. Your complaint will then be investigated in accordance with our customer complaint procedure.
If you remain dissatisfied with the way your personal data has been handled, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at www.ICO.org.uk. You may refer the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office whose contact details are below:

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

Email: casework@ico.org.uk

This website also contains information on data protection and your rights and remedies.

You are under no statutory obligation to provide personal data to Swindon Borough Council. However, if you do not provide the data, we may not be able to process your claim submission properly or at all.

Audits will be undertaken on personal data to ensure that we remain legally compliant in accordance with current data protection legislation.

You are viewing the Privacy Notice for the Insurance Department

Read the main Privacy Notice