Data Protection
What is Data Protection?
The Data Protection Act 1998 gives people rights in relation to information that is held about them as well as setting out rules to ensure that personal information about people is handled properly. See the Overview for Customers (45 KB PDF) and the Guide for Customers (65 KB PDF) for more information.
Accessing your personal information
You have the right to find out and get copies of the information that the Council holds specifically about you. This means that you must be provided with the information that the Council holds about you unless any exemptions apply. See the Access to Personal Information A-Z page which explains how to do this.
This is different from Freedom of Information, which gives people a right to access other information.
How we use your personal information
We must comply with eight principles, which make sure that information is:
- Fairly and lawfully processed
- Processed for limited purposes
- Adequate, relevant and not excessive
- Accurate and up to date
- Not kept for longer than is necessary
- Processed in line with your rights
- Secure
- Not transferred to other countries without adequate protection
Where you have applied for services from the Council by means of a form, the form will tell you how we will use your personal information. Angus Council will be the "data controller" of your personal information in this context in terms of the Data Protection Act 1998. We will treat your personal information as confidential except where the law requires us to release it or where you consent to your information being shared.
The Council is required by law to protect the public funds it administers. We may share information provided to us with other bodies responsible for auditing or administering public funds in order to prevent or detect fraud. Audit Scotland currently requires us to provide specific information for the National Fraud Initiative. To check how that information will be used for this purpose, see National Fraud Initiative.
Notification with Information Commissioner
As the Council uses or processes personal information about people, we must formally register this fact with the Information Commissioner at regular intervals. The Information Commissioner is responsible for the promotion and enforcement of the Data Protection Act. The notification to the Information Commissioner must include details of the type of information held, the source of the information, the purposes for which the information is being held and to whom or what the information is disclosed or released.
You can view Angus Council's notification on the Information Commissioner's website.
Who do I contact for further information?
ACCESSLine
Tel: 08452 777 778
Or write to:
FOI Officer
Angus Council
Angus House
Orchardbank Business Park
Forfar
DD8 1AN
Email: lawadmin@angus.gov.uk