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Privacy Notice - Polling Station Contacts

Legal Obligation: Under the Representation of the People Act 1983 each Local Authority must by law appoint a “Returning Officer”. This is a personal appointment with its own statutory functions, separate to West Northamptonshire Council.

The Returning Officer has a statutory duty to process certain personal data for the purpose of administrating election and referenda; and as such, is subject to the requirements of data protection regulations as a “data controller”. Anna Earnshaw the Returning Officer for West Northamptonshire Council and is the registered Data Controller with the Information Commissioners Officer (ICO).

For many of the Returning Officer functions, the Council’s Election Office will not be processing personal data on behalf of the Council; it will instead be processing personal data on behalf of one or more of the following statutory office holders:

  • the Registration Officer appointed by the Council under Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act 1983;
  • the Returning Officer appointed for the purposes of local authority elections by the Council under section 41 of the Representation of the People Act 1983;
  • the Counting Officer responsible for the administration, within the Council’s local authority area, of any local, regional or national referendum;
  • any other statutory office holder whose duties relate to administering elections or referenda and whose office is held by virtue of holding one or more of the offices described above or is otherwise required by law to be held by an officer of the Council.

What information do we need?

Your personal data is used under the following legal basis: Processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller (i.e. the Returning Officer).

The personal data required includes:

  • booking and correspondence name and address
  • booking and correspondence contact details – phone number(s), email address
  • booking and correspondence BACS details for payment
  • key-holder name and home address · Key-holder contact details – phone number(s), email address

This information may be provided to us by the polling station caretaker, facilities management, committee/board member or owner rather than from the data subject (i.e. you) directly.

Why we need this information?

As a contact for a polling place your personal data is required for the following purposes:

  • Facilitating correspondence with your venue regarding designation, bookings, invoices and payment.
  • Generating a contact list of polling places in West Northamptonshire area for the use of presiding officers assigned to the polling place, polling place inspectors, election staff and for security purposes our Single Point of Contact (SPOC) officer at Northamptonshire Police.

What we will do with your information?

Your information will be shared with the following recipients or categories of recipient: Returning Officer; Council’s Election Office; Facilities Management Team; Presiding Officers; Polling Station Inspectors; Our SPOC at Northamptonshire Police

The West Northamptonshire Council Returning Officer is required by law to protect the public funds it administers. It may share information provided to them with other public bodies responsible for auditing, administering public funds, or where undertaking a public function, in order to prevent and detect fraud.

How long will we keep your information?

We will keep your information for the length of time specified in the Election Legislation if it is no longer required for the lawful purposes for which it was obtained, after which it will be destroyed under secure arrangements.  

Your Rights

If at any point you believe the information we hold is incorrect you may request to see this information and have it corrected or deleted. If you wish to complain about how we have handled your personal data, you can contact our Data Protection Officer who will investigate the matter.

If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are processing your personal data not in accordance with the law you can submit a formal complaint to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO). The contact details of the data controller are:

FAO: Returning Officer

West Northamptonshire Council

The Guildhall

St Giles's Square

Northampton NN1 1DE

Email: [email protected]   

All information you provide is held in accordance with the Data Protection Act.

Last updated 16 January 2025