Elections canvass reform privacy notice

1 Council Contact Details

1.1 West Northamptonshire Council
Registered Office:
One Angel Square
Angel Street
Northampton
NN1 1ED

Under Regulation 26 of the Representation of the People Regulations 2001 and the Representation of the People Act 1983, The Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) and Returning Officer (RO) are data controllers who collect personal information from you in order to compile our register of electors.

The ERO and RO have a statutory duty to maintain a complete an accurate electoral register throughout the year. The annual canvass is an integral part of the year round registration process.

National reforms to the annual electoral registration canvass were implemented by Government in 2020. Finding new electors throughout the year and consistently maintaining the accuracy of their registers (ie completing deletions throughout the year) is instrumental to the successful implementation of the national reforms.

This Privacy Notice is ancillary to the Electoral Services Privacy Notice.

1.2 [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected]

2 Information that we hold

2.1

The names and addresses of persons who are entitled to be registered on the electoral register, but who are not already registered
Those persons who are on the electoral register but who are no longer entitled to be registered at a particular address (normally because they have moved)

3 How the information is obtained

3.1 Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you for one of the following reasons:

to add your details to the electoral register for the purposes of voting in elections and obtaining credit
we also receive personal information indirectly, from the following sources in the following scenarios
local datasets such as Council Tax and Customer Relationship Management. This to compare information and check details are correct

3.2 Lawful bases – the lawful bases for processing your personal information are:

consent to use your email and/or telephone number
to comply with a legal obligation(s) under the Juries Act 1974
to comply with a legal obligation(s) under the Representation of the People Act 1983
to comply with a legal obligation(s) under the Representation of the People Regulations 2001
to comply with a legal obligation(s) under the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013
for the performance of a public interest task which has a clear basis in law (see above) or in the exercise of official authority vested in the ERO and RO as Data Controller ie maintaining the register of electors, in the public interest, as provided for in electoral law

Data processor(s) - the data you provide will be processed by the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service managed by the Cabinet Office. As part of this process, your data will be shared with the Department for Work and Pensions and the Cabinet Office suppliers that are data processors for the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service.

4 What we do with the information

4.1 Processing activity – The ERO and RO are preparing for the 2022 annual canvass process to confirm::

the names and addresses of persons who are entitled to be registered on the electoral register, but who are not already registered
those persons who are on the electoral register but who are no longer entitled to be registered at a particular address (normally because they have moved)

In general terms:

the ERO and RO process personal information relating to data matching of the information held on registered electors or attainers (ie including 16-17 year olds) against:
- a national data base - the Department for Work and Pensions’ Customer Information System (DWP CIS); and
- local datasets – such as council tax and housing benefit records and other datasets held by West Northamptonshire Council

(b) the ERO and RO conduct canvass communications (written and/or email, SMS or any other form of electronic or digital communication) with you.

Data matching information requirements – the data matching occurs at an individual elector level, as follows:

matching the name (including previous names and addresses), date of birth (where held) and address (in the form of string address and unique property reference number (where available)) against the DWP CIS data base
matching the name and string address at a minimum for local data
match scores which deem the elector either matched or unmatched (aggregated at household level).
Canvass communication information requirements
full name and nationality of each registered elector aged 16 or over
‘the aged 76 or over’ age indicator
the aged under 16/17’ age indicator

4.2 We may share this information with North Northamptonshire Council for the purpose of joint working, Department of Work and Pensions for matching purposes, credit reference agencies, The Jury Service, Police for crime investigation purposes – a full list can be seen on the Electoral Commission website.

4.3 Your details are matched with the Department of Work and Pensions via the Government Individual Electoral Registration service and automatic decision is made as to the matching of your application. Automated decision-making is where decisions are made about you without any human influence on the outcome. These may affect your legal rights or have an impact on your circumstances, behaviour or choices.

5 How long we keep your information for and how we securely dispose of it after use

5.1 We keep your personal information for all aspects of processing in line with the council’s retention schedules.

Retention period – the ERO and RO keep your personal information for the minimum period necessary. The information outlined in this Privacy Notice will be kept in accordance with the retention period(s) referred to in my Information Asset Register unless exceptional circumstances require longer retention eg pending legal action. All information will be held securely and disposed of confidentially.

5.2 We will securely dispose of your information in line with the council's retention schedules.

6 How we store your information

6.1 Your information is securely stored on the council’s systems.

7 Your data protection rights

7.1 The law gives you a number of rights to control what personal information is used by us and how we can use it. Please see section 15 of the Council’s Corporate Privacy Notice for further information.

7.2 Please be aware that your rights may differ depending on the lawful basis for processing your personal data.

7.3 The right to withdraw consent (if applicable). You can ask that we no longer use your details for this [processing/groups of processing]. If you wish to exercise this right, please contact the Data Protection Officer detailed in section 8.1 below.

8 Who to contact

8.1 If you would like further information about how we use your personal information, or you wish to exercise one of your data rights or you wish to complain about the use of your personal information please contact the Data Protection Officer.

8.2 If you are still dissatisfied once you have contacted the Data Protection Officer, you have the right to complain to the ICO.

The ICO’s address:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Helpline number: 0303 123 1113

Completion and review dates

This privacy notice was completed on 5 April 2022.

The privacy notice review date is 5 April 2023.

Last updated 06 July 2023