Electoral services privacy policy

1 Council contact details

1.1 West Northamptonshire Council

Registered Office:
One Angel Square
Angel Street
Northampton
NN1 1ED

2 Information that we hold

2.1 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. This may include:

Your name
Address
Email address
Date of birth
National insurance number
Nationality
Scanned application forms and dates of any letters or other correspondence
Notes about any relevant circumstances that you have told us
Your previous or any redirected address
The other occupants in your home
If you are over 76 or under 18 years of age
Whether you have chosen to opt out of the open version of the register of electors

We will not collect any personal data from you we do not need although we may ask for evidence of your identity in connection with your registration. The information you provide will be held within our Xpress Election system and updated in accordance with our legal obligations. It is necessary to hold this data to enable the Elections Department/Council to carry out its public functions.

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 There are a number of reasons why we need to collect and use your personal information.

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 To issue you with information relating to upcoming elections such as polling cards and postal votes.

To be able to locate you on the register of electors when you visit a polling stations to vote.

4.2 It may be necessary to share your personal information internally under certain regulations or if you have not opted out of the open register. However, no other third parties have access to your information, unless the law allows them to do so. We may share your data with the following:

Contracted printers to print your poll cards, postal packs and other election material
Contracted software providers. This is for a limited period during an election and during the canvass period. After the election/ canvass your data is securely deleted. As part of the canvass, data will be uploaded to householdresponse and the security codes to access this website will be sent to you. This website is maintained by our software providers and all your information will be wiped from this website at the end of the canvass
Registered political parties, elected representatives, candidates, agents and other permitted participants who are able to use it for electoral purposes only
Credit reference agencies, the British Library, UK Statistics Authority, 1 the Electoral Commission and other statutory recipients of the Electoral Register
Details of whether you have votes (but not how you voted) to those who are entitled in law to receive it after an election
Where the health and safety of others is at risk
When the law requires us to pass on information under special circumstances
Crime prevention or the detection of fraud as part of the National Fraud Initiative
North Northamptonshire Council for joint Northamptonshire Elections

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.

The Electoral Registration Officer and Returning Officer need to process your personal data in order to prepare for and conduct elections. Your details will be kept and updated in accordance with our legal obligations and in line with statutory retention periods and the periods within our retention schedule.

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 Privacy Policy 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:

Tel: 0300 126 7000

Email to [email protected]

Or you can write to:

Data Protection Officer
One Angel Square
Angel Street
Northampton
NN1 1ED

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

9 Changes to this privacy notice

9.1 Privacy notices are live documents, which will be updated or revised in line with legislation.

Last updated 28 February 2024