Environmental health, protection and licensing privacy notice

1 Council contact details

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

2 Information that we hold

Environmental Health services undertake a number of functions, all of which are governed by legislation and we are required to adhere to a series of regulations and procedures.

While undertaking regulatory and licensing processes, we receive a range of information and documents from members of the public, licensing applicants, business proprietors and official bodies. How we treat these documents, and the information contained in them, is also governed by legislation referred to in this notice.

The council collects this information in a variety of ways. For example, data is collected from licensing application forms, documents provided to us by licensing applicants such as passports or other identity documents eg driving licences, from forms completed as part of an investigation, correspondence, or through interviews, meetings or other assessments.

The service will also collect personal data from third parties, such as the Police, Food Standards Agency, Health and Safety Executive, County Travellers Unit, and Housing Associations.

Data will be stored in a range of different places, including on the council’s data management system, on property and case files, in emails, and in certain circumstances on shared case management system such as E-cins.

2.1 The council needs to process data to enable us to undertake our statutory regulatory functions.

The council has a legitimate interest in processing personal data before, during and after the end of an investigation or licensing application.

Some special categories of personal data, such as information about health or medical conditions, are processed to carry out infectious disease and licensing law obligations.

The council processes other special categories of personal data, such as information about ethnic origin, sexual orientation, health or religion or belief. This is done for the purposes of equal opportunities monitoring and reporting. We ask for your personal data so we can deliver our service and keep you updated.

3 How the information is obtained

3.1 The service collects a wide range of information about people to assist us in undertaking our functions. We will only request information necessary and will only use it to enable us to undertake our statutory functions.

We will only hold the information for as long as required in accordance with our retention schedules.

Details of the main processes undertaken by the team and the general personal data held are detailed below:

Accident Notifications on Council Property

The council has a duty to record and investigate all accidents on council property. This will require the collection of personal data. This will include:

Injured parties name, address and contact telephone numbers
Details of witnesses or other persons involved

This information may be shared with:

Health and Safety Executive, where the accident falls within the requirement for notification under Reporting of Injuries Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR)

Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR)

The council insures (where necessary) Accident Notifications within Regulated Businesses. The council has a duty to investigate accidents which fall for notification under RIDDOR in certain premises.

To enable the council to undertake this investigation personal data will be collected including:

Name, address, age and contact details of injured person
Injury sustained, circumstances and location of the accident
Details of witnesses or other persons involved

This information will be shared with:

The Health and Safety Executive, where the accident falls within their remit for investigation, or we are working with them on a joint investigation

In certain circumstances, the employer or business concerned, where it is important that the employer is aware of the individual, but this will only be undertaken with the prior agreement of the data subject.

Customer Behaviour Register

The council has a responsibility under the Health and Safety at Work Act to protect the safety of its employees and as such a record is kept of customers who pose a potential threat to staff.

This register contains personal data including

Name, address and date of birth of the customer who displayed inappropriate behaviour

This information will be shared with

Senior managers within the organisation
Front line staff within the organisation

Environmental Health Complaints

The council has a duty to investigate complaints about a range of matters including anti-social behaviour, noise, travellers, bonfires, food premises, health and safety standards, housing conditions, taxis and licensed premises etc. The council enforces a number of pieces of legislation, referred to in this notice. The council will need to obtain personal data from complainants, landlords and alleged perpetrators, businesses other Council services and the DVLA to assist the investigation.

This will include:

Complainants name, address and contact details, including email address and telephone numbers
Alleged perpetrators / landlords name, address and contact details, including email address and telephone numbers
Other witness details
Details of issues experienced including log sheets completed by the complainant
Noise / video recordings and photographs taken during the course of the investigation
Ill health suffered as a result of the alleged incident or other relevant details in relation to the complaint
Vehicle registration and keeper details
CCTV images including body worn camera footage

This information will be shared with:

Other statutory bodies, but this will only be undertaken where there is a need to do so to facilitate the investigation of potential criminal contraventions. This will include the Police, Health and Safety Executive, Food Standards Agency. Permission to share details will be obtained where there is no legal obligation to share the information
Housing Associations where the alleged perpetrator resides within one of their properties
Relevant Councillors where necessary
Some details may be shared with Private Hire Operators, drivers or businesses being complained about in certain circumstances but only with prior consent of the complainant. This is usually done in a way as to avoid identifying the complainant but due to the nature of some complaints it is not always possible to fully investigate without giving some details that could lead to identification of the complainant
The customer’s name, address and contact telephone number will be shared with the councils nominated out of hours contact centre to enable them to undertake the service

Environmental Permitting - data collection

Under the Pollution Prevention Control Act 1999 and the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016 (as amended) certain premises in the council’s area require a permit to emit pollutants to air and for certain premises land and water. To enable the council to undertake this role we collect personal data including:

Name, address and contact details of the permit holders
Name, address and contact details of site representatives
Potentially sensitive commercial information

This information will be shared with:

The Environment Agency (where necessary)

Infectious Disease Cases

The council has a responsibility to investigate case of notifiable illnesses. The council will need to collect personal data including:

Name, address, date of birth and contact telephone numbers
Medical conditions
Employment detail
Travel history
Family contacts
Sample results

This information will be shared with:

Public Health England
Other local authorities in the event of a wider outbreak or wider investigation

Licensing Applicants

The council process applications for taxi driver/vehicle and operator licenses, premises licences, gambling permits, houses in multiple occupation, animal welfare licences, and other forms of licences and registrations. To do this we collect personal data including:

Name, address, date of birth and contact details including telephone numbers and email addresses
Applicants nationality and entitlement to work in the UK
Applicants criminal record
Applicants medical history
Personal documents will be checked and copied, including bank records. driving licences, vehicle log book, insurance details and passports, amongst others
Details of licensed vehicles and their ownership

This information will be shared with:

Other statutory bodies such as the Police, Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), school transport team, DEFRA, social services, general practitioners or medical professionals and their respective professional bodies, the National Register for Refused and Revoked taxi/PHV licenses, and other local licensing authorities to assist in the investigation of potential criminal activities
Relevant Councillors where necessary

Pest Control Service Requests

Customers requesting a pest control treatment will be requested to provide personal data to enable the service to be provided. This will include:

name, address and contact telephone numbers
for customers paying for the treatment, payment card details will be obtained
for customers obtaining a free treatment, checks will be made on the council’s benefits system to verify that the applicant is in receipt of a relevant benefit payment, to check entitlement to receive the free treatment

This information will be shared with:

The customer's name, address and contact telephone number will be shared with the council’s nominated pest control treatment company to enable them to undertake the service

Public Health Funerals

Under the Public Health (Control of Diseases) Act 1984 where no suitable funeral arrangements have been made, or are being made, for a deceased person who has died in the area, the council has a duty to arrange the funeral. To enable the council to undertake this function we collect personal data including:

Name, address and contact details of relatives of the deceased and/or the key holder
Name, address and contact details of the person reporting the death

This information will be shared with:

The relatives name, address and contact telephone number will be shared with the councils nominated funeral directors (where necessary)
The Police (where necessary)
The housing association, care home or other housing body linked to the home of the deceased (where necessary)
The Coroner
Finders International (where assistance is required to identify the next of kin)

Security Alarm Register

The council holds key holder information obtained via consent from individuals with security systems, in case a noise nuisance is caused by the sounding of the alarm through malfunction. This will include:

name, address and contact telephone numbers of the nominated key holders

This information is not shared with anyone outside of the Environmental Health team.

Stray Dogs

When the council’s Dog Warden or other nominated officer collects a stray dog, the council is required to obtain personal information of the dog owner. Finder’s details may also be recorded, particularly if they wish to keep the dog. This will include:

Name, address and contact telephone number of the dog owner
Name, address and contact telephone number of the finder
The dog will be checked for the presence of a micro-chip and if one is present, a check will be made on the government approved micro-chip databases to identify the owner
The council is required to keep a stray dog register. This register includes details of the dog owner and finder as per above and the microchip information if available

This information will be shared with:

The Councils nominated Boarding Kennel and representatives
Other local authorities (where necessary)
The Councils nominated veterinary establishment (where necessary)
The RSPCA (where necessary)
Other statutory bodies (where necessary)

Temporary campsites (Silverstone)

The council co-ordinates the Campsite safety advisory group for large scale events held at Silverstone Circuit throughout the year. The council is required to obtain personal contact information for those responsible for operating temporary campsites ‘the campsite operators’ and of any third party providers operating at the sites such as food and drink caterers, entertainment, accommodation. This information is then shared with external regulatory partners enabling them to fulfil their legal duty and ensure regulatory compliance of activities against a variety of legislation and guidance. External partners include: Fire and Rescue service, Police, Ambulance service, Buckinghamshire Council, and the Health and Safety Executive.

To enable to council to undertake this role the following personal data will be collected:

Name
Address (Business and site location)
Telephone
Email address

Travellers

The council are responsible liaising with and moving on travellers who are illegally encamped on council property. To do this we collect personal data including

Name, location and contact telephone number of the traveller
Name, address and contact telephone number of the complainant

This information will be shared with:

County Travellers Unit
Other local authorities where necessary
The Police
Relevant Councillors where necessary

3.2 How is prior consent obtained?

As detailed above in certain circumstances information may be shared with other parties with the prior consent of the data subject. This prior consent will be obtained by asking the data subject to confirm either in writing or via email, that they are happy for us to share the data concerned. In some situations, as detailed above, legislation allows us to share personal information without prior consent.

This will only be undertaken when there is a need to do so; legislation allows for it and will be undertaken in a secure manner.

3.3 What information do we make public?

Some regulations state that we must have a register of information that has been provided to us. These registers will only contain details that are required to be public.

Details of what public registers the Environmental Health team publish and the information they contain is detailed below

Contaminated Land

Register of remediation notices served and other matters relating to contaminated land
Hard copy available to view by appointment

Environmental Permitting - records

List of installations permitted under the Environmental Permitting Regulations
Permits; applications; enforcement notices; monitoring information
Hard copy available to view by appointment

Food Businesses

List of food premises registered within the district
Register includes address, type of premises and name of food business operators
Hard copy available to view by appointment

Gambling

Register of licences issued under the Gambling Act 2005
Includes: small society lotteries, adult gaming centre licensed premises, gambling alcohol licensed premises, gambling betting licences, bingo, club machine permits, and notifications of intent
Register is available on this website

Licensed Premises

Register of licences issued under the Licensing Act 2003
Premises licences; club premises licences; personal licences; temporary event notice notifications
Register is available on the website

Licensed Drivers / Vehicles / Operators

Register of people licensed to drive a private hire vehicle or hackney carriage vehicle
Register of people/businesses holding a private hire and/or hackney carriage vehicle licence
Register of people/businesses holding private hire operator licences
Register of people/businesses holding a private hire and/or hackney carriage vehicle licence for wheelchair accessible vehicles
Registers are available on the website

Scrap Metal Dealers

Stray Dogs

Time and date dog received, any ownership information
Hard copy available to view by appointment

The following legislation includes provision for the public to have access to information we hold:

Data Protection Act (DPA)/General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)
Environmental Information Regulations (EIR)
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

4 Intentionally Blank

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.

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 The council collects this information in a variety of ways. For example, data is collected from licensing application forms, documents provided to us by licensing applicants such as passports or other identity documents eg driving licences, from forms completed as part of an investigation, correspondence, or through interviews, meetings or other assessments.

The service will also collect personal data from third parties, such as the Police, Food Standards Agency, Health and Safety Executive, County Travellers Unit, and Housing Associations. Data will be stored in a range of different places, including on the council’s data management system, on property and case files, in emails, and in certain circumstances on shared case management system such as E-cins

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 lawful basis upon which the council process personal data is set out in this notice. However, where personal data is solely processed on the basis of consent, you will have the right to withdraw that consent. You can ask that we no longer use your details for this 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

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 06 July 2023