This charter sets out the standards you can expect from us when we handle your information, including but not limited to personal information about you and your enquiries.
The charter covers both personal information and other information we hold in connection with our duties under the Data Protection Act 2018, Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Environmental Information Regulations 2004.
It will tell you how to get access to information, including your personal information, and what you can do if you think the standards are not being met.
This charter will be reviewed annually and updated to take into account any changes in legislation or our policies.
Types of information
We hold both personal and non-personal information in a variety of databases and information stores which are critical to our activities, together with systems for support functions such as human resources, facilities and finance. These systems can be computer or paper-based.
How our information is managed
We manage, maintain and protect all information according to legislation, our policies and best practice. We have security measures in place to maintain and safeguard the confidentiality, integrity and availability of our systems and data. All information is stored, processed and communicated in a secure manner making it readily available to those staff authorised to use it.
When we no longer need to keep information about you, we dispose of it in a secure manner.
We are also committed to the proactive dissemination of information, to be open and transparent, and we will routinely publish information unless restricted by legislation or public policy considerations.
Personal information
We know how important it is to protect the privacy of service users and to follow the Data Protection Act. When we ask you for your personal information we will:
- let you know why we need the information, where it is not obvious
- only ask for what we need and not collect excessive or irrelevant information
- let you know if we share the information with other organisations and the reason for this
- make sure no one has access to it who should not
- only keep it for as long as we need, in line with our retention schedule.
In return, to keep information reliable and up to date, we ask you to:
- give us accurate information, and
- tell us as soon as possible of any changes, such as a change of address.
See more ways in which we use your information in our privacy policy.
Access to information
Visit our data protection page for details of how to request information from us.