Privacy policy
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council takes extremely seriously the privacy of visitors to its website and users of its information services. This page explains our policy on protecting your privacy and the security of any information you provide. It also explains how we comply with the UK Data Protection Act 1998.
1. Introduction and summary
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council provides its website as a comprehensive guide to the Council's services together with information on living and working in the borough. It also provides a range of online application forms for various Council services.
We are fully committed to protecting the privacy of your information. Consequently we take every precaution to protect any information you submit or which we collect via our website, both online and offline. This is our responsibility under the UK’s Data Protection Act 1998.
We review this privacy policy at least once every six months to ensure that we continue to comply with the letter and spirit of the UK Data Protection Act 1988.
2. What information do we collect and why do we collect it?
When you visit our website, our server may record non-personal information about your visit automatically. This information does not identify you personally. This information includes:
- the Internet domain (eg, “freeserve.com”) and IP address (ie, the unique network ID that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you connect to the Internet) which you’re using to access our website
- the type of browser software and operating system you’re using to access our site
- the date and time you access our site
- the pages you enter, visit and use to exit our site
- the date and time you access our site
- the pages you enter, visit and use to exit our site
- the address of the previous website you visited if you followed a link from it to www.reigate-banstead.gov.uk.
We use this information to help us:
- identify the most frequently and infrequently visited paths and areas of the website
- improve our website and service
- learn about the number of visitors and the types of technology they use.
We only use this information to ensure that the content on this website are usable and useful for as many types of web users as possible.
Note that this information cannot be used to identify visitors individually. We do not track or record information about individuals and their visits.
Requesting your email address on forms
If you use one of the online application or enquiry forms to contact us, we usually ask you to provide a valid email address (and other contact so that we can contact you later.
Why do we ask for your email address on forms?
We will only use the email address you provide to ensure that:
- your enquiry or application is handled as quickly as possible
- we can notify you of the progress of your enquiry or application.
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council will never use or distribute your email address or any other information for marketing or any other purposes.
We will never sell or share your email address or any other information with any other organisation (unless required to do so by law).
3. When is the information collected?
We only receive your email address on forms relating to services that you request. By entering your details in the appropriate form fields, you allow Reigate and Banstead Borough Council to provide you with the online information services you request, or to contact you about these services.
Whenever you provide any personal information, we will treat that information in accordance with this policy. Our services are designed to meet your needs as effectively as possible.
4. How do we make sure that your information is safe?
Reigate and Banstead Borough Council’s website, its servers and underlying data network have security measures in place to protect against unauthorised access to and infiltration of the network and the data stored within it. We do this to precent the loss, misuse or alteration of the information under our control.
Reigate and Banstead Borough Council places great importance on the security of all information submitted by our visitors and users. We have elaborate security measures in place to guard against the loss, misuse and alteration of the user data under our control.
Although we cannot guarantee that loss, misuse or alteration of data will not occur, we apply our best efforts to prevent this.
Any unauthorized attempt to subvert this security or otherwise access sections of our software, hardware, or Internet servers will result in prosecution of the offender to the maximum extent possible by law.
5. Who will use the information we collect?
The information you provide will only be used by Reigate and Banstead Borough Council staff in order to provide you with the services or information you requested.
We do not share information, public or private, with third parties unless required to under law. When you provide information to Reigate and Banstead Borough Council you can be certain that your information will never be shared with any other people or organisations.
All employees and independent contractors of Reigate and Banstead Borough Council are made aware of this privacy policy and are bound by a confidentiality agreement to adhere to it. We will take severe disciplinary and legal action against any employee or contractor who violates this policy.
Only key Reigate & Banstead Borough Council technical personnel have access to the servers on which the data is stored.
Under no circumstances will Reigate and Banstead Borough Council or any associate or contractor sell, assign, trade or receive payment for licensing or disclosing your personal information, including, but not limited to, your name and email address. Safeguarding your privacy and that of your personal information will always be a top priority.
6. Where is the information stored?
Information which you submit using Reigate and Banstead Borough Council's website or email services is stored on the data servers which support those website and email services. These servers are located in the Town Hall, Castlefield Road, Reigate, Surrey, which is within the European Economic Area.
Backups of the data on these servers are taken daily and stored securely elsewhere in the Borough. These backups are never accessed directly and are only made to safeguard against loss of data in the event of a hardware disaster in the Town Hall's secure server room.
Under no circumstances does this information ever leave the Borough or the European Economic Area.
7. How can you access, modify or remove the information we store?
If you wish to obtain a copy of the personal data that we hold on you, please contact us by email at information.officer@reigate-banstead.gov.uk. As soon as we verify your identity, we will send you a copy of all the data that we hold relating to you within 40 days.
If you believe that the data we hold on you is inaccurate or if you wish us to cease processing your data for any reason, please contact the Information Office, David Akehurst, as follows:
David Akehurst
Reigate & Banstead BC
Town Hall, Castlefield Road
Reigate, Surrey
RH2 0SH
Telephone: (01737) 276141
Email: information.officer@reigate-banstead.gov.uk
If you have a complaint regarding any breach of this privacy policy, contact us at information.officer@reigate-banstead.gov.uk. When we receive the complaint, we will review the complaint and ensure that we are in compliance with our privacy policy, and all applicable laws. We will contact you within 40 days of receiving your complaint to inform you of the results.
8. Links to other sites
Reigate and Banstead Borough Council’s website contains links to other websites. No personal information is passed to other websites if you follow one of these links.
However, Reigate and Banstead Borough Council is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of linked websites. We encourage you to read the privacy statements of other websites, since their privacy policies may differ from ours.
9. Consent
Use of the Reigate and Banstead Borough Council website and the services it offers indicates your consent to the collection and use of information as described in this policy. Any changes to the policy will be posted on this page.
For further information on consent and terms of service, please see the website's Terms & Conditions.
10. Governing Law
Reigate and Banstead Borough Council is a UK local government organisation. This privacy policy is intended to be interpreted under English law.
11. Further information
If you have any questions, concerns, comments, or complaints regarding this privacy policy or the data that we collect or use, please contact the data protection officer by email: information.officer@reigate-banstead.gov.uk.
Further information on privacy and data protection
For more information about online privacy, data protection and related issues, the following links are useful:
- Website of the Office of the Information Commissioner (Richard Thomas)
- Online version of the UK Data Protection Act 1998 (Office of Public Sector Information website)
- Privacy and Data Protection website, a (private) UK provider of data protection and related services, publisher of the Privacy & Data Protection Journal and organisers of the Data Protection Compliance Conference, (the first of which was held at the end of September 2002 with Elizabeth France, then Information Commissioner, as the keynote speaker).
- The Privacy and Data Protection Strategy Paper (Privacy and Data Protection website) that Elizabeth France, then Information Commissioner, presented at the 1st Annual Data Protection Compliance Conference held in September 2002.
Last updated : 07/10/2009
