Electoral Services - privacy notice

Derby City Council is the local government unitary authority for Derby city. Our address is the Council House, Corporation Street, Derby, DE1 2FS. You can contact our Data Protection Officer on 01332 640000 or by email at data.protection@derby.gov.uk.

For electoral registration and the conduct of elections, the Electoral Registration Officer and the Returning Officer are separate data controllers in their own right.

How do we collect information from you?

We collect information from you when you visit www.derby.gov.uk, when you fill in any forms using our customer portals or on our website, including myAccount; also when you contact us in writing, speak to us on the phone, by email or any other type of electronic communication, or talk to us face to face. We may collect information from a setting you attend, such as a school or care home, where this data collection is necessary for the following purposes listed.

We also collect information through the Government’s online GOV.UK Digital Elections Service, during the annual canvass of households (including by post, online, by telephone and in person, and through a mobile canvassing app used by our canvassers), from our online recruitment system when you apply to work at an election, from other council departments where this helps us confirm or update an entry on the register, and from booking arrangements with the owners or keyholders of premises we use as polling places.

What types of information do we collect from you?

We collect different categories of information about you, depending on the service you want from us and/or the reason why we need to process information relating to you. This could be personal information (for example your name and address), or other more sensitive data. We only collect and use more sensitive data in very particular circumstances that are set out in law.

The information we collect will depend on the service you want from us and/or the reason why we need to request and process information relating to you.

Details of information obtained from third parties

To verify the identity of potential electors we are required by law to share new registration applications with the IER Digital Service. This is an automated service run by the Government which compares details on applications with data held by Government departments.

What is the lawful basis?

The legal basis for data processing we are relying on comes from Article 6 of the UK General Data Protection Regulations (UK GDPR). The following sections apply:

• Article 6 (1) (c) Legal Obligation - processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject.
• Article 6 (1) (e) Public task - the processing is necessary for you to perform a task in the public interest or for your official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law.

We rely on the following conditions as per Article 9 (2) of the UK GDPR:

• (a) the data subject has given explicit consent to the processing of those personal data for one or more specified purposes.
• (g) processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest, on the basis of domestic law which shall be proportionate to the aim pursued, respect the essence of the right to data protection and provide for suitable and specific measures to safeguard the fundamental rights and the interests of the data subject.
• (f) processing is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims or whenever courts are acting in their judicial capacity.

We also rely on the following:

• Article 10 of the UK GDPR provides that processing of personal data relating to criminal convictions and offences or related security measures based on Article 6 (1) shall be carried out only under the control of official authority or when the processing is authorised by domestic law providing for appropriate safeguards for the rights and freedoms of data subjects.

We process all information in accordance with our legal obligations and public tasks arising from the following provisions:

• The Coronavirus Act 2020
• The Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010
• The Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 and associated Regulations
• The Fraud Act 2006
• The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000
• The Local Government Act 1972
• The Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012
• The Local Authorities and Police and Crime Panels (Coronavirus) (Flexibility of Local Authority and Police and Crime Panel Meetings) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020
• The Representation of the People Act (1983)
• The Representation of the People Regulations (2001)
• The Localism Act 2011
• The Police and Crime Commissioner Elections Order 2012
• The Elections Act 2022
• The Voter Identification Regulations 2022
• The Representation of the People (Annual Canvass) (Amendment) Regulations 2019
• Representation of the People (Franchise Amendment and Eligibility Review) Regulations 2023

How is your information used?

We may use your information to:

• Process your application to register to vote including overseas, service or anonymous registrations.
• Process your application for an absent (postal or proxy) vote.
• Notify you of changes to our service.
• Send communications inviting you or occupants of your household to register to vote where you may be eligible, this is done in accordance with our legal obligations.
• Fulfil our legal obligations to maintain a complete and accurate register of electors.
• Manage employment, training and payroll for temporary election and canvassing staff.
• Process your application for a Voter Authority Certificate or Anonymous Elector Document.
• Provide you with a Voter Authority Certificate or an Anonymous Elector Document.
• Conduct conflict of interest checks for election staff.
• Process your overseas elector renewal declaration.
• Administer the nomination of candidates, including processing nomination papers, consent to nomination and home address forms, and the details of candidates, their agents and the electors subscribing each nomination.
• Prepare and publish statutory election notices.
• Conduct the poll, verification and count, and administer postal and proxy voting, including postal voting statements.
• Arrange and staff polling stations, including holding contact and keyholder details for the premises we use.
• Receive, retain and make available for inspection candidate election expense returns and declarations.
• Retain ballot papers and other election documents after the poll and produce them only where the law or a court requires.
• Maintain a mobile telephone contact for canvassers and polling station staff for urgent and out-of-hours use during the canvass and election period.

Research and statistics

Anonymised and pseudonymised data may be used for research and statistical purposes. Any data collected may be used for research and statistical purposes that are relevant and compatible with the purpose that the data was collected for.

Who has access to your information?

We may share your information with the following third parties for the reasons detailed:

• Government Digital service, Government departments and their sub-processors, for:
  • verification of applications to register to vote
  • verification of applications for absent votes
  • applications for Voter Authority Certificates or Anonymous Elector Documents
  • contacting you regarding your registration to vote, or as part of our annual electoral canvass
  • processing of your overseas elector renewal declaration via the OER Digital Service.
• Contracted print companies to print Registration Forms, Poll Cards, Postal Packs, and Voter Authority Certificates
• Civica UK Ltd and Civica Election Services Ltd who provide software and services to us to support our election and canvass campaigns.
• Registered political parties, elected representatives, candidates and agents and other permitted participants who can use the information for Electoral purposes only.
• Details of whether you have voted (but not how you have voted) to those who are entitled to it by law after an election.
• Credit Reference Agencies, the British Library, UK Statistics authority, The Electoral Commission and other statutory recipients of the Electoral Register
• Statutory agencies, such as the Police or the National Fraud Authority for the purposes of crime prevention. We may share your information with statutory agencies in line with our legal obligations and/or in completion of our public tasks.
• Those requesting to view the electoral register by appointment for a particular property or location in the city as per our requirements to make the register available for public inspection.
• Other recipients entitled by law to copies of, or extracts from, the electoral register and related lists, including the British Library, the National Library of Scotland and the National Library of Wales, the Office for National Statistics, returning and petition officers, the Boundary Commissions, the Jury Central Summoning Bureau, government departments, the security and intelligence agencies, and credit reference agencies.
• The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, in connection with electoral registration and the supply of register data, and the Secretary of State, who receives candidate election expense returns.
• Elected representatives and council libraries, and other council departments where there is a lawful basis, for purposes connected with the register and elections.
• Our presiding officers, polling station inspectors and transportation contractor, who receive contact and keyholder details for the premises they staff.
• Our recruitment team and our payroll team (to pay election and canvass staff).
• Courts, where documents such as postal voting statements, and ballot papers may be released only on the order of a court or on the direction of an election court. 
• Where you have opted out of the Open Register, we will not sell or rent your information to third parties. We will not share information contained in the Closed Register with third parties for marketing purposes.

What are your rights?

• Access – you can request copies of any of your personal information that is held by the Council.
• Rectification – you can ask us to correct any incorrect information.
• Deletion – you can ask us to delete your personal information. The Council can refuse to delete information if we have a lawful reason to keep this.
• Portability – you can ask us to transfer your personal data to different services or to you.
• Right to object or restrict processing – you have the right to object to how your data is being used and how it is going to be used in the future.
• Right to prevent automatic decisions – you have the right to challenge a decision that affects you that has been made automatically without human intervention, for example an online form with an instant decision.

How long will we keep your information for?

We keep and dispose of all records in line with our record retention schedule. We will comply with Data Protection legislation.

What security precautions are in place to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of your information?

We are strongly committed to data security and will take reasonable and appropriate steps to protect your personal information from unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or corruption. We have put in place physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard the information you provide to us. However, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us. We recommend that you take every precaution to protect your personal information.

Keeping your data up to date

We want to ensure any information we hold is accurate. You should check and update your personal information through Employee Self-Service or by promptly informing us of any changes to the information we hold about you.

Under 13

If you are accessing online services and are under the age of 13, please get your parent or guardian's permission beforehand whenever you provide us with personal information.

Cookies

Cookies are small text files which identify your computer to our servers. They are used to improve the user experience. View what cookies we use and how you can manage them.

IP addresses

Internet Protocol (IP) addresses are collected when our site is used:

• for statistical and analytical purposes
• to identify any malicious activity.

Complaints

If you would like to make a complaint regarding the use of your personal data, you can contact our Data Protection Officer:

• by post: Information Governance, Council House, Corporation Street, Derby, DE1 2FS
• by phone: 01332 640000
• by email: data.protection@derby.gov.uk

For independent advice about data protection, privacy and data sharing issues, you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO):

• by post: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
• by phone: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 if you prefer to use a national rate number

Alternatively, visit ico.org.uk or email casework@ico.org.uk.