The London Borough of Hounslow is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. Through this Privacy Notice we have sought to be as transparent as possible and fully explain how your personal data is held and processed.
This privacy notice applies to services provided by the Communications team and tells you what to expect us to do with your personal information. The Communications team manages internal and external communications, media relations, and promotional activities.
If you have any questions about this privacy notice or any concerns about how we process your data, please contact communications@hounslow.gov.uk .The privacy notice will continue to be monitored and updated. You are advised to check this page from time to time.
What type of information we have
We currently collect and process the following information:
- any photos and videos we take/record (e.g. at public events or for promotional purposes)
- audio recordings
- titles
- names
- address
- phone numbers
- email addresses
- family details (family members and relationship to them)
- Description of clothes worn in any pictures to identify the young person
- Social media handles and public posts
- Enquiries through social media
- Email correspondence and feedback
- Consent preferences (where applicable)
How do we get your information?
We may receive your personal data either directly from you, or indirectly through other sources. These include:
Directly:
- Online forms
- Telephone calls
- Emails
- In-person interactions
- Social media platforms
Indirectly:
- Internal Council departments
- Schools
- Journalists or media partners
If it is not disproportionate or prejudicial, we’ll contact you to let you know we are processing your personal information.
Why we need your information (purposes of processing)
If you have participated in an activity or event, your personal data, including photographs and related information, may be used in press releases, news articles, social media posts, newsletters, and Council publications (including those on our website). This helps promote the event and inform the public, supporting transparency, engagement, and public awareness.
We process personal data to:
- Promote council services, initiatives, and events
- Share public interest stories and community updates
- Record and publish public meetings or consultations
- Respond to media enquiries and manage press releases
- Maintain transparency and accountability in our communications
- Create visual assets for promotional and informational use
- Obtain and manage consent for photography and videography
- Send newsletters and other communications and marketing content
- Manage subscriptions to council communications and updates
- Comply with our legal obligations
Our Lawful basis for processing your information
The lawful bases we rely on for processing this information are:
- Consent: “The data subject has given consent to the processing of his or her personal data for one or more specific purposes” is the lawful basis on which we collect and use your personal data.
For sending you non-essential communications, such as certain newsletters or for the use of photographs, audio recordings, and videos in specific contexts. Consent is obtained clearly and can be withdrawn at any time by contacting communications@hounslow.gov.uk .
- Public Task and Legal Obligation (in relation to information about Council’s services)
We collect your personal data to help keep the public informed about the Council’s activities, supporting transparency and accountability. The legal bases we rely on for processing personal data in this context are:
- The performance of a task carried out in the public interest (Public Task), or
- Compliance with a legal obligation (Legal Obligation).
We may also process your personal data to meet other legal obligations where applicable (for example, disclosure under a court order, etc...)
- We do not routinely request or process any data relating to criminal convictions or special category data (i.e. relating to racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religion, trade union membership, health, or sexual orientation).
Where we do process special category data, we do so on the basis of explicit consent under Article 9(2)(a) of the UK GDPR: “The data subject has given explicit consent to the processing of those personal data for one or more specified purposes.” You can withdraw your consent at any time by emailing communications@hounslow.gov.uk.
Who your information may be shared with (internally and externally)
We may share your information with:
- Local and national media outlets
- Other council departments
- Partner organisations involved in joint campaigns
- Social media platforms (e.g. Facebook, X, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc…)
- Council contractors or service providers (e.g. system providers, the Lampton Group, etc…). For example, we use govDelivery by Granicus (our processor) to provide our mailing list service.
We will strive to ensure that any personal data in our care will be kept safe and that where your information is disclosed to a third party working on our behalf, we will seek to ensure that they have sufficient systems and procedures in place to prevent the loss or damage of personal data.
There will be times when we are under a legal duty to share information. This includes, but is not limited to:
- disclosure under a court order
- sharing with the Ministry of Justice for inspection purposes
- sharing with the police, other local authorities, etc… for the prevention or detection of crime
- where there is an overriding public interest to prevent abuse or serious harm to others
- disclosure to a Regulator if we identify a situation of potential misconduct or if the information is requested
How long we keep your information
We keep and process data in the form of film or photographs for the life of the film or photograph. You can ask the communications team to stop using your image/s at any time by submitting a written request to communications@hounslow.gov.uk after which they will not be used in future publications but may continue to appear in publications already in circulation.
Once a request has been put forward we will then dispose of your information in the most secure manner possible.
We retain communications-related data for no longer than necessary. Photographs and videos used for promotional purposes are reviewed periodically and removed when no longer relevant.
Transfers to third countries
All the information you provide us is held within the UK & European Economic Area.
Data Matching and Auditing
We are required by law to protect the public funds we administer. We may use the information you provide to us for the prevention and detection of crime. We may also share this information with other bodies that are responsible for auditing or administering public funds including the Department for Work and Pensions, other local authorities, HM Revenue and Customers and the Police.
The council uses data matching as a way of processing large volumes of information. While this can be a useful way of detecting fraud, it also enables us to identify information that is inaccurate or out of date, helping us comply with Data Protection law, while improving service provision.
As part of the council’s fraud prevention and detection activities, the council participates in the National Fraud Initiative (NFI). The data matching exercise is run by the Cabinet Office. You can find more information about this at the link below:
https://www.hounslow.gov.uk/info/20110/open_data_and_information_requests/1365/data_protection/5
Your data protection rights
You will have some specific rights in respect of your personal data. These may include some or all of the following rights to:
- see what personal data Hounslow Council holds at any time (subject to certain caveats, for example where third parties are identified);
- have Hounslow Council correct any errors (if any) in the personal data it holds about you, and to have incomplete personal data completed.
- request processing of your personal data is restricted (this will only apply in certain situations, for example where its accuracy is contested, where the processing is unlawful
- be given a copy of your personal data in an accessible electronic format kept by the communications team
- request your personal data is erased
- object to the processing where the processing is necessary for a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the data controller
- if you have provided consent to the processing of your personal data, you may withdraw your consent at any time by emailing communications@hounslow.gov.uk
- The rights available to you depend on our reason for processing your information. For further information about your data protection rights and how to make a request, please see ‘Your rights’
Your right to make a complaint
The Council tries to meet the highest standards when collecting and using personal information. For this reason, we take any complaints we receive about this very seriously. We encourage people to bring it to our attention if they think that our collection or use of information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate.
If you want to make a complaint you can contact us on:
Complaints Team
London Borough of Hounslow
Hounslow House,
7 Bath Road,
TW3 3EB
Data Protection Officer
The Council’s Data Protection Officer can be contacted on:
InformationGovernance@hounslow.gov.uk
Information Governance Team
London Borough of Hounslow
Hounslow House,
7 Bath Road,
TW3 3EB
Information Commissioner’s Office
The Information Commissioner is the UK's independent body set up to uphold information rights.
If you would like to know more about your rights under the Data Protection law, and what you should expect, visit the Information Commissioner’s website: https://ico.org.uk/
If you have any concerns regarding any privacy practices or about exercising your Data Protection rights, you may contact the Information Commissioner’s Office:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545 745
Email: casework@ico.org.uk
A full list of what information we control and process and for what purposes is set out in our notification with the Information Commissioner's Register of Data Controllers. Our registration number is Z5761176. You can view our registration on the Information Commissioner's website.
