We play an active role in protecting and promoting environmental and public health in our community. Most of the personal information we hold about you is provided by you. The information collected and held will vary and depend on the nature of the service. If you choose not to provide us with the information we ask for, in many cases, we will not be able to provide you with the service.
Processing activity - In general we will process personal information relating to:
- food premises inspections
- notifications from Public Health England
- food hygiene training
- RIDDOR
- LOLERS (defect notifications)
- cooling towers’ register
- Health & Safety at Work inspections
- skin piercing registration(s)
- animal licensing activities
- stray dogs’ register
- alarm database
- receiving and investigating complaints of a statutory nuisance
- service of abatement notice(s)
- primary authority activities receiving and investigating complaints
- access to social media accounts (with a RIPA [1] authorisation)
- prosecution(s)
- issue of fixed penalty notices
- advice, guidance and training
- general correspondence between you and us
Information requirements - our processing activities may include:
- your address, telephone number, email address
- site address
- organisation details
- organisation activities
- health data
- offence(s) data
- diary entries
- noise recordings
- video recordings
- photographs
- sole trader details
- land ownership details
- record of fee payments (excluding debit/credit card details)
Lawful bases2- our lawful bases for processing your personal information are:
- Uk GDPR Article 6(1)(c) - our legal obligation(s) under the:
- Public Health Act 1936
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974
- Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976
- Zoo Licensing Act 1981
- Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982
- Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976
- Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984
- Environmental Protection Act 1990
- Food Safety Act 1990
- Health Act 2006
- Smoke-free (Private Vehicles) Regulations 2015
- Environmental Protection (Stray Dogs) Regulations 1992
- Notification of Cooling Towers and Evaporative Condensers Regulations 1992
- Noise and Statutory Nuisance Act 1993
- Noise Act 1996
- Food Hygiene Regulations 2006
- Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008 & Primary Authority Statutory Guidance
- Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010
- Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013
- Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and. Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013
- Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014
- Control of Pollution Act 1974
- Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978
- Environmental Protection Act 1990
- Clean Air Act 1993
- Environment Act 1995
- Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003
- Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005
- Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) Regulations 2018
- Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013
- Finance Act 2021, Schedule 33 (Licensing Authorities: Tax Information) Regulations 2022
- where processing is necessary for the performance of a task in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in us under the legislation referred to above (UK GDPR Article 6(1)(e) and DPA 2018, section 8(c))
- special category personal data e.g. health - where processing is necessary for the reasons of substantial public interest (UK GDPR Article 9(2)(g) and DPA 2018, Schedule 1, para.6(1) & (2)(a))
- criminal convictions and offences - where processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest (UK GDPR Article 10 as supplemented by DPA 2018 section 10(5) & Schedule 1, Part 2, paras. 6(1) and (2)(a))
We have a Data Protection Policy that sets out how special category personal data and criminal convictions and offences data will be handled.
Directed surveillance - we may be involved in covert surveillance which includes monitoring, observing or listening to persons, their movements, their conversations, or other activities or communication. We may use social media for surveillance. Our surveillance has to be authorised under the RIPA legislation. Please see our RIPA Guide for Officers and our Policy for Interrogating Social Media for Investigative Purposes.
CHIS (covert human intelligence sources) -where we establish or maintain a personal or other relationship with an individual for certain covert purposes, such as obtaining information for investigations, in accordance withour RIPA Guide for Officers and our Policy for Interrogating Social Media for Investigative Purposes.
Data sharing - we may share your information with and receive information from:
- council department(s)
- Ombudsman
- UKHSA
- Kings College London
- HMRC
- contractors
- courts/tribunals
- Health & Safety Executive
- local authorities
- water utilities
- Food Standards Agency
- Drinking Water Inspectorate
- Environment Agency
- UK Border Force
- Kent Fire and Rescue
- Port Health Authorities
- Kent Trading Standards
- DEFRA
- Kent County Council Public Health Team
- BEIS
Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) Regulations 2018 - In the interests of consumers, we recognise that prospective dog owners can expect to spend large amounts of money on acquiring a healthy dog. It is reasonable that they should be able to verify that they are dealing with reputable breeders.
The Regulations require the name of the licence holder followed by the number of the licence holder’s licence to be clearly and prominently displayed on any website used in respect of the licensable activity. Where there is no website, names and addresses of breeders and licence number will be disclosed on a freedom of information request. There can be no expectation of privacy.
HMRC: As a licensing body, we are required to signpost first-time scrap metal dealer licence applicants to HMRC guidance about their potential tax obligations and obtain confirmation that they are aware of the guidance before considering the application. Where the application is not a first-time application (a renewed application) we must, before considering the application, obtain confirmation from HMRC that the applicant has completed a tax check.
Where we detect suspicious behaviours of fraud and/or crime across our functions, we may receive from and share information with HMRC (Customer Compliance Group – RIS Intelligence, Volume Intelligence, Intelligence Exchange).
We share information with the police to aid with the detection and prevention of criminal acts. We may also rely on a number of exemptions, which allow us to share information without needing to comply with all the rights and obligations under the Data Protection Act 2018. Please refer to the Kent and Medway Information Agreement for further details on our sharing arrangements.
We use ‘The Noise App’, which allows our residents or service users to record, monitor, and report anti-social behavior, such as noise, nuisance and disputes. See our:
- Privacy Notice for Anti- social Behaviour Reporting;
- Privacy Notice for Investigation of Statutory Nuisances including noise complaints
Retention period - we keep your personal information for the minimum period necessary. The information outlined in this Privacy Notice will be kept for 7 years after the last action unless exceptional circumstances require longer retention eg: a pending legal proceedings. All information will be held securely and disposed of confidentially.
Right to object - where processing your personal information is required for the performance of a public interest task (see our lawful bases above), you have the right to object on ‘grounds relating to your particular situation’. We will have to demonstrate why it is appropriate for us to continue to use your personal data.
Anonymisation - your personal information may be converted ('anonymised') into statistical or aggregated data in such a way that ensures that you cannot be identified from it. Aggregated data cannot, by definition, be linked back to you as an individual and may be used to conduct research and analysis, including the preparation of statistics for use in our reports.
Changes to this Privacy Notice - we review this Privacy Notice regularly and will place updates on our website.
Please refer to our:
Analysis of Social Media for Investigations Privacy Notice
for further details of how we process your personal information and your rights.
--------------------------------------
1 Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000
2 Note that we may process your personal information on more than one lawful basis depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your information
GDPR Privacy Notice Environmental Health