09 February 2012The Data Protection Act 1998 regulates the processing of information relating to a living individual. This includes obtaining, holding, using or disclosing such information. It covers manual filing systems and records as well as computerised ones, card indexes and microfiche.
Your rights Under the Act
The Act gives you as an individual rights on how personal information about you is obtained, processed, stored and disclosed to other people. You are entitled to know:
Right of Access
The Act gives you or your representative the right to see most records processed by or on behalf of the Council containing personal information about you. You will be required to provide proof of identity.
Right of correction or removal
If you believe that personal data held by the Council is inaccurate or out of date you have the right to ask for this information to be changed provided the Council is satisfied that an error exists.
If you provide information in confidence about another individual your personal details will not be disclosed unless the Council obtains your permission. There are exceptions to this such as court orders and protection of the public and under certain legislation such as the newly introduced Licensing legislation. The Council would find it helpful if members of the public stated if they wanted any item of correspondence kept confidential.
How to see your records
A fee of £10 per application is required before any searches can be made. The Council has 40 working days in which to provide the information as long as you or your representative has supplied sufficient information. You can apply to see a record using the following form. Once completed please post the Data Protection Act application form (
PDF 43K file details) to the Data Protection Officer. The address is shown at the end of the form.
Sevenoaks District Council Records Retention Policy ( PDF 55K file details)
Data Security Breach
Sevenoaks District Council does everything it can to protect your personal data. However, in the unlikely event of a data security breach the Council would act in accordance with the following Data Protection Breach Policy ( PDF File 45KB file details).
The Information Commissioner
The Information Commissioner's Office (www.ico.gov.uk)has specific responsibilities for the promotion and enforcement of the Data Protection Act. Guidance on the Act is regularly updated and available on their website.
Contact the Council's Data Protection officer
Contact Christine Nuttall e-mail dataprotection@sevenoaks.gov.uk or call 01732 227245.
