Privacy Statement

Privacy Notice – Electoral Services

This privacy notice covers how Pembrokeshire County Council and the Electoral Registration Officer (as the Data Controllers) will collect, use and share your personal data for the purposes of maintaining electors, administering elections, boundary reviews and other related services. 

Why we need your information (purpose of processing)

We collect and use your personal information so that we can carry out specific functions that we are responsible for and provide services which we are required to do by law, such as keeping the register of electors up to date (adding and removing names and addresses) and running elections.  We also collect information during consultation exercises in relation to polling station and boundary reviews. 

The information that you provide will be processed according to the UK General Data Protection Regulation, the Data Protection Act 2018, the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013, the Representation of the People Act 1983, Representation of the People Regulations 2001, the Elections Act 2022, the Local Government and Elections Act 2021, and other legislation specific to certain types of elections and referendums.

We will also make any disclosures required by law and we may also share this information with other bodies responsible for detecting/preventing fraud/crime or auditing/administering public funds to ensure money is targeted and spent in the most appropriate and cost effective way. In order to achieve this, information will be shared with our Audit Service within Pembrokeshire County Council and with The Auditor General for Wales (Audit Wales Privacy and Cookie Policy (opens in a new tab)).

We will not make any disclosures to third parties for marketing purposes, other than as we are required to by law. The edited electoral register can be purchased by third parties for marketing purposes. A full explanation of the types of register can be found on the Governments website - The electoral register and the 'open register' (opens in a new tab).

Your data will be secure and confidential at all times and we will only collect the personal information that is required to provide you with our service.

What personal data is being collected?

• The categories of personal data being collected are:
• Your name including forename, middle name, surname and previous name where provided
• Your address - including post code and previous address(es) where provided
• Your contact details - email address and telephone numbers
• Your date of birth
• Your nationality
• Your national insurance number
• Scanned images of forms you have completed - including your signature
• Your signature where you have completed online absent vote applications  
• Your photograph where you have applied for a Voter Authority Certificate
• Information about other occupants in your household
• Information about your age – if you are 14 – 17 or over 76
• Your bank details – for staff payment purposes
• Your proxy’s name, address and contact details, where you have applied for a proxy vote
• Answer to the Historic Residency and Citizenship Questions – ECR and RTV only
• Required technical data such as IP address
• Cookie / behaviour tracking data

If you are applying for a Voter Authority Certificate, we will also collect the following:

• Photograph (recent) either electronic or hard copy

For those who require a Voter Authority Certificate and do not have access to their National Insurance number, there is the ability to provide other documentary evidence to confirm identity. This will require 3 from the list below to be provided in document format (PDF, Image file):-

• birth, marriage, civil partnership or adoption certificate
• firearms certificate (granted under the Firearms Act 1968)
• bail decision record
• mortgage or pension statement
• bank, building society or credit card statement, or account confirmation letter
• utility bill
• Council Tax statement or demand
• current or previous employer’s P45 or P60
• benefits or entitlement statement, including:
• Universal Credit
• Disability Living Allowance
• Personal Independence Payments
• any other state benefits

What is our lawful basis for processing your personal data?

The UK General Data Protection Regulations (UK GDPR) requires specific conditions to be met to ensure that the processing of your personal data is lawful. These relevant conditions are below:

• Article 6 (1)(e) Public task: the processing is necessary for us to perform a task in the public interest or for our official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law.

Some types of personal data are more sensitive than others, and need more protection. This is classed as ‘special category data’ and could include information about your racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs or trade union membership and the processing of genetic or biometric data, health and sex life and sexual orientation. We collect your nationality in order to determine which elections you are entitled to vote at, your nationality may provide information about your racial or ethnic origin. We process this type of special category data as it is necessary for reasons of:

• Article 9 (2)(g) Substantial public interest. In accordance with Regulation 26 of the Representation of the People Regulations 2001 and Section 9 of the Representation of the People Act 1983.

(The relevant Data Protection Act 2018 condition is – Schedule 1 Part 2: Statutory and government purposes and Political parties)

Who will we share your information with?

We may need to share your personal data with internal departments, other organisations and third parties, this will include:

• Our software supplier Idox Ltd.
• Your information will also be shared with our printers to print your electoral registration forms, poll cards and if you vote by post, your postal vote ballot packs.
• Neighbouring authority for the administration of elections when applicable
• To verify your identity, the data you provide will be processed by the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service managed by the Cabinet Office. As part of this process your data will be shared with the Department of Work and Pensions and the Cabinet Office suppliers that are data processors for the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service. You can find more information about this here: Register to Vote (opens in a new tab)
• Modern Democracy, a digital solution provider acting as a data processor for us.

The Full Electoral Register is a public document which is open to public inspection in the Electoral Services Office. There are rules that apply to the inspection of this document and legal restrictions apply to how the information obtained can be used.  

The law states we must sell the edited register to anyone requesting it on payment of the prescribed fee.

We share the Full Electoral Register with those who are, by law entitled to receive a copy.  Below is a list of organisations and individuals entitled to receive the Electoral Register:

• The British Library
• The National Library of Wales
• UK Statistics Authority
• The Electoral Commission
• The Boundary Commission for Wales
• The Jury Central Summoning Bureau
• Elected representatives
• The Police and Crime Commissioner
• Candidates standing for election
• Registered political parties
• Pembrokeshire County Council
• Town and Community Councils in Pembrokeshire
• Ceredigion County Council
• Credit reference agencies

Candidates and agents at elections

We will collect and use your information as required by electoral law, and for the purposes of administering elections. Certain documents will be made available for public inspection in accordance with the law. The law requires us to publish certain information in relation to elections, this includes:

• Statement of Persons Nominated, this will include candidates full names and address, unless they have requested the Returning Officer not to make their home address public, if it is appropriate to do so at the particular election. The names of those who have subscribed to the nomination paper are also published.
• Notice of election agents, which will include the agent’s name and office address.
• Ballot papers will be printed with the candidates name and home address, unless they have requested the Returning Officer not to make their home address public, if it is appropriate to do so at the particular election.

We use data processors (third parties) who provide services to us in terms of IT provision and disaster recovery. We have contracts in place with these data processors and they cannot do anything with your personal information unless we have instructed them to do it. They will hold your data securely and your personal information will only be shared in accordance with UK GDPR. When it is necessary for your personal information to be transferred outside of the UK as part of these contracts, this will only be done in accordance with the UK GDPR.

Pembrokeshire County Council has a duty to protect the public funds it manages. Therefore, the information that you have provided to us may be used for the prevention and detection of fraud and for auditing purposes both internally and externally.

The personal information we have collected from you will be shared with fraud prevention agencies who will use it to prevent fraud and money-laundering and to verify your identity. If fraud is detected, you could be refused certain services, finance, or employment. Further details of how your information will be used by us and these fraud prevention agencies, and your data protection rights, can be found by visiting CIFAS (opens in a new tab).

How long do we keep hold of your information?

Pembrokeshire County Council will only keep your information for as long as is necessary, we will retain the information provided to us indefinitely. Election Staff details are held until the next election to enable us to make contact and query if you would like to be contacted again in future. If you do not wish to be contacted then your data is deleted.

Candidates and agents at elections

We will retain your information for the period that we are required to do so by law. In most cases this will be for a period of one year after the election. Home address forms will be destroyed after a period of 21 days, unless an election petition is presented within the 21 calendar day period, they would then be kept until the conclusion of the petition proceedings. We will not retain your information for longer than it is necessary.

Your information will be securely disposed of once it is no longer required.

Your Rights

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018, you have rights as an individual including:

• The right to Rectification – you have the right to ask to have your information corrected.
• The right to Restrict processing may apply – you may request that we stop processing your personal data however, this may delay or prevent us delivering a service to you.  We will seek to comply with your request but may be required to hold or process information to comply with our legal duties.
• The right to Object – this is not an absolute right and will depend on the reason for processing your personal information.  You can object to some processing, for example the use of your email address or telephone number but you cannot object to the use of your name or home address for the purpose of maintaining the electoral register.
• The right to Erasure - you may request that we erase your personal data however, this may delay or prevent us delivering a service, or continuing to deliver a service. We will seek to comply with your request but may be required to hold or process information to comply with our legal duties.
• The right to not be subject to Automated decision making and profiling.
• The right of Access – you have the right to ask us for copies of your personal data.  To make a request, please contact:

      Access to Records

      Pembrokeshire County Council

      County Hall

      Haverfordwest

      SA61 1TP

      Email: accesstorecords@pembrokeshire.gov.uk Telephone: 01437 764551

Complaints or Queries

Pembrokeshire County Council endeavours to meet the highest standards when collecting and using personal information. For this reason, we take any complaints we receive about this seriously. We encourage people to bring to our attention if they believe that our collection or use of information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate. 

This privacy notice does not provide exhaustive detail of all aspects of our collection and use of personal information. However, we are happy to provide any additional information or explanation needed. Any requests for this should be sent to the address below:

Data Protection Officer

Pembrokeshire County Council

County Hall

Haverfordwest

SA61 1TP

Email: dataprotection@pembrokeshire.gov.uk

Telephone: 01437 764551

 

If you want to make a complaint about the way we have processed your personal information, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office as the statutory body which oversees data protection law:

Information Commissioner’s Office – Wales

2nd Floor, Churchill House

Churchill Way

Cardiff

CF10 2HH

Email: wales@ico.org.uk

Telephone No: 0330 414 6421

Our Contact Details as Data Controller are:

Pembrokeshire County Council, County Hall, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, SA61 1TP.

Telephone number: 01437 764551 or enquiries@pembrokeshire.gov.uk

Our Data Protection Officer’s information is detailed above in the Complaints and Queries section.

Changes to this privacy notice

We keep our privacy notice under regular review.