Information held about you

This privacy notice is for the use of service users/customers of Herefordshire Council's environmental health, trading standards and licensing in fulfilment of our responsibility as a data controller under data protection law.

The environmental health, trading standards and licensing service are responsible for the following areas:

  • Air and water quality
  • Animal health
  • Community protection - dog fouling, littering, abandoned vehicles
  • Contaminated land and closed landfill sites
  • Child licensing and school absence
  • Environmental health commercial - food hygiene, health and safety, infectious disease
  • Environmental health housing
  • Environmental health protection - noise, odour and smoke nuisance
  • General licensing (including the sale of alcohol)
  • Gypsy and Travellers
  • Taxi licensing
  • Technical support - call centre, data collection and information processing
  • Trading standards.

To provide the environmental health, trading standards and licensing service, it is necessary for us to collect and hold personal information about you. This information will include:

  • Name, address, telephone number, email address
  • For individuals and businesses who make an application, the service will also hold details of the date of birth and gender
  • Details of fees paid and fees outstanding
  • For child licensing - parent's name, address, along with their contact details and child's place of work
  • For school absence - school dates missed and reasons given
  • Details of the complaint, incident or issue
  • Details of inspections undertaken (whether compliant or non-compliant)
  • Details of advice given together with details of any formal action taken by the department
  • Details of criminal investigation or convictions
  • Type of business being operated; the number of staff employed; the source of water supply (whether public or private)
  • For residents on permanent sites, the service will also hold details of benefits claims (for example housing benefit), electric, rent and water payments and site arrears data
  • GP name and contact details, date of birth, parents details if the individual affected is a minor, symptoms of the infectious disease, places visited which the disease may be attributed to, details of accident or incident, injury sustained, location and date of accident or incident
  • Details of pests to be treated, advice given and action taken, if applicable - map of premises indicating sites to be treated and location of bait points
  • For taxi drivers, the service will hold previous conviction information, medical history details, details of the vehicles they operate as taxi
  • For landlords: property and tenure details
  • Other agencies involved
  • Risks and vulnerabilities (for example we will record if there is a risk of violence or we will record if the individual is nervous around men or women) (special category - further details below)
  • Health (physical or mental) information (special category - further details below)
Who is processing your data

All personal data held, is processed in accordance with data protection law. The data controller for the information outlined in this privacy notice is Herefordshire Council.

Children licensing and school absence - schools and academy's within Herefordshire may be the data controller because they hold information which is referred onto Herefordshire Council.

Taxi licensing - Hoople who undertake DBS checks on behalf of the authority.

Environmental health commercial - Health and Safety Executive (HSE) may be the data controller for accident notifications. Gov UK may be the data controller where the food business has completed the online food business registration form. Public Health England (PHE) may be the data controller for infectious disease notifications.

Environmental health housing - DCHLG may be the data controller for rogue landlord and property agent database.

Trading standards - Consumer helpline (CAB) may be the data controller where the consumer has contacted this agency in the first instance.

Gypsy and Traveller service - Hoople provide building maintenance in relation to Herefordshire Council Gypsy Traveller sites.

How the law allows us to use your information

The legal basis for processing the data is:

  • Our legal obligation under environmental health, trading standards and licensing related legislation
  • The protection of your vital interests
  • In the public interest or in the exercise of official authority

Special category data

Special category data is information which is deemed particularly sensitive and which unlawful processing could create risks to you. We need to collect and use the special category data detailed at the start of this form and we are relying on the following lawful basis for this processing:

  • Where it is necessary for us to carry out our obligations in relation to employment and social security and social protection law
  • Where it is necessary for the purposes of preventive and occupational medicine, for assessment of working capacity of an employee, medical diagnosis or for the provision and management of health or social care systems and treatment
  • Necessary for reasons of public interest in the area of public health
  • Necessary for reason of substantial public interest
  • Necessary for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historic research
Who we will share your information with

We use your information to progress requests to access our services, or to administer our function as local authority. Your information may be manually and/or digitally processed through our systems. These may be internal council staff or external staff, other public authorities, contractors and other agencies. We may share the information we hold with:

  • The Police
  • DEFRA
  • DHCLG
  • DWI
  • APHA
  • BCMS
  • CAB - Consumer helpline
  • Health and Safety Executive
  • Public Health England
  • Rural Payments Agency
  • Local hospitals and GP surgeries
  • RSPCA
  • His Majesty's Customs and Excise
  • Environment Agency
  • Other local authorities
  • His Majesty's Court and Tribunal Service
  • Herefordshire schools and academies
  • Hoople Limited (Herefordshire Council's Strategic Partnership)
  • Wye Valley NHS Trust
  • Department of Work and Pensions
  • Utility companies in relation to Gypsy and Traveller plots on council-owned site
  • Expert witnesses employed by the council as part of a prosecution process.

We will not normally share your information with organisations other than our partner organisations without your consent. However, there may be certain circumstances where we would share without consent such as where we are required to do so by law, to safeguard public safety, and in risk of harm or emergency situations. We will only share the minimum information for the purpose, on a need to know basis and with appropriate individuals.

How long we keep your personal information

We will only keep your information for the minimum period necessary. The information outlined in this privacy notice will be kept for the period required by the council for legal and audit purposes. All information will be held securely and destroyed under confidential conditions.

Your rights

You have a number of rights under data protection law, including the right to request your information and to request that the information is amended or erased if incorrect.

To request your records, you will need to provide proof of identification and write to the Information Governance Team, Herefordshire Council, Plough Lane, Hereford HR4 0LE or email informationgovernance@herefordshire.gov.uk

You also have the right to make a complaint about our handling of your personal data to the Information Commissioner's Office.

Providing accurate information
It is important that we hold accurate and up to date information about you to assess your needs and deliver the appropriate services. If any of your details have changed, or change in the future, please tell us so that we can update your records.
Further information

If you have any questions or concerns about how your information is used, please contact environmental health, trading standards and licensing in the first instance on 01432 261761.

You can also contact the Data Protection Officer, Herefordshire Council, Plough Lane, Hereford HR4 0LE, email informationgovernance@herefordshire.gov.uk

You can find more information about data protection and how it applies to you on the Information Commissioner's Office website.

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