Privacy notice - Marketing and Communications Team

We normally collect personal data directly from our residents, citizens, customers, visitors, school pupils, and our employees. This might include names, age, gender, contact details, the name of the group, organisation or school that you are part of, and information about events you attended, your experiences of services, or your personal story.

We capture ‘special category’ data about things like health issues or other sensitive matters and we capture data about criminal convictions or offences if we need to identify the people responsible for issues like fly tipping.

We collect data through face-to-face interviews, phones calls, emails or through our website, in photographs and images or audio or video footage. We also collect information from other Council teams and other organisations.

We rely on a number of ‘legal basis’ to capture and use your personal data including:

• To carry out a ‘public task’ where we have a power in law or official authority
• For the performance of a contract between you and the Council for goods or services
• Because we are required to do so under a legal obligation
• On occasions where the above basis do not apply, where you have given us consent.

Where we capture and use ‘special category’ data, we rely on the following legal basis:

• Where there is ‘substantial public interest’ based on a power in law
• Because we have a legal obligation in employment or social security law
• Where you have given us your explicit consent
• The data was made public by the person it is about.

The main ‘public task’ power we rely on is in the Local Government Act 1972 that allows us to provide information and publicity about Council services and matters of interest to the community. For more information about our legal duties and powers, please see our ‘Statement of Public Task’ on our website.

We use personal data in publications like ‘Love Middlesbrough’, posters, leaflets and other display materials. We also use information like media images, and audio or video footage on our websites and social media feeds. We do this to promote our services, raise awareness of particular issues, publicise information about events, encourage involvement in the community, and influence residents, visitors, and business owners. We also occasionally run competitions in which we use your personal data to manage competition entries and drawing winners.

We use that information to promote other services and campaigns. We will always make you aware that we are capturing your information and explain what it will be used for unless it is impossible to do so, for example where photographs of large crowds at events.

From time to time, we will share personal data with other organisations such as the press or media, where we are promoting or publicising specific events or issues. We might also share that data to promote our wider Council services and issues.

Any personal data that we capture is stored on encrypted devices such as cameras or laptops. This is transferred to a secure Council system for longer-term storage. All access to personal data is controlled with user accounts and access levels. All of our staff complete mandatory training to ensure that they understand their responsibilities, how to keep data safe, and what it can and cannot be used for.

We only keep personal data as long as is necessary. This might be for up to 3 years after publicising information in the press or media. In many cases, we will offer a copy of our publications and campaigns to Teesside Archives for permanent storage if it is of substantial historic interest.

Most of the personal data that we use is not transferred outside of the European Economic Area. Where we use social media applications and websites, this data is sometimes transferred overseas. We make sure that organisations that store this data for us keep it safe either by having a contract agreement with them or only using companies that comply with approved legal frameworks such as the ‘EU-US Privacy Shield’. 

We use your name, contacts details, and other information such as your interests, to send your information about our services and campaigns. Unless the law requires or allows us to send this information to you, we will only do so where we have your consent, which you can withdraw at any time, or where we send you information about similar product or services that you have received from us before.

Your Information Rights are set out in law and, subject to some exceptions, you have the:

• Right to rectification - to ask for information to be corrected
• Right to erasure - to have your personal data deleted
• Right to object - to how your data is used
• Right to restriction - to request limits on how your data is used
• Right to portability - to request that we move your data to another organisation
• Right of subject access - to request a copy of data the Council holds about you

If you do not want to be part of any of our publications or campaigns, you should approach a Middlesbrough Council staff member or contact us on the details below.

If you have a concerns about the way we are collecting or using your personal data, you should raise your concern with us in the first instance or directly to the Information Commissioner's Office. Visit the website of the Information Commissioner's Office.

If you would like to discuss anything in this privacy notice or your information rights, please contact:

The Data Protection Officer
Middlesbrough Council
PO Box 500, Middlesbrough, TS1 9FT
Phone: 01642 245432
Email: dataprotection@middlesbrough.gov.uk