Polling Station Contacts - Privacy Statement

PRIVACY NOTICE - ELECTIONS AND ELECTORAL SERVICES

Polling Station Contacts

Your Personal Data

Argyll and Bute Council will act as the ‘Data Controller’ for the personal data you provide to us. The Data Protection Officer, who is responsible for ensuring personal data is managed in accordance with data protection legislation, can be contacted as follows:

Address: Iain Jackson, Governance, Risk and Safety Manager, Argyll and Bute Council, Governance and Law, Kilmory, Lochgilphead PA31 8RT. 

Email:  Iain.Jackson@argyll-bute.gov.uk or data.protection@argyll-bute.gov.uk  

Telephone: 01546 604188 or 01546 605522 

Legal Obligation: Under the Representation of the People Act 1983 each Local Authority must by law appoint a “Returning Officer”. This is a personal appointment with its own statutory functions, separate to Argyll and Bute Council.

The Returning Officer has a statutory duty to process certain personal data for the purpose of administrating election and referenda; and as such, is subject to the requirements of data protection regulations as a “data controller”. Pippa Milne is the Returning Officer for Argyll and Bute Council and is the registered Data Controller with the Information Commissioners Officer (ICO).

For many of the Returning Officer functions, the Council’s Election Office will not be processing personal data on behalf of the Council; it will instead be processing personal data on behalf of one or more of the following statutory office holders:

• the Registration Officer appointed by the Council under Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act 1983;
• the Returning Officer appointed for the purposes of local authority elections by the Council under section 41 of the Representation of the People Act 1983;
• the Counting Officer responsible for the administration, within the Council’s local authority area, of any local, regional or national referendum;
• any other statutory office holder whose duties relate to administering elections or referenda and whose office is held by virtue of holding one or more of the offices described above or is otherwise required by law to be held by an officer of the Council.

What information do we need?

Your personal data is used under the following legal basis: Processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller (ie the Returning Officer).

The personal data required includes:

• Booking and correspondence name and address
• Booking and correspondence contact details – phone number(s), email address
• Booking and correspondence BACS details for payment
• Key-holder name and home address
• Key-holder contact details – phone number(s), email address

This information may be provided to us by the polling station caretaker, facilities management, committee/board member or owner rather than from the data subject (ie you) directly.

Why we need this information?

As a contact for a polling place your personal data is required for the following purposes:

• Facilitating correspondence with your venue regarding designation, bookings, invoices and payment.
• Generating a contact list of polling places in Argyll and Bute for the use of presiding officers assigned to the polling place, polling place inspectors, election staff and for security purposes our Single Point of Contact (SPOC) officer at Police Scotland.
• Facilitating ballot booth delivery and collection.

What we will do with your information?

Your information will be shared with the following recipients or categories of recipient:

• Returning Officer
• Presiding Officers
• Council’s Election Office
• Ballot Booth drivers and supervisors
• Polling Station Inspectors
• Our SPOC at Police Scotland

The Argyll and Bute Returning Officer is required by law to protect the public funds it administers. It may share information provided to them with other public bodies responsible for auditing, administering public funds, or where undertaking a public function, in order to prevent and detect fraud.

How long will we keep your information?

We will keep your information for the length of time specified in the Election Legislation if it is no longer required for the lawful purposes for which it was obtained, after which it will be destroyed under secure arrangements.   More information on our retention policy can be obtained from the Data Protection Officer (contact details can be found above).

Automated Decision Making

No automated decision making will take place

Your Rights

When you provide information to the Council, you will have the following rights:

• to withdraw consent at any time, where the lawful basis specified above is consent
• to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office – see below for details
• to request access to your personal data – please contact the Data Protection Officer if you wish to submit a request.
• to data portability, where the Legal basis specified above is i) consent or ii) performance of a contract
• to request rectification or erasure of your personal data, as far as the legislation permits – please contact the Data Protection Officer and provide details of what data you wish to be rectified or erased.

You can find out more about your rights in relation to data protection here: www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/data-protection or from the Data Protection Officer by telephone or in writing, as detailed above.

Information Commissioner’s Office

The ICO is the UK’s independent body set up to uphold information rights. 

Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF Telephone: 0303 123 1113   Email: casework@ico.org.uk

The Information Commissioner’s Office – Scotland, 45 Melville Street, Edinburgh, EH3 7HL Telephone: 0303 123 1115  Email: Scotland@ico.org.uk