Privacy

Barnet Council is a registered Data Controller and will only process your personal information in accordance with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998 (the Act). This privacy statement applies to all personal data the council collects and processes whether by letter, email, face to face or online.

We endeavour to safeguard the privacy of our residents, service users and website visitors. This statement explains what you can expect in regards to how we collect and use your information.

What information do we collect?

The amount and type of information the council collects from you depends on why and how you are interacting with the council and the service you are requesting.

This may simply mean providing your name and address. For some services we will need you to provide more details and sometimes sensitive personal data. For example, if you are applying for social services we may need information relating to your health. When we do this we will provide further information as to why we are collecting your information and how we will use it. We will not ask for anything which is not necessary for the service we are providing to you.

What do we use personal information for?

The information you provide us with is only used for the intended purpose and if we wish to use it for another purpose we will ask you first. In some cases disclosure of your data may be required or permitted under the Act without your specific consent, for example if we have a legal obligation to do so. We will also share data internally to allow us to compile general statistics on how our services are performing. We may also need to share your information with a third party, such as a contractor, in order for them to provide the service you have requested. However, the council requires any third parties to abide by the Data Protection Act 1998 when they process your data on our behalf.

Visitors to our websites

When someone visits our website we collect standard internet log information, which allows us to see visitor behaviour patterns.  We do this to determine which pages are being viewed as this assists us in improving our website.  

This information is collected in a way which doesn’t allow us to identify you and we do not make any attempts to find out the identities of individuals visiting our site.

Where we do collect personal information from you when you are visiting our website we will make it clear and tell you that we are doing so. For example, if you register with the website or fill in an online form.

Cookies

Cookies are small text files, placed on your computer or mobile device by the websites you visit. They are widely used to make websites work, or work more efficiently. 

We uses cookies to control our websites’ functions, to keep statistics and for session management. We do not store any personal information in cookies. Examples of how we use cookies include: 

• recognising your computer so you don't have to give the same information several times
• recognising that you may already have given a username and password 
• measuring how many people are using our websites, so we can make improvements. 

If you do not want to accept cookies, your browser can be set to automatically reject them or to inform you every time a website asks to store a cookie. You can also delete previously stored cookies. 

You can find out more about cookies and how to manage them on the Direct Gov website. 

Our cookie policy is set to be compliant with the EU Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive.

The cookies we use

Cookie name	Type	Purpose	Domain
TestCookie	Non-persistent	This cookie is used to determine whether a user's browser accepts cookies and can therefore log in	barnet.gov.uk
PHPSESSID	Non-persistent	This cookie is used to store the individual session id of a user. This is required to determine whether a user is logged in to the website. Session data is also stored when a user is filling in a form, however the data is stored on the server and not in the cookie. (This cookie is ASP.NET_SessionID on .Net systems)	barnet.gov.uk
nmstat	Persistent	This cookie is used to collect statistics about site usage such as when the visitor last visited the site.	siteimprove.co.uk
_utma _utmz	Persistent	These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our sites.To find out more, view Google's privacy policy	google.com
_utmb _utmc	Non-persistent	These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our sites. To find out more, view Google's privacy policy	google.com

Social media

Any details you provide to register with council for social media such as Twitter and Facebook will only be used for that purpose. We do not cross reference these details with any other information held by the council.

Computer viruses

Barnet Council makes every effort to ensure all information is virus checked before it is uploaded and made available on this site. The council cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage which may occur from use of downloaded documents, it is the responsibility of users to re-check all downloaded documents with their own virus check software.

Email messages

We are keen to ensure that we are providing our citizens with services that they need. Consequently, you may receive occasional email messages from Barnet Council on matters that we consider may be of interest to you based on your previous interaction with us.

Access to Information - Data Protection and You

Under the Data Protection Act 1998, you can make a formal request for personal information held about you by the council.  This is known as a Subject Access Request.

Further details can also be obtained by emailing data.protection@barnet.gov.uk

Updating this policy

This policy may be updated from time to time so you may want to check this privacy statement each time you submit personal data to us.