Data protection

The Data Protection Act 1998 is designed to protect personal data about living individuals (Data Subjects). The Act also places obligations on those organisations that process personal data (Data Controllers).

As a Data Controller, Tandridge District Council is committed to complying with the legislation by applying the Principles of Good Information Handling across all its services.

Why do we hold personal information about you?
We keep personal information about you so we can provide the services that you need and for us to maintain a record of those services. As a local council we need to collect, process and keep data in relation to our statutory duties.

What types of information does the Council hold?
The Council has registered its use of personal information through the Notification process to the Information Commissioner's Office. The Information Commissioner's Office is the governing body that oversees the Act. The register entry shows what the organisation is registered to do, it does not reveal whether or not personal data is held about you. If you wish to have a copy of the Tandridge entry on the Register you can obtain a copy from the Information Commissioner.

What are your rights?

• To ask Tandridge if it holds personal information about you.
• To ask what purposes the Council uses it for and the organisations which it discloses it to.
• To be given a copy of the information.
• To ask for incorrect data to be corrected.
• To ask the Council not to use the personal information about you for direct marketing.
• To ask the Council not to process personal data which is likely to cause damage or distress.

You have the right to request a copy of the information that is held about yourself. You may appoint someone else to apply on your behalf such as a parent/guardian or a solicitor. We will need from you:

• A request in writing.
• Evidence to confirm your identity eg driving licence, birth certificate, passport, utility bill.
• Sufficient information to locate the information requested.

Making a request for access
If you would like to make a request you can write to the Data Protection Officer at Council Offices, Station Road East, Oxted, Surrey RH8 0BT.

If you have a complaint
If you are not satisfied with the way your request was handled or you have a complaint about access, please write to the Data Protection Officer. If you are still not satisfied you can go through our Complaints process.