Democratic Services privacy notice

What personal information is being processed and what for

In order to provide our democratic services, it is necessary for the Council to collect, store and process personal data relating to members of the public and councillors.

We publish agendas and minutes for all council decision making meetings, as well as any background information that inform discussion. The Council also audio records all decision making meetings.

We process petitions submitted to the Council electronically and in writing.

We administer school admission appeals and school exclusion reviews on behalf of maintained schools and other schools which have purchased that service.

In order to provide this service, we may need to process some or all of the following categories of personal information about members of the public, consultants, elected members:

name
address
telephone number
email address
councillor information

Why we are allowed to use your information

Under data protection legislation, we are permitted to use your information because we have a statutory duty to make a record of council meetings and decisions available to the public and to process petitions.

Information concerning school admission appeals and exclusion reviews is required to ensure that all appeals and reviews are administered, and decisions taken in accordance with the statutory guidance.

Who we will share your information with

The majority of council meetings are held in public. Agendas and reports for council and committee meetings are published on the Council’s website five clear working days before the meeting.

Minutes and details of decisions are also published on the Council’s website once available. The audio recording of the meeting is published on the Council’s website. If you have asked a question, or participated in a discussion, some information about you will be included in these records.

Please note that websites can be seen throughout the world, and not just in the United Kingdom where UK law applies.

The Openness of Local Government Regulations 2014, which apply to England, give rights to members of the press and public to use modern technology and communication methods such as filming, audio-recording, blogging and tweeting to report the proceedings of the meetings of the council.

Electronic e-petitions are published on the Council’s website.

If you create an e-petition on the Council’s website, you will be required to provide personal information so we can contact you about your petition. We may also pass your contact details on to officers, the relevant department or a service committee to enable a response to be provided on the issues you have raised. The information will only be used for this purpose.

If you sign an e-petition on this website you will required to provide us with basic personal information to enable us to verify that the signatures being collected are genuine. Your name but no other details will be published on the website.

If you submit a paper petition to the Council, we may need to pass your contact details on to officers, the relevant department or a service committee to enable a response to be provided on the issues you raise. The information will only be used for this purpose.

The information collected for school admission appeals will be used to arrange an appeal hearing and will be shared with the Independent Appeal Panel, the Panel Clerk to the Appeal Panel, the School Admissions Team and the school you are appealing for.

The information collected for a school exclusion review will be used to arrange the exclusion review and will be shared with the Independent Exclusion Review Panel; Panel Clerk; the local authority, any SEN expert requested to attend the review and the excluding school.

Where we get your information from

The personal data is provided directly by members of the public, consultants and elected members.

How long we will keep your personal information

We will keep your information for as long as it is required by the Council in order to comply with legal and regulatory requirements.

Copies of agendas and minutes are also kept as a permanent historical record, deposited with the Cheshire Record Office.

How your information is stored

Your personal data is held with restricted access in electronic format on the Council’s IT servers.

What happens if you don’t provide us with your information

If you do not provide us with your information then we may not be able to respond to your enquiry or to address the issue that you wish to raise.

Will your information be used to make automated decisions

Your rights

You have a number of rights regarding your personal data, including withdrawing your consent where we have asked for it. You can also ask for a copy of the information we hold about you and ask us to correct anything that is wrong. For detailed information about your rights please see our privacy notice at Cheshire East.

Page last reviewed: 09 January 2024