Privacy statement

This privacy statement covers www.westsuffolk.gov.uk and any other websites processed by or on behalf of West Suffolk Council. West Suffolk Council is the Data Controller and can be contacted at West Suffolk House, Western Way, Bury St Edmunds, IP33 3YU. As the data controller we must:

  • only keep your data to provide services and do what the law says we must
  • keep your records safe and accurate
  • only keep your data as long as we have to
  • collect, store and use your data in a way that does not break any data protection laws.

Things you can do to help us:

  • tell us when any of your details change
  • tell us if any of the information we hold on you is wrong.

Our Data Protection Officer can be contacted at the same address.

Don’t I have to give consent for you to use or share my personal information?

On occasions the council will undertake research into various topics or be asked (mandated) to share information for statistical analysis under law with other government agencies. When using personal data for research purposes or statistical analysis, the data will usually be anonymised to avoid the identification of an individual, unless consent has been given for the use of the personal data (consent is not always required if the information is required by law to be given). For example, the council is required to provide information about Council Tax to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), a government agency.

ONS are limited to the production and publication of anonymised statistics that serve the public good such as:

  • trends in housing demands
  • trends in rental properties
  • ageing
  • dwelling stock by tenure and number of people in a household or dwelling
  • consumer price index, including owner occupiers housing costs.

When you use these websites you are agreeing to this statement and any additional statements on individual pages within the websites

We regard the lawful and correct treatment of personal data as vital to maintaining the confidence of the many people we deal with. Data protection law says that we are allowed to use personal information only if we have a proper reason to do so. This includes sharing it outside the council. The law says we must have one or more of these reasons – a lawful basis to process:

  • when you consent to it, or
  • to fulfil a contract we have with you, or
  • when it is our legal duty, or
  • fulfilling a vital  interest on behalf of the data subject, or
  • fulfilling a public task, or
  • when it is in our legitimate interest.

Any personal information you give us when filling out a form on this website will only be used in accordance with principles found in the General Data Protection Regulations and Data Protection Act 2018. For more information about the Act visit: www.ico.org.uk

If you provide any personal information in order to use a service on this website or any other websites processed by, or on behalf of West Suffolk Council, it will only be used for the reasons given on the page, application form or shared with partner organisations that we use to help deliver or improve that service. In most other cases we will not disclose personal data without consent unless allowed by law.

For more information on how this is done visit: How we use your information