Contingency Planning Team Privacy Notice

London Borough of Waltham Forest Contingency Planning Team is responsible for ensuring arrangements are in place to deliver our duties under the Civil Contingencies Act (2004) to ensure we can prepare for, respond to, and recover from any civil emergencies that occur in the borough including flooding, severe weather events, major fires, and public health incidents. 

If you have questions regarding this service or our privacy practices, you can contact us by e-mail or in writing at the address below:

The Contingency Planning Team will hold the following information: 

• Personal information (such as name, date of birth, address, contact details, next of kin, and information about other household members). 
• Characteristics (such as gender, ethnicity, disability, religious beliefs, and health information). 

Please note that the amount and type of data that we will request will differ depending on the reason for why we are collecting the data (either preparing for emergencies, e.g., contact lists or keyholders details, or collecting data about those who have been impacted by emergencies, for example in Rest Centres). 

We use your personal data to: 

• Plan for, respond to and recovery from emergencies and business disruptions. 
• Ensure that appropriate staff and partners can be contacted to support the single agency and multi-agency response to an emergency or business disruption. 
• Provide coordinated, humanitarian help to people affected by an emergency.
• Enable the London Borough of Waltham Forest to meet its legislative duties under the Civil Contingencies Act (2004). 

Under Article 6 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), our lawful basis for processing the personal data to provide the emergency planning service are:

1. Legal Obligation: the processing is necessary for you to comply with the law (not including contractual obligations). 
2. Vital interest: the processing is necessary to protect someone’s life.
3. Public task: the processing is necessary for you to perform a task in the public interest or for your official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law.

These legal bases are underpinned by acts of legislation and guidance that dictate what actions can and should be taken by local authorities. This includes, but may not be limited to:

• Civil Contingencies Act (2004)
• Emergency Preparedness (2012)  Cabinet Office guidance of the Civil Contingencies Act
• Health and Safety at Work Act (1974) 
• Housing Act (1966)
• Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) Regulations (2015)

For more details on the Lawful Basis see the ICO guidance 

• LBWF departments involved in coordinating emergency response, including, but not limited to: 
  • Contingency Planning Team
  •  Operations Centre
  • LBWF emergency response teams (Gold, Silver Commanders, Local Authority Liaison Officers). 
• During an emergency your information may be shared with other Category 1 and 2 responders as identified in the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 all of whom work together to provide assistance during emergency incidents. 

We will only keep your data for as long as necessary: 

• Contact information will be reviewed at least annually with previous versions destroyed. 
• Other data kept for 6 years +1 in line with the Council’s normal retention period (or longer following major incidents in case of a Public Inquiry or an Inquest regarding the incident).