Democratic services privacy notice

The Democratic Services team administers the Council’s governance arrangements, providing support and advice to councillors and officers. We also provide advice and assistance to members of the public about the Council’s governance arrangements.

If you have questions regarding this service or our privacy practices, you can contact us by e-mail at DemocraticServices@walthamforest.gov.uk

Petitions

The petition organiser must provide:

• name
• postal address
• email address

Public participation at meetings

We will ask you to provide:

• name of speaker
• address of speaker
• details about the issue you will talk about in the meeting

Petitions

As a local authority, we have a duty to allow residents of Waltham Forest to raise any concerns they may have via the petition scheme. We collect information from you for the purpose of administering the petition scheme: to ‘sign’ an e-petition, you will be asked to provide your name, postcode and email address. When this information is submitted, an email is sent to you with a link to authorise your email address.

Once this step is complete, your ‘signature’ will be added to the petition. People visiting the e-petition will be able to see the names of those who have signed but your contact details remain private.

Public meetings

Name and address are collected so that the Chair of the meeting can ensure that:

• only those residents that live, work or study in Waltham Forest speak at meetings
• only one speaker per household or organisation speak at a meeting.
• there is a fair balance of speakers

The lawful basis for processing the information that we collect about you for the purposes set out in this notice is:

Article 6(1)(e) - Public Task: “processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller.”

For more details on the Lawful Basis see the ICO guidance

Petitions Scheme

Petitions are accessible by all members of the public, therefore if you have created a petition your name will be publicly available. Other information you provide to create the petition, such as your postal and email address, will not be shared with anyone.

Public Participation at Meetings

Minutes of meetings are accessible by all members of the public, therefore if you speak at a meeting your name will be recorded in the minutes. Other information you provide to us, such as your postal or email address, will not be shared with anyone.

Recordings

Council, Cabinet and Planning Committee meetings are live-streamed, and recordings are accessible by all members of the press and the public on the Civico website. Recordings will be retained on the channel for up to one year. If you state your name in the recording or provide any further information in the meeting, such as your address, this will be captured in the live stream as well as in the recording. A reminder that personal data is made available to the public in this way will be given to people who have signed up to attend the meeting prior to the start of the meeting.

Petitions Scheme

Information provided to create an e-petition is kept until a council decision is made about the subject matter of the petition. E-petitions created on the Council’s website are created via modern.gov, their privacy notice is below.

Paper based petitions are processed and sent to the relevant service areas and are not kept by Democratic Services.

Public Participation at Meetings

The Local Government Act 1972 s100b Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2000 states that Agendas and reports for Council and other formal meetings are retained from date of meeting for 6 years and that minutes of the meetings are kept permanently. Modern.gov is also used to facilitate public meetings.

Your phone number, postal address and e-mail address will be taken in case we need to contact you about the meeting. This information will not be shared or used for any other purpose and will be deleted after the meeting.

Modern.gov is owned by Civica, further information about modern.gov and their privacy notice is below:

• Civica - further information 
• Civica - privacy notice

Our Data Protection Officer

Our Data Protection Officer is Mark Hynes, you contact him by email at data.protectionofficer@walthamforest.gov.uk

Protecting your information

Please see the relevant section of the Corporate Privacy Notice.

Your information choice and rights

Please see the relevant section of the Corporate Privacy Notice.

Complaints and contact details

These are included in the relevant section of the Corporate Privacy Notice.

Information Commissioner’s Office

If we’re unable to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)