Privacy: Legal services

This privacy notice is designed to help you understand how we use personal information when delivering our legal services. We have set out below the services types, the information we may use to deliver the services, who we may share it with, and how long we will keep it.

What services are covered by this privacy notice?

Applications in relation to commons and village greens

With applications and changes to the Register of Common Land and Village Greens including applications to register new greens.

Children and education service

Offers legal advice and support for children and their families.

Corporate and commercial

Delivers innovative projects, procurement and governance.

Definitive Map and Statement

Discharges the statutory duty to keep the Definitive Map and Statement under continuous review specified in section 53 (2) Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 as delegated to officers under the Essex County Council constitution.

Dispute resolution and enforcement

Provide legal advice to internal and external clients on litigation matters, judicial reviews and provide enforcement services.

Employment service

Supply advice and support regarding legal matters surrounding employment.

Financial Deputyship

Act on behalf of adult social care clients who are unsupported and no longer have the mental capacity to manage their own finances.

Health and adult social care

Offer legal advice and support for health and adult social care services.

Health and safety

Provides advice on health and safety management to comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act and all subordinate regulations.

Highways and environment

Provide advice and support to highways and planning.

Information governance

Provide advice and support to Essex County Council employees, investigate security incidents and manage Data Protection complaints.

Insurance, risk and claim handling

Arranges adequate insurance protection for the council and handles claims made against the authority.

Internal audit and counter fraud

Provide assurance over the internal control arrangements of the authority, and help ensure value for money, making sure that there are sufficient arrangements to help prevent fraud or error.

Marketing

Provide information on services including legal updates.

Practice management

Provide administrative and financial support services to other Essex legal services.

Property service

Offering advice, transactions and support for Essex County Council and other external customers in regards to property.

Trading Standards

Responsible for ensuring businesses understand their legal obligations and trade fairly and safely; including licensing, fraud prevention, detection and prosecution and consultancy.

Transparency team

Manages requests to access your personal information under Data Protection legislation and requests for information that the council holds under the Freedom of Information Act or Environmental Information Regulation.

Wills and lasting power of attorney

Offers legal advice and preparation of wills and lasting power of attorney.

What personal information do we hold?

We only collect and use the minimum personal information required to deliver your service. Wherever possible we use non-identifiable personal information. The services may use some or all of the personal information below:

• names, address and contact details
• family relationships and friendships
• lifestyle and social circumstances
• date of birth
• employment and education details
• health information
• racial or ethnic origin
• religious or other beliefs of a similar nature
• criminal proceedings, outcomes and sentences
• financial details
• visual images, personal appearance and behaviour
• licences and permits held
• goods and services information
• business activities
• trade union membership
• political affiliation and opinions
• offences, including alleged offences
• housing needs
• case file information

We get most of this information from you, but we may also get some of this information about you from the courts, other local authorities, other government agencies, eg Department for Education, members of the public, employers, claimants.

How do we use your personal information?

We use your information for one or more of the following reasons:

• deliver the service, or handle your query
• to plan and improve the service we offer
• to detect and prevent crime or fraud
• for research, however this would be in anonymised form unless we ask for your consent to use your personal information for this purpose
• marketing – with your consent

Who else might we share your personal information with?

Sometimes we may need to share your information, but we will only do so where it is necessary or required by law. We will only share the minimum information for each circumstance. We may sometimes need to share some of your personal information with one or more of the following:

• police
• other government agencies, eg Department for Education, HMRC, the Health and Safety Executive, Cabinet Office, the Planning Inspectorate
• Office of the Public Guardian
• Land Registry
• other local authorities
• health agencies
• education providers
• Youth Offending Service
• other ECC services
• judicial agencies, e.g. courts
• commissioned partners
• employee representatives
• client departments
• legal representatives of other parties
• parties to proceedings
• barristers chambers and external counsel
• regulatory bodies
• Children and Family Court Advisory and Support service
• Safeguarding boards
• Safeguarding partners
• HM Prison Service
• insurance companies and brokers
• counter fraud partners
• external auditors
• Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
• general public – in the event of a public inquiry or published applications
• affected land owners
• the information may be made public when a decision on a case is issued

We may also use Data Processors to support these activities, for example by providing the systems we need or delivering services on our behalf. These include:

• Visual Files (LexisNexis) provide our case management system supporting our legal services
• DictateNow supports our legal services
• Axios Assyst and Respond (Aptean) support our Information Governance Service
• Business Safety Systems support our Health and Safety service
• JCAD LACHS supports our insurance and risk services
• Mosaic, A4W, and TCS (Oracle) support our Internal Audit, Health and Adult Social Care and Counter Fraud service
• Mosaic, Experian and Equifax support our dispute resolution service
• E-shot support our communications and marketing
• Julian French IDB and CitA to support Trading Standards
• CapitaPay 360 for taking payments and issuing SMS receipts. For SMS receipts, this information will be retained in GOV.UK Notify for 7 days then deleted. This information will not be used for any other purpose.
• Ideagen (Pentana) supports our Internal Audit service
• Redstor support our insurance and risk service
• Microsoft Dynamics and Tisski support our Information Governance Service for subject access requests
• Mandiant supports the Council by providing Incident response and enhanced expertise, enabling Essex County Council to protect its network from cyber security risks

Who is the Data Controller for this processing?

Essex County Council is the Data Controller for this processing with the exception of our residential/nursing and domiciliary care providers who will also be Data Controllers for the purposes of providing you with care and support.

We may use your information for the prevention and detection of fraud and crime, this may include sharing your personal information with external agencies that could lead to some services being declined. Read more about how your information is processed.

What is the legal basis for our use of your personal information?

View the tables which show the legal basis we rely on to use your personal or special category (sensitive) personal information.

You can see a list of the full legal conditions we may rely on by looking at our full privacy notice.

Here is a list of the legislation we rely on when using your personal information to meet our legal obligations or public tasks.

Where we rely on your consent to use your personal information you have the right to withdraw this consent at any time by contacting our Data Protection Officer, and advising which service you are using.

How long will we keep your personal information?

We will only use your personal information whilst delivering the service to you and to deal with any questions or complaints that we may receive about this, unless the law requires us to keep it for a longer period. Typically we would keep files for 12 years subject to the following exclusions. The exclusions are only applied if retention is required for statutory, regulatory, legal or security reasons or for their historic value. In practice, this means that your personal information may be retained for:

Applications for commons and village greens

We will stop using your personal information when your case concludes, and will be retained in perpetuity for public access.

Children and Education Service

We will stop using your personal information after your case has closed, and it will be retained for 75 years for looked after children, 100 years for adoption cases and 35 years for all other case types then securely deleted.

Corporate and Commercial

We will stop using your personal information after your case has closed, and delete it after 12 years, unless it is retained in perpetuity for public access where the information is of historic public interest.

Definitive Map and Statement

We will stop using your personal information after a final decision on the status of the route is made, either by the county council or the Secretary of State. The decision will be permanently preserved.

Dispute Resolution

We will stop using your personal information after your case has closed, and delete it after 12 years.

Employment Service

We will stop using your personal information after your case has closed, and delete it after 12 years.

Financial Deputyship

We will stop using your personal information when we cease to act as your deputy or after your death and when your estate has been settled, and delete it after 12 years.

Health and Social Care

We will stop using your personal information when your case concludes, and delete it after 12 years.

Health and Safety

We will stop using your personal information after your case concludes and it is deleted after five years.

Highways and Environment

We will stop using your personal information after your case has closed, and delete it after 12 years, unless it is retained in perpetuity for public access where the information is of historic public interest.

Information Governance

We will stop using your personal information when your case concludes, and delete it after five years.

Insurance, Risk and Claims Handling

We will stop using your personal information when your case concludes, and delete it after 12 years.

Internal Audit and Counter Fraud

We will stop using your personal information when your case concludes, and delete it after six years.

Marketing

We will stop using your information upon request. Your information will be deleted as soon as the request is received.

Practice Management

We will stop using your personal information when your case concludes, and delete it after 12 years.

Property Service

We will stop using your personal information when your case concludes, and delete it after 12 years.

Trading Standards

We will stop using your information six years after our last contact and your information will be securely deleted one year from this point.

Transparency Team

We will stop using your personal information when your case concludes, and delete after five years for subject access requests and one year for Freedom of Information or environmental regulation requests.

Wills

We will retain your file for 15 years after conclusion of the will.

Will my personal information be accessible outside the UK?

No personal information is routinely sent or stored outside the UK. Should the transfer of personal information outside of the UK become necessary, it will only take place if permitted by law, and then only where there are appropriate safeguards in place to protect the data.

Your rights

The law gives you a number of rights to control what personal information is used by us and how it is used by us.

You can obtain further information about these rights from the Information Commissioner’s Office.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint in relation to this summary notice, the full privacy notice or our processing activities with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Contact us

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, you can contact our Data Protection Officer.