Personal data obtained when individuals reply to a public consultation undertaken by the OPCC or on its behalf.
a. What personal information do we hold?
The exact nature of the personal information collected when you respond to our consultations will vary with each consultation, but in all cases will be limited only to information which is necessary to understand the specific subject area being consulted upon and for demographic monitoring purposes.
We’ll publish a summary of the consultation responses but this will not contain any personal data.
b. How do we collect your personal information?
The majority of our consultations are conducted online through web-based surveys, though alternative paper-based versions of the survey questions may also be provided for those who require them. Where this is the case, survey responses will be transferred by the OPCC into an electronic format for data evaluation purposes.
Some consultations may also be conducted in focus groups, over the telephone or face-to-face. Where this is the case, we will be clear on what personal data will be collected and how it will be handled.
c. For what purposes do we use your personal information?
The OPCC conducts public consultations in order to inform its work and during the development of services. It also has statutory obligations to consult with the public. The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011, together with other legislation, places a legal obligation on the OPCC to:-
- Obtain the views of local people on policing and have regard to those views;
- Make arrangements for engaging with local people in setting police and crime objectives;
- Obtain the views of local people and ratepayers prior to setting the police precept and police budget;
- Obtain the views of victims of crime about matters concerning local policing and, where appropriate, feed back to them on actions taken to address them.
We collect demographic information in order to understand how effective our consultations are at reaching particular groups of people, such as location, ethnic grouping, age range and gender. Provision of this information will always be optional and is not required in order to complete the consultation.
d. What is the legal basis for our use of your personal information?
The legal basis we rely on to process your personal data is article 6(1)(e) of the GDPR, which allows us to process personal data when this is necessary to perform our public tasks.
You have the right to withdraw your consent for processing at any time. To withdraw your consent, contact us at [email protected]. Once we have received notification that you have withdrawn your consent, we will delete your personal information from the survey responses.
e. Who will we share your personal information with?
We use SmartSurvey to conduct our online consultations. By completing an online consultation, you acknowledge that the information you provide will be transferred to SmartSurvey for processing in accordance with its Privacy Policy.
In the past we have used SurveyMonkey to conduct our online consultations. By completing an online consultation in SurveyMonkey, you acknowledge that the information you provide will be transferred to SurveyMonkey for processing in accordance with its Privacy Policy and Data Processing Agreement (standard contractual terms).
We also sometimes contract third parties to consult on our behalf or jointly with partner organisations. When this is the case, we will make this clear at the outset, stating who that third party is and informing you of any related privacy notices, terms or conditions which will apply.
We have contracts in place with SmartSurvey and any other company we contract with to conduct surveys on our behalf, to ensure that your data is protected in accordance with the law when we share your data with them.
f. How long will we keep your personal information?
Any personal information you provide when responding to our consultations will be retained for the duration of the consultation and until completion of the statistical analysis of the responses. It will then be deleted.
Summaries of the responses to consultations may be published and remain available indefinitely or as per statutory requirements, but these will not include any personal information.
For more information about how long we hold personal data, see our Records Management and Retention Policy.
