We are committed to maintaining, developing and improving communication, engagement and participation with its community. This notice provides details of what information we collect from you, what we do with it, and who it might be shared with.
Identity and contact details of the controller and the data protection officer
Falkirk Council is the data controller. You can contact the data protection officer at:
Frequently asked questions
Why do we collect this information?
We need to process your information to get your views to help inform service development and delivery. This helps us ensure that our services and processes are fit for purpose, efficient and effective. In some cases, we need to carry out community engagement activities to comply with statutory and legal obligations. Your information is collected for the following purposes:
- To engage and consult with the community
- To promote the work of individuals and groups within the community
- To offer awards for community-led projects
- To plan, design and improve services
- To assess the effectiveness of our Community Engagement Strategy
The legal basis for each purpose is set out below:
| Legal basis |
Purpose |
| Consent |
|
| Performance of a contract |
|
| Legal obligation |
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| Vital interests |
|
| Task carried out in the public interest |
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| Legitimate interests |
|
The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 aims to empower communities by, amongst other things, strengthening communities' voices in decisions about public services. Participation lies at the heart of community planning. The Council has a legal obligation to promote and facilitate the participation of members of the public in its decisions and activities. We only collect information with your consent, but the underlying lawful bases for processing personal data are legal obligation and public task.
What information do we collect about you?
We may collect your name, address and contact details (including telephone number and email address) although you can also in most cases choose to provide us with your views anonymously. We may collect information about your views. We may also keep a copy of minutes that record discussions that have taken place at community engagement or statutory consultation events, interviews or meetings. Where you respond to a survey on our website, we collect details of your visit, including operating system, browser type, visited pages and IP address.
We may take photographs at events and these will only be used with your consent.
With your consent, we will collect details of your preferences in relation to how we communicate with you and any particular areas of interest about which you want to be contacted. With your consent, we will also collect some demographic information about you (including some sensitive personal data) so that can be measure how representative our consultation groups are of the wider Council population (eg gender, age, ethnicity, household income).
We may also collect sensitive personal data about you (such as ethnicity, disability and health conditions) to help us monitor our compliance with our equality duty. You can decide whether or not to provide this information and there are no consequences of not doing so.
Where do we collect information from?
We collect information from you, using a variety of methods. These include completing forms, online surveys, at community engagement events, and when you call, write email or meet with us. On occasion, our council photographer may take photographs.
Who might we share your information with?
We may on occasion use external consultants to carry out community engagement on our behalf. If we have your consent to contact you for community engagement purposes, we may share information with our consultants.
Will we send your information outwith the UK?
We do not transfer your information outwith the UK. Should it become necessary to do so, we will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place.
How long do we keep hold of your information?
We keep your information as long as required by law or by our business requirements. We have a Business Classification Scheme in place which sets out the types of records we hold, and how long we hold them - you can access the relevant part of the scheme below.
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What are my rights in relation to the information held about me?
You have the following rights:
- To see any information held about you by making a subject access request.
- To withdraw consent at any time, where the legal basis for processing is consent.
- To data portability, where the legal basis for processing is (i) consent or (ii) performance of a contract.
- To request rectification or erasure of your information, where data protection legislation allows this.
Do I have a right to complain about the way information has been used?
If you have a concern about the way we are collecting or using your personal data, please let us know and we will try to resolve this. If you are still concerned, you can contact the Information Commissioner:
Do I have to provide my personal data to you?
You do not have to provide information to us, but it helps us design and improve our services.
Do you use any automated processes to make decisions about me?
We do not use automated decision making processes.
This notice was last updated in March 2023.