PRIVACY NOTICE

Lancashire Victim Services is commissioned by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Lancashire (OPCC) and delivered by Victim Support. Any data you submit will be handled in accordance with the OPCC’s privacy policy. You can also refer to Victim Support’s privacy policy here.

Lancashire Victim Services operate under this policy to demonstrate our commitment to privacy. The following discloses our information gathering, use and dissemination practices for this website. By using this site, you are deemed to accept the terms of our privacy policy. If you do not agree with this policy, please do not use this website.

1. Who are we?

1.1 We are the Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner for Lancashire. Our  address is :

Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner,

PO Box 100,

County Hall

Preston

PR1 0LD

1.2 We are listed on the Information Commissioner’s register of data controllers under number Z3466326 (Police & Crime Commissioner for Lancashire).

1.3 Your privacy is important to us. We aim for full transparency on how we gather, use and share your personal information in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation and Data protection laws.

1.4 If you have any concerns about how the Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner (OPCC) is handling your personal data, these can be raised with the Data Protection Officer:

In writing: Data Protection Officer, OPCC for Lancashire, PO Box 100, County Hall, Preston, PR1 0LD

By Telephone: 01772 533587

By Email: commissioner@lancashire-pcc.gov.uk

2. What is the purpose of this notice?

2.1 This privacy notice tells you what to expect when the OPCC for Lancashire receives, creates, holds, discloses or otherwise processes personal information about you.

3. Why do we process personal information?

3.1 We process your personal information to assist us in the performance of our core statutory functions (including any incidental functions) such as ensuring the maintenance of an efficient and effective police force in Lancashire.

3.2 We will use your information in a manner that conforms to a series of data protection principles as referenced in the General Data Protection Regulation. These principles are there to protect you and they make sure that we:-

  • Process all personal information lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner;
  • Collect personal information for a specified, explicit and legitimate purpose;
  • Ensure that all personal data information processed is adequate, relevant and limited to the purposes for which it was collected;
  • Ensure the personal information is accurate and up to date;
  • Keep your personal information for no longer than is necessary for the purpose(s) for which it was collected;
  • Keep your personal information securely, using appropriate technical or organisational measures.

3.3 All personal information held by us will be processed for the following purposes:

  • To ensure we meet all legal obligations;
  • To allow us to meet the needs and concerns of the community;
  • Where necessary, for law enforcement or community safety functions;
  • For the prevention or detection of crime;
  • The apprehension and prosecution of offenders;
  • Where necessary, to protect individuals from harm or injury;
  • To enable us to set police and crime plan priorities;
  • Staff and volunteer recruitment, management and vetting in support of our core functions.
  • Research purposes

3.4 Your information will only be held as long as necessary and it will be disposed of in a secure manner when no longer needed. The periods of retention of information are specified in the Retention Schedule for the OPCC.

4. What information do we collect?

4.1 We may collect and process the following types of information:

  • name;
  • address;
  • email address;
  • telephone number;
  • employment data

4.2 We may collect data which is sensitive personal data and this may include:

  • Physical or medical information;
  • Religious beliefs or similar beliefs;
  • Racial or ethnic origin information;
  • Whether you are a member of trade unions;
  • Political opinions and political affiliations;
  • Your sexual orientation;
  • The commission or alleged commission of an offence by you.

5. How do we collect data?

5.1 We may collect data from information provided by you.  For example through:

  • You posting material to us;
  • Requesting to use our website;
  • Filling in forms on our website;
  • Correspondence between us, including emails;
  • Responding to consultations or surveys;
  • Reporting problems or issues with our service or site.

5.2 We may capture data through automatic information and cookies. We may capture and store some information about your computer, such as your IP address, operational system and browser type for system administration.  We will use this data to help us understand our user’s browsing patterns.

We may also obtain information about your general usage of our website by using a cookie file, which is stored on the hard drive of your computer.  Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer’s hard drive.

You can read more about the Cookie Policy through the link at the bottom of the website.

We may keep records of any contact you have with us.

We may record details of calls that you make to us expressly for the purposes of maintaining customer services standards and assisting staff in training.

6. What do we do with your information?

6.1 We will need to sometimes share your information within the Office, as well as with partner organisations. For example with:

  • Lancashire Constabulary;
  • Lancashire Fire & Rescue Services;
  • Lancashire District Councils;
  • Lancashire Upper tier Councils (Lancashire County Council, Blackburn with Darwen Council and Blackpool Council);
  • HMRC;
  • Government departments;
  • NHS

We may also need to supply your information to organisations we have contracted to provide a service.

We will only ever share your information if we are satisfied our partners or suppliers have sufficient measures in place to protect your information in the same way we do.

We will never share your information for marketing purposes.

Before sharing information, we will ensure that:

  • Privacy notices are completed (if appropriate);
  • Appropriate controls are in place to ensure information is kept secure;
  • Information Sharing Agreements or contractual arrangements are in place showing the rules to be adopted for a sharing exercise;
  • Subject access rights are catered for.

We will not pass any personal information on to third parties, other than those who either process information on our behalf or because of a legal obligation or other lawful basis for processing.

Your personal and sensitive data will only be stored and processed on servers based in the European Economic Area.

6.2 We will not disclose information that you provide in confidence to us to anyone else, except in those situations when disclosure is required by law, or where we have a good reason to believe that failing to share the information would put someone at risk.

6.3 We may need to disclose information to other partners, including (but not exclusively) the Police, or Lancashire County Council or other local authority, where it is necessary to comply with a legal obligation for example in connection with a complaint or where permitted to do so by law, for example, where disclosure is necessary for the prevention or detection of crime.

6.4 Where we need to disclose sensitive or confidential information, such as alleged criminal conduct to other partners, or in connection with a complaint we will only do so with your explicit consent or where we are legally required to do so. We may disclose information when necessary to prevent risk of harm to an individual.

6.5 We may use your information for research purposes, but we will ensure that any information used is not capable of identifying you as an individual. We may wish to research, for example, the impact of the victims’ service on its users and their journey or to understand the domestic abuse profile across Lancashire.

6.6 As a public authority, the OPCC is required to protect the public funds it administers. It may share information provided to it with other bodies responsible for auditing or administering public funds in order to prevent and detect fraud.

6.7 The Cabinet Office is responsible for carrying out data matching exercises. We participate in the Cabinet Office’s National Fraud Initiative, a data monitoring exercise, to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud.  We provide particular data sets to the Minister for the Cabinet Office for a monitoring exercise.  The Cabinet Office carry this exercise our pursuant to their statutory powers under the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014.

7. Your rights and retention periods

7.1 Retention Periods: We will only keep your information for as long as it is required. The retention period is either dictated by law or at our discretion.  Once your information is no longer needed, it will be securely and confidentially destroyed.

7.2 Your Rights: You have certain rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), these are:

  • The right to be informed – with privacy notices such as this;
  • The right to access any personal information we hold about you;
  • The right to request erasure of your details. You have the right to have your personal data erased and to prevent processing, unless we have a legal obligation to process your personal information;
  • The right to restrict processing. You have the right to request a restriction on processing;
  • The right to data portability. We will provide you with your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine readable format when asked;
  • The right to object. You can ask that your personal data stop being used for profiling, direct marketing or research  purposes;
  • You have rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling to reduce the risk that a potentially damaging decision is undertaken without human intervention.

If you want to exercise any of these rights, you may write to:

The Data Protection Officer

OPCC for Lancashire

PO Box 100

County Hall

Preston

PR1 0LD

Please use the contact form on the website.

7.3 Information Commissioner

The Information Commissioner is the independent regulator responsible for enforcing the Data Protection Act and advising on privacy rights.  The information Commissioner’s Office can be contact details are as follows:

Telephone : 01625 545700

Website : www.ico.gov.uk

Post:      The Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

8. Access to official information

8.1 Information on the Commissioner’s decision making is available on the website.

8.2 Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, you have a right to request any recorded official information held by the Office (subject to exemptions). If you want to make a Freedom of Information request, please go to the website and use “Contact us”.

8.3 The OPCC is required to make certain information publicly available through its Publication Scheme. Before you submit a request, please check the Publication Scheme which on the website under Transparency.

9. Changes to our Privacy Notice

9.1 Our Privacy Notice may change from time to time. This site will always contain the current Privacy Notice.

9.2 This Privacy Notice was last updated in May 2018.

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Cookie Policy

Aggregate Information

From time to time, we may collect general, statistical, non-personal information about the use of this site, such as how many visitors visit a particular page, which browsers are being used to view the site. We collect this information via technologies such as ‘cookies’ and ‘IP addresses’. We may use this data to understand how our site is performing and to make improves to enhance visitor experience. This aggregated data does not personally identify you or any other users of this site.

IP Addresses and Cookies

In the course of using our site, we automatically track certain information about you, including what browser you are using and your IP address. Like most websites, our site also uses cookies. Cookies are pieces of information that a website transfers to an individual’s hard drive for record keeping purposes. Cookies are used to simplify functions on our site and can be linked to personal information. You can reset your browser to refuse all cookies or indicate when a cookie is being sent. Please be aware, however, that some features of this site may not function or may be slower if you refuse cookies.

The cookies used on our website have been categorised based on information provided by the International Chamber of Commerce UK Cookie Guide. Please note that some cookies used on our website may be set by third-parties.

Session Cookies
These types of cookies are created temporarily, allowing us to link to your actions during a browser session. A browser session starts when you open your browser window and ends when you close it.

Persistent Cookies
These types of cookies remain on your device for a specified period of time, becoming active each time you visit our website.

Strictly Necessary Cookies
These cookies are essential for using our website, enabling the services that you have specifically requested when consenting to using our website. These cookies will be used for basic functions such as remembering your previous actions when navigating our website during a single session.

Performance Cookies
These cookies collect aggregated information about how our visitors use our website. This enables use to improve the functionality of our site and monitor its efficiency.

Functionality Cookies
These cookies allow us to remember your preferences to provide a more personal browsing experience. These cookies may also be used to deliver specific website functions. By using our website, you agree that we can place these types of cookies on your device.

Targeting and Advertising Cookies
These cookies enable effective delivery of adverts relevant to you. These types of cookies are usually set by the third-parties who provide the advertising, therefore, we have no control over and cannot be held responsible for the use of any data collected.

Guidance for Children Under 16

We do not knowingly collect information from children under the age of 16 on this site. If you are under 16, please do not provide any personal information to us.

Changes to These Terms

We reserve the right to change the terms of this Policy at any time and will not specifically notify you of any changes. With this in mind, we recommend that you periodically check the Policy for any changes.

Disclaimer

This site has security measures in place to protect the loss of, misuse of or unauthorised access to data. We take this responsibility very seriously and make every effort to ensure your personal information is secure. However, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% safe. With this in mind, whilst we strive to protect your personal information and privacy, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you disclose or transmit to us online and cannot be responsible for its theft, disclosure or subsequent misuse.