Privacy Policy

What this policy covers

We, Teignbridge District Council, take our privacy obligations seriously and we’ve created this privacy policy to explain how we treat your personal information collected on this website. Personal information is information we hold which is identifiable as being about you.

Our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information is regulated by the UK General Data Protection Regulation (‘GDPR’) and the Data Protection Act 2018.  We are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information for the purposes of those laws. Our Data Protection Officer can be contacted on dataprotection@teignbridge.gov.uk.

The software platform this website runs on and associated technology operations are provided by Granicus. Click this link for the Privacy Policy governing their service.

What personal information we collect

Profile Information

To participate in some of the activities you will be asked to register with the website. In the course of registering, you will be asked to provide a user name, which will be what people see if you make a comment on the website. We recommend creating an anonymous user name that is not your actual name.   

You will be asked to provide an email address to create an account which will enable you to take part in some engagement and consultation activities. It will also mean you can choose to receive updates on specific or general engagement and consultation activities.

You will be asked to provide your postcode to allow us to analyse the geographical spread of responses. 

You will be asked to enter your user name and email address to sign into your account on the website. 

We ask for demographic information on the registration form. However, this information is optional and you do not have to provide it to create an account. 

Please note that you are able to browse any publicly accessible sections of this website completely anonymously without signing up.

Engagement Information

This is the content you create as part of your interactions with this website. It can include:

  • responses to surveys, questionnaires and polls, comments on discussion forums, maps, idea boards, stories and guestbooks or questions asked through the Q&A tool
  • equality data collected through questionnaire response - age, disability, gender re-assignment, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation and caring responsibilities 
  • employment and education details
  • postcode collected through questionnaire response.

We ask you not to provide information that will identify you in your written answers to questions and comments on this website. 

You do not need to submit any equality information if you do not want to. Any information you do give will be used to see if there are any differences in views for different groups of people. Equality monitoring data collected through questionnaires and surveys may be used for monitoring so we can see which communities we are reaching and then put actions in place to reach other groups that are relevant to the engagement or consultation activity.

No personal information which can identify you, such as your name, user name or email address, will be used in producing public reports. We will follow our Data Protection policies to keep your information secure and confidential. Your equality data will be anonymised (registration information will be removed) before it is shared with any external organisations who have been commissioned on individual projects to undertake analysis and reporting on our engagement and consultation activities.

Usage Information

We use cookies to record information about your visits to this website. We may collect information based on your browsing (click stream) activities. This information includes pages browsed, projects viewed, tools used, document downloads and video views. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This information is used to improve how the website functions and to understand how users interact with it. 

IP addresses are collected for website security purposes by Granicus who provide the software for this website. This information will not be linked to your responses and registration information. 

We also use Google Analytics to view data related to our website’s traffic and activity. This information may include page visits, length of visit, browser (e.g. Edge, Chrome etc.) or device type (e.g. desktop, mobile etc.) and the site you were on before you clicked over to this website. 

IP addresses are held within the Google Analytics platform, which is separate from this website and will not be linked to your responses and registration information.

Some of these cookies are 'strictly necessary' to provide the basic functions of the website and cannot be turned off, while others, if present, have the option of being turned off by users.

How we use the information we collect

We collect this information in order to:

  • facilitate your participation in our consultation and engagement activities
  • understand your views about a particular topic or TDC activity
  • analyse consultation and engagement activity
  • inform TDC’s future strategy, policy, service design and budget planning
  • undertake equality monitoring
  • authenticate and verify your account (through your email address)
  • communicate information to you about engagement and consultation opportunities, events and other initiatives, if you have requested to be kept informed
  • remind you to update your account information
  • inform you of the outcome of the engagement and consultation activities, if you have requested to be kept informed
  • respond to enquiries and comments
  • understand how users interact with the website and improve how our website functions
  • protect the integrity of discussion from individuals and groups who may attempt to unduly influence the outcomes of consultation or engagement activities
  • provide access to private areas of the website for invited users.

This website is moderated by Granicus’ moderation team who provide support to ensure participants are safe from malicious, inflammatory, and illegal materials. If you post something to this website, which is removed by the moderators, you will receive a notification via email informing you of the decision. You will be informed as to which of the moderation rules you are in breach of and asked to review and resubmit your contribution. Moderators do not have access to your user information stored on this website. Moderators are only able to view your publicly visible user name and text or image contribution for the express purposes of moderating those elements. The Moderation Policy(External link) is available to view on the website.

How long your data will be kept

We will hold any personal information provided by you as part of engagement or consultation activity for up to a year following the closure of a consultation. 

The personal information you provide to create an account (register) will be kept unless you log in to update your account information, or request that your account is deleted. You can request deletion by contacting consultation@teignbridge.gov.uk.

Lawful basis for processing this data

Your personal information is processed for the performance of a public task in the public interest and to comply with a legal obligation. We rely on consent when you register and request to be notified of updates and alerts. You can opt out of these updates and alerts at any time by updating your registration profile. Equalities monitoring is in the public interest and is required by the Equality Act 2010 and Public Sector Equality Duty 2011. Special category (sensitive) data is processed for reasons of substantial public interest to ensure quality of opportunity or treatment and for research and statistical purposes.

You have a right to complain to us if you think we have not complied with our obligation for handling your personal information by contacting the Data Protection Officer in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the council’s response you have a right to complain to the Information Commissioner Office who may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/concerns or telephone 03031 231113.

External links

Our website contains links to other websites. Those links are provided for convenience and may not remain current or be maintained. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of linked websites and we suggest you review the privacy policies of those websites before using them.

Security

While no online service is completely secure, we work very hard to protect information about you against unauthorized access, use, alteration, or destruction, and take all reasonable measures to do so.

Requesting access or correcting your personal information

Subject to applicable local laws and regulations, you may have some or all of the following rights with respect to your personal data:

  • to access your personal data and to rectify any inaccuracies within that personal data;
  • to request for the erasure of your personal data residing with us;
  • to request your personal data in portable, machine-readable format; and
  • to withdraw your consent to our processing of their personal data.

If you wish to contact us to with a request relating to personal information we hold about you, please contact us using the contact details set out below including your name and contact details. We may need to verify your identity before providing you with your personal information.

In some cases, we may be unable to provide you with access to all your personal information and where this occurs, we will explain why. We will deal with all requests for access to personal information within a reasonable timeframe.

Contact Us

For further information about our privacy policy and related information practices, or to access or correct your personal information, or make a complaint, please contact us on consultation@teignbridge.gov.uk