Purpose:
This information charter sets out the standards that you can expect from Advantage West Midlands when we request or hold personal information about you. It also explains how you can access your personal data, and what you can do if you think standards are not being met.
What is personal information?
Personal data is information that relates to living individuals. It does not include information relating to the deceased or to groups or communities of people, organisations or businesses.
How we manage personal information
The Data protection Act 1998 regulates the management of personal information. We need to handle personal information about you so that we can provide services for you. The following information outlines the way in which we look after that information.
When we ask you for personal information we promise to:
- make sure you know why we need it and only to ask for what we need and not to collect too much information that is irrelevant or in excess of requirements;
- protect it and make sure no unauthorised person has access to it;
- let you know if we share it with other organisations and whether you can refuse;
- make sure we don't keep it longer than necessary;
- not to make your personal information available for commercial use without your consent.
- Consider your request to stop processing data about you.
In return, we ask you to:
- give us accurate information;
- tell us as soon as possible if there are any changes, such as a new address. This helps us to keep your information reliable and up to date.
How to find out what personal information we hold about you
You can find out what information we hold about you by making a ‘Subject Access Request’ in accordance with the Data protection Act 1998. If we do hold information about you we will, subject to certain exemptions contained in the Act and other relevant legislation:
- give you a description of the information we hold about you
- tell you why we are holding the information
- tell you who it could be disclosed to
- let you have a copy of the information
- correct any errors or mistakes you may find.
To help us give you the information you want, we need you to tell us which part of the organisation you have been dealing with and why you think we hold the information.
Under the Data Protection Act we are allowed to charge a fee for responding to a subject access request. However, it is not currently the policy of Advantage West Midlands to charge for such access. To make a subject access request please contact the Corporate Information and Records Manager, who is responsible for compliance with both the Data Protection Act and the Freedom of Information Act, by sending your request for information to the following email address: foi@advantagewm.co.uk. Please state that you are making a ‘subject access request’.
Alternatively, you may write to:
The Corporate Information & Records Manager
Advantage West Midlands
3 Priestley Wharf Holt Street
Aston Science Park
B7 4BN
By writing to the Corporate Information & Records Manager you can get additional information about:
- Agreements we have with other organisations for information sharing
- Circumstances where we can pass on personal information without telling you, for example to help with the prevention or detection or crime or to produce anonymised statistics.
- Our instructions to staff on how to collect, use or delete your personal records.
- Our Data Protection Policy.
How to make a complaint
Our complaints procedure may be downloaded from our Website Advantage West Midlands - Freedom of Information and a complaint may be sent to us by email, fax or letter at the address provided above.
In abiding by these commitments, we will keep to the law, including the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000. For independent advice about data protection, privacy and data-sharing issues, you can contact:
The Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wilmslow,
Cheshire,
SK9 5AF.
Phone: 08456 30 60 60 or 01625 54 57 45
Fax: 01625 524510.
Website: www.ico.gov.uk