Privacy Notice - Infectious Disease Control

Please read the following Privacy Notice carefully.

Why we are collecting your data

Basildon Borough Council is a data controller. This means we need to collect your personal data so we can carry out our statutory duties when we are notified  that you are suspected to have or have been diagnosed with a statutorily notifiable infectious disease.  We will only collect the personal data from you that we need in order to do this.

Information collected

Information collected may include:

• Name
• Address
• Date of birth
• Phone Number - you do not have to provide this, but it may make it easier to resolve any issues
• Email address
• Information received from third parties, e.g. Public Health England or Essex County Council
• Medical information in relation to notifiable diseases, including the names and details of other people such as your family who may be linked, your occupation and those of your family, your GP surgery

The basis for the processing

We do this as a task in order to help us to carry out our statutory functions, and in particular so that we can get in touch, provide a service, carry out investigations/inspections and help to reduce the risk of spread of infectious diseases.

The processing is necessary to perform a task in the public interest or for our official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law.

When we use your medical information we do so for the additional reason of public interest in the area of public health, such as protecting against serious cross-border threats to health and here we will deploy additional organisational and technical measures to protect your personal information.

If you choose not to supply the information requested, we will not be able to investigate the possible source of any infection, or provide appropriate advice, or take the necessary actions to control spread of an infection, and we may not be able to investigate your concerns.

We may contact you to ask about your experience of the service we provide, but you do not have to respond to this.

Who your information will be shared with

We do not share your information with anyone else, unless we are required to do so by law, or it is necessary to enable us to provide our services to you.
We have a public interest reason, which is supported by legislation and this may mean that we will share relevant information with internal bodies such as:

• Internal Investigations and Legal advisors.

We may also share your information where it is relevant to your case/activity with other bodies such as:

• Essex County Council (Public Health)
• Public Health England
• National Fraud Initiative (for the purpose of preventing and detecting fraud)
• Food Standards Agency
• Other local authorities
• Care Quality Commission
• NHS Test and Trace Service or their partner organisations during COVID pandemic
• Ofsted
• Health and Safety Executive.

We will never sell your data, however it will be shared with third parties to:

• help business partners, suppliers and sub-contractors to deliver any contract we enter with them or you
• help us if we are need additional professional or legal advice on a matter relating to you
• help prevent fraud, or criminal activity.

Provide accurate information

We need to hold accurate and up to date information about you so that we can deliver appropriate services. If any of your details change, you need to tell us as soon as possible so that we can update your records.

We will not:

• Use your information for marketing or sales purposes without your prior explicit consent.
• Send or store your data abroad unless it meets the requirements of the Data Protection regulations
• Make decisions about you based on automated processing.

How long will we hold your data for?

The information we collect is stored electronically.

We will hold the details of a case for two years, after the investigation is closed.

Your rights

You have the right to access the personal information we hold about you.  Any access requests are free of charge.
If the information we hold about you is inaccurate, you have a right to have this corrected and you have the right to request completion of incomplete data.

You have the right to ask us to erase your personal data in certain circumstances ('right to be forgotten').

You have the right to ask us to stop or restrict the processing of your personal data, in certain circumstances.  Where possible, we will seek to comply with your request, but we may need to hold or process information to comply with a legal requirement.

You can make any of these requests by:

• Email: Data Protection Officer
• Phone: 01268 533333
• Letter to:

If you are dissatisfied with how we have used your personal information, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, by:

• Email: casework@ico.org.uk (opens new window)
• Phone: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745
• Letter to:

Further independent advice about data protection, privacy and data sharing issues is available from the Information Commissioner's Office, see:

• Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) (opens new window).