Personal Data and Data Protection

Why is it important?

Under the data protection legislation that came into force last year, everyone in the Council has data protection responsibilities - even those who don’t work with personal data directly. We’re all under obligation by law to handle personal information correctly, and the potential penalties for getting it wrong have been hugely increased.

What is personal data?

Personal data is any information relating directly to a living individual. If the information tells you something about an individual, and there’s a realistic prospect that this information can be used to identify the individual (including when it’s combined with other information to work out who the individual is), then it’s personal data. This can range from name and address, to social work records and any recorded opinions on the individual. Data protection laws apply no matter what form the personal data is in; it covers written documents, electronic documents and any other form that the personal data is shared, used or recorded in.

What do I need to do?

We’ve given the main bullet points of things you need in this month’s edition of Connect. You can find the full collection of data protection policy, guidance and related documents on the Intranet under Information Security and Records Management. Please note this will be moved to interchange within the coming months. Also, any documents directly linked are the current versions, so please visit intranet/interchange to make sure you’re viewing the latest version.

interchange

Personal Data and Data Protection

Rate this Page