Data protection

The DPA 2018 and the GDPR gives you various rights regarding data about yourself. These include:

• the Right of Access
• the Right of Rectification
• the Right of Erasure
• the Right to Restrict Processing
• the Right to Data Portability
• the Right to Object
• Rights related to Automated Decision Making including profiling (all these rights are referred to as Subject Access Requests)
• the Right to be Informed.

To use these rights, you can contact us via our contact us form, please select I want to “Make a Data Protection Request”.

Alternatively you can contact us directly at or by post to the address below:

Data Protection Team
Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service
Leigh Road
Eastleigh
SO50 9SJ

You can also call us on 02380 626850 and ask for the Data Protection Team.

You may, if you so wish, appoint someone (an agent) to apply on your behalf e.g. your parent or a solicitor. You must notify us in writing if you have elected the appointment of an agent to act on your behalf.

To help us action your request please provide as much detail as possible about what you want to happen and any other information you have. Please be aware that if we do not receive sufficient information it will not be possible to process your request. We will ask you for more information should this occur and the timescales relating to your request will be extended.

To ensure confidentiality we will ask you for:

• evidence to confirm your identity (e.g. a driving license, or birth certificate)
• sufficient information to understand your request and to what information it relates

Once we have received the information above you will receive a letter of acknowledgement and an indication of when we will respond to your request; which will be within a month. This time may be extended where your request is complex or one of multiple requests from you; in that event we will contact you to let you know the reason for the time extension and provide you a new date for completion.

Please be aware that to process your request we will have to share your request internally, and occasionally with third parties, to fulfil your legitimate interest of having your rights actioned.

Your rights are briefly explained below:

The Right of Access

You have the right to ask if we are using your personal information and/or why, and/or for a copy of this information. You are only entitled to information about yourself except where you are acting as an appointed agent by the data subject.

The Right of Rectification

You have the right to request any inaccurate information to be corrected and/or updated. To update or correct your information we will need the new information and proof that the change requested represents the facts e.g. changing your maiden name to your marital name would require you to evidence a marriage certificate.

If the correction you request cannot be factually verified we will not action the change.

The Right to Erasure

You have the right to request deletion of personal information we hold about you.

Below are some examples of when you may wish to make this request:

• the information is no longer necessary for the purpose we initially collected or processed it for;
• we are relying on consent as the lawful basis for holding the data, and you withdraw your consent;
• we are processing the personal data for direct marketing purposes and you object;
• we have processed the personal data unlawfully.

The Right to Restrict Processing

You have the right to request that your information is not used in certain ways. A circumstance in which you may wish to make this request could be that we no longer need the personal data but you need us to retain it so you can establish, exercise or defend a legal claim.

The Right to Data Portability

You have a right to request your information in a specific format so that it can be easily processed by another organisation. To do this we will need to know what information you want to transfer, to whom we are transferring it (with appropriate contact details) and in what format.

If we are unable to provide the information in the format you request we will write to inform you and ask for your alternative preferences.

The Right to Object

You have the right to request that we stop processing your information. To do this you must provide reasoning as to why you are exercising this right.

Rights related to Automated Decision Making including profiling

Automated Decision-Making means decisions are made about you without any human interaction. You have the right to request that the decision is reviewed by a staff member.

The Right to be Informed

You have a right to be told when and why we processes and/or collects your information. Please see our privacy statement (insert link) for more details.

Costs

Ordinarily there will not be a charge to you for exercising these rights however, where a request is excessive or manifestly unfounded, we reserve the right to charge a fee. If a fee is necessary, we will inform you of the fee and how to pay it; this fee will be based on the reasonable administrative costs of complying with your request. Where we have requested a fee be paid your request will not be processed until funds are received.

Further Information

For more information about your rights please see the Information Commissioner’s Office website https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/