Frequently asked questions

Index of content

How do you gain access to your information?

A request for your information is known as a subject access request. You can request information or you can authorise an agent to make the request for you; this could be a parent, solicitor or any other adult.

Under the Data Protection ACt 1998 an organisation can charge up to £10 for a Subject Access Request, there are other costs which may apply to medical and education records (school records). At present Wiltshire Council does not charge for subject access requests.

You must put your request in writing, or print and complete a subject access request form, and send it to:

Data Protection
The Corporate Standards Team
Corporate and Library Services
Wiltshire Council
Trowbridge
Wiltshire
BA14 8JN

In the request you should include the following:

  • What information you require
  • As much information as possible to help Wiltshire Council locate the information you require. This may include previous addresses, names of social workers/contacts within Wiltshire Council, date of birth, and so on.
  • A copy of your ID; birth certificate, driving licence, passport or Wiltshire Council employee identity card.
  • If you are using an agent to access your information you must also include written authorisation for them to do this and a copy of their ID as well.

If there is not enough information to complete the request or Wiltshire Council has not received the correct documentation you will be sent an Access Request Pack or a request for the appropriate documents. This is because, in order to release information under the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA), the request has to be in writing, with sufficient information for Wiltshire Council to comply with the request along with confirmation of your identity.

Once the written request has been received, along with identification, a response will be given as soon as possible and no later than 40 days after receipt of the request and identification. If we do not hold the information you have requested we will inform you as soon as possible.

There may be reasons why some information is not released to you, we will explain these reasons to you.

We will try to keep you updated on the progress of your request and inform you of any delays that may occur.

Information that may not be included in the copy you receive

There are reasons under the Data Protection Act that mean we may withhold some information from your file. These are known as exemptions.

A full list of the exemptions is available in the legislation and amendments, listed below is a brief overview of those which are most likely to affect the information you receive from Wiltshire Council.

  • Some third party Information - data that identifies another person, information about another indiviudal that it is believed you do not know
  • Information that consists of a reference given or to be given in confidence by the employer for:
    • the education, training or employment of the worker
    • the appointment of the worker to any office
    • the provision by the worker of any service
  • Information held for:
    • the prevention or detection of a crime
    • the apprehension or prosecution of offenders
    • the assessment or collection of any tax or duty or any other imposition of a similar nature
  • Information required for legal proceedings
  • Adoption records and reports
  • Information that would cause an individual serious harm

Please note that this list is not exhaustive and there may be other miscellaneous exemptions

How we determine if information about another individual will be released or withheld

Disclosure of third party information means revealing information about another individual which is not already known to you.

When checking through a file Wiltshire Council asks the following questions to decide whether information is considered to be about another individual:

  • Does information reveal the identity of a third party?
  • Can it be edited in order to ensure the identity is not revealed?
  • Is it possible to communicate the information sought without disclosing the third party information?

We also take into account the information that is being considered for release and any other information which is reasonably believed is likely to be in or come into your possession.

We attempt to contact other organisations and individiuals to give them an opportunity to give consent to release the information and also to raise any concerns they may have. The following shows the route that is followed when we decide if information about another individual should be released:

  • Has the third party consented to the release of the information?
    • Yes - release
    • No - why?
    • Consent has not been sought
    • It is not possible to obtain consent because the third party’s whereabouts are unknown
    • The third party does not have legal capacity to consent
    • The third party declines to consent
  • If consent has not been given we are required to comply with the request and disclose third party information if it is reasonable in all the circumstances to disclose without consent. But we must take into account the following:
    • Any duty of confidentiality owed to the third party
    • Any steps taken by us to seek consent of the third party
    • Whether the individual is capable of giving consent
    • Any express refusal of consent by the other individual
    • Has the same information previously been provided to the data subject or is already known to him/her?
    • Is the information publicly available?
    • Would disclosure of the information cause serious harm to the physical or mental health of the data subject or any other individual?

What happens if Wiltshire Council does not comply with your request?

Your first step is to put in a complaint to Wiltshire Council. The council has a complaints procedure for information requests.

If you are still not satisfied you may complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The Information Commissioner can undertake an assessment and can serve enforcement and information notices. Breach of the Act can lead to the Council being fined or even, in cases of negligence and/or recklessness, individual employees being fined. Further information can be found on the Information Commissioner's website.

School Records

If you wish to gain access to your education record you must contact the school directly. Wiltshire Council does not hold school records.

For further information on the right of access to school records the Information Commissioner has produced the Right of Access to Education Records in England.

Adoption Records

Data Protection does not cover access to adoption records; this is handled under a different law, The Adoption and Children’s Act 2002.

In order to gain access to adoption records you must contact your local family placement team. They will be able to advise you and contact the relevant local authority to gain access to your records.

If you live in Wiltshire the contact number for your local family placement team will be one of the following:

East and South Wiltshire: 01722 333552
North Wiltshire: 01249 460222
West Wiltshire: 01225 752198

Or email childrenandfamilies@wiltshire.gov.uk

If you do not live in Wiltshire you will have to contact your local social services to find your local family placement team.

References

Corporate references

If a reference is on company headed paper it is deemed to be a corporate reference.

You have the right to request and receive a copy or gain access to a reference from the organisation to which the reference was sent. i.e. if we are the organisation that requested a reference from your previous employers and are now in possession of that reference you can ask us for a copy of it.

If you request access to a reference from us when we have supplied the reference it can be withheld.

Personal references

References written by an individual that may refer to work done but are not written on behalf of the employer are personal references.

These may be withheld by the receiving organisation, under a duty of confidentiality to the referee, however we attemp to seek consent from the referee to release the reference to you before making a decision.

Internal references

There is no exemption that allows an organisation to withhold internal references when an individual requests access to the reference.

Contact Details

If you have a query about data protection within Wiltshire Council please contact the Corporate Information Team:

Postal Address:

Data Protection
Corporate Information Team
Wiltshire Council
Trowbridge
Wiltshire
BA14 8JN

Telephone: 01225 713643

Email: dataprotection@wiltshire.gov.uk

Fax: 01225 718399

If you are not part of Wiltshire Council and have a query about how you should be complying with data protection please contact the Information Commissioner’s Office:

Postal Address:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 01625 545 745

Email: mail@ico.gsi.gov.uk


Last updated: 6 November 2009