Social Media Privacy Notice

This Privacy Notice explains how we use and process your personal information that you share with Powys County Council through its social media accounts. We will review and update this privacy notice to reflect changes in our services and feedback from service users, as well as to comply with changes in the law.

For the purposes of Data Protection, Powys County Council is the Data Controller for your personal information that you share through social media. As a Data Controller, the Council determines the purpose and methods for processing information and ensures safeguards over any personal and/or sensitive information it handles.

What type of personal data do we collect?

We may, should you choose to share it with us, collect the following types of personal data:

your name, address, email address, telephone number, social media handle and other information that allows us to contact you back in order to deal with your enquiry.
comments/images that may contain personal or sensitive data that you choose to share with us through a direct message

How will your personal data be collected?

We will collect information through posts that are relevant to the Council, direct mailings, comments, replies, screenshots and emails from any social media channel we run.

How long will your information be kept for?

We will only keep your information for the minimum period necessary in order to help assist with your query or issue. Unless the conversation is ongoing, or the information within the conversation is relevant to a current conversation or investigation, any direct messages the Council receives via social media will be retained for two months and then deleted following the last correspondence. Messages will only be retained for the purposes of statistics, which will be anonymised.

Please note that the Council are only able to delete 'message conversations', not individual 'messages. If you write to us through the same social media channel before the end of the retention period, older messages will be kept until the new query is deleted, 2 months after receipt.

What is your personal information used for?

We use the information to:

deliver services and support to you
manage those services we provide to you
help investigate any worries or complaints you have about our services

Who might your information be shared with?

Your personal data that you supply to us privately may be shared with another service within Powys County Council to allow your query to be answered, for example, the Highways Department, if your message relates to a road maintained by the Council.

If your information is shared with another service, then this will fall into Powys County Council's retention policy.

All council officers are required to undertake relevant training to ensure that personal data is processed in accordance with the principles of data protection legislation.

We may share posts that you have already made public.

The Council's data processor engages with sub-processors that are located in America. Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) have been developed and agreed between both parties to ensure any sharing of personal data is lawful.

The Legal Basis:

We base our processing on the following legal basis from the UK GDPR:

The performance of a task carried out in the public interest, otherwise known as 'public task': Powys County Council has a duty to assist its residents by answering questions, queries or managing complaints.

Your rights

Subject Access Request - you are able to make a request to see and be provided with a copy of information about you that is being used by Powys County Council. This includes why information is being held and what sorts of decisions are being made using that information.

To make this request please fill in a Subject Access Request Form (PDF) [100KB] and email your request to information.compliance@powys.gov.uk.

You don't have to use this form. You can email or mail your request to us via the DPO's contact details.

Right to be informed - you have the right to be supplied with information explaining why and how we use your information. These notices are called Privacy Notices.

Right of rectification - you are entitled to have personal information put right or completed if you feel it inaccurate or not complete.

Right to be forgotten - you have the right to request that personal information about you is erased where we have no compelling reason to continue using it.

Right to block or restrict - you are able to ask that we stop using your personal information for certain reasons and in certain ways.

Right to portability - Dependent upon the reasons and the way in which we use your information you may be entitled to obtain and reuse your information, to move your information from one IT system to another. This applies only when its information you gave us, you consented to us using it, or we are using it because of a contract, and the use of information is undertaken by a computer.

Right to object - you are able to object to us using your information in some cases, such as direct marketing.

Rights related to automated decision-making including profiling - where you are able to request human intervention in the decision-making process.

Further Information

Our Data Protection Officer (DPO) provides help and guidance to make sure we apply the best standards to protecting your personal information. If something goes wrong with your personal information, or you have questions about how we process your data, the Council's Data Protection Officer can be contacted by email at information.compliance@powys.gov.uk

For independent advice about data protection, privacy and data sharing issues, you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at:

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

Tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 if you prefer to use a national rate number

Alternatively, visit https://ico.org.uk/

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