Personal information charter

Our personal information charter contains the standards you can expect when we ask for, or hold, your personal information. It also covers what we ask of you, to help us keep information up to date.

When we ask you for personal information, we promise to:

  • make sure you know why we need it
  • only ask for what we need, and not to collect too much or irrelevant information
  • protect it and make sure nobody has access to it who shouldn’t
  • let you know if we share it with other organisations to give you better public services, and whether you can say no
  • make sure we don’t keep it longer than necessary
  • not to make your personal information available for commercial use without your permission

In return, we ask you to:

  • give us accurate information
  • tell us as soon as possible if there are any changes, such as a new address

This helps us to keep your information reliable and up to date.

You can get more details on:

  • how to find out what information we hold about you and how to ask us to correct any mistakes
  • agreements we have with other organisations for sharing information
  • circumstances where we can pass on your personal information without telling you, for example, to prevent and detect crime or to produce anonymised statistics
  • our instructions to staff on how to collect, use and delete your personal information
  • how we check the information we hold is accurate and up to date
  • how to make a complaint

If you have a general query you can contact us via enquiries@culture.gov.uk.

When we ask you for information, we will keep to the law, including the Data Protection Act 1998.

For independent advice about data protection, privacy and data-sharing issues, you can contact the Information Commissioner at:

The Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 08456 30 60 60 or 01625 545 745
Fax: 01625 524 510

Website: ico.org.uk

Access to personal data about you

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 individuals have a right of access to the information that is held about them by the department (although this is subject to some exemptions). These requests are known as subject access requests.

If you are seeking personal information about yourself you should make a subject access request under the Data Protection Act 1998 as this information is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information regime.

If you want to make a subject access request please submit it in writing to:

The Data Protection Officer
Department for Culture Media & Sport
100 Parliament Street
London SW1A 2BQ

Please include:

  • your proof of identity, such as a photocopy of your driver’s licence or passport, or 2 copies of recent utility bills
  • any information that will enable us to locate the data that you are seeking - for example, details of any contact that you may have had with the department in the past

Please note that the department may charge for providing such information but we will let you know beforehand if there is a charge.

Your request will be dealt with within 40 days of the department accepting the request.