Guidance

Routine processing of personal data in respect of official veterinarians, animal health paraprofessionals and food competent certification officers – privacy notice

Updated 24 May 2024

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/animal-and-plant-heath-agency-privacy-notices/routine-processing-of-personal-data-in-respect-of-official-veterinarians-animal-health-paraprofessionals-and-food-competent-certification-officers

This privacy notice is for the routine processing of personal data in respect of your role as an official veterinarian (OV), animal health paraprofessional (AHP) or food competent certification officer (FCCO).

You can also access privacy notices for the processing of personal data relating to OVs, AHPs and FCCOs in respect of investigations into their conduct, and personal data relating to witnesses involved in such investigations.

Your data is being collected by

The data controller is the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) for personal data that you give to the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA).

APHA is an Executive Agency of Defra. You can contact APHA’s Data Protection Manager by email at: data.protection@defra.gov.uk.

APHA also works with the Scottish Government and Welsh Government, who are joint controllers with APHA for any relevant personal data.

Any questions about how Defra and APHA are using your personal data and your associated rights should be sent to the above contact.

The Data Protection Officer responsible for monitoring that Defra and APHA are meeting the requirements of the legislation can be contacted by email at: DefraGroupDataProtectionOfficer@defra.gov.uk.

If you have any queries in relation to OVs, AHPs and FCCOs or their role, contact csconehealthovteam@apha.gov.uk.

What personal data is collected

We collect the following items of personal data:

  • your name, postal address and contact details
  • your nationality
  • your employer details
  • your professional veterinary qualifications and OV, AHP, FCCO training undertaken – this also includes Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) membership details
  • any details relating to investigations and disciplinary matters concerning work carried out for Defra

How your data has been obtained

APHA may obtain your personal data from:

  • sources not available to the public – for example, APHA’s internal IT database (Sam) and the official veterinarian and animal health paraprofessional Improve International databases
  • internet websites open to anyone – this is known as ‘open-source material’ and includes, but is not limited to, news report internet sites, Companies House, Land Registry records, and blogs and social networking sites where no privacy settings have been applied
  • APHA employees and any other persons who may be able to provide APHA with information relating to the work that you have carried out on behalf of APHA

Why APHA is using your data

Our purpose for collecting and processing your personal data is to authorise you to carry out work on behalf of APHA and Defra. We may also need to take regulatory action in line with the relevant Policy of Authorisation as follows:

The legal bases for processing your data are:

  • where a person is working in a role as a result of a contract, including a contract of employment and an agreement amounting to a contract (Article 6(1)(b), UK GDPR)
  • in relation to the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller (Article 6(1)(e), UK GDPR)

How long APHA holds personal data for

Retention periods are set by considering statutory, regulatory, legal and security reasons, alongside historic value.

All information in APHA is held in accordance with our retention policy. If you would like more information, contact enquiries@apha.gov.uk.

Your rights

Find out about your rights under data protection law.

Complaints

You have the right to lodge a complaint about the use of your personal data at any time with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO – the data protection supervisory authority).

APHA’s personal information charter

APHA’s personal information charter broadly sets out details of APHA’s processing of personal data.

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