Guidance

Privacy notice for Cabinet Office historic records and inquiries

Published 28 August 2018

1. Your data

1.1 Purpose

The purposes for which we are processing your personal data are:

To support the transfer of historic public records to The National Archives under the Public Records Act 1958. The data are processed to monitor selection, review, preparation and transfer of historic records. The data are also processed in order to ensure that various categories of sensitive information, including personal information, is not open to the public, thereby safeguarding the rights and privacy of data subjects and complying with relevant legislation.

Personal data is also used to meet Cabinet Office’s duty to comply with the terms of any inquiries established by the government or police investigations. The data is processed to select and prepare records for sharing with the relevant inquiry/investigation.

1.2 The data

We will process the following personal data:

• names
• dates of birth
• addresses
• opinions expressed
• other notable biographical details and events

1.3 Legal basis of processing

The legal basis for processing your personal data is:

• it is necessary to comply with a legal obligation placed on us as the data controller:
   
• the Public Records Act 1958 obliges government departments to transfer historic records to The National Archives
• we also review records for release in line with our obligations under the data protection legislation
• the Inquiries Act 2005 places an obligation on departments to supply information to inquiries and there is a duty on departments to comply with police investigations

Sensitive personal data is personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, and the processing of genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person, data concerning health or data concerning a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation.

The legal basis for processing your sensitive personal data, and data relating to criminal convictions, is:

• some processing is covered by the exclusions relating to the processing of personal data for archiving purposes in the public interest
• some processing is processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest for the exercise of a function of the Crown, a minister of the Crown, or a government department; or the exercise of a function conferred on a person by an enactment. That is providing information to inquiries carried out in the public interest.

1.4 Recipients

Your personal data may be shared by us with other government departments or agencies where this is necessary to satisfy the requirements set out above. It will be shared with our data processors who provide email, document management and storage services.

Personal data in the records will, if cleared for release, be opened to the public.

Personal data in records relevant to inquiries or police investigations will also be shared with those bodies.

1.5 Retention

Your personal data will be kept by us until the obligation under the Public Records Act is fully discharged (i.e. the records to which it relates are opened to the public) plus seven years. It is retained for audit purposes and to assist with future decision making.

Where personal data have not been obtained from the data subject:

• your personal data were obtained by us from the archival records and from public sources including the internet and other government departments and agencies

2. Your rights

You have a number of rights. These are qualified, and do not apply where compliance with them would prevent or seriously impair the purpose of archiving in the public interest.

You have the right to:

• request information about how your personal data are processed, and to request a copy of that personal data
• request that any inaccuracies in your personal data are rectified without delay
• request that any incomplete personal data are completed, including by means of a supplementary statement
• request that your personal data are erased if there is no longer a justification for them to be processed
• in certain circumstances (for example, where accuracy is contested), to request that the processing of your personal data is restricted
• object to the processing of your personal data where it is processed for direct marketing purposes
• object to the processing of your personal data

3. International transfers

As your data will be shared with our IT supplier, who provides email, document management and storage services to us, it may be stored securely outside the European Union. Where that is the case, it will receive equivalent legal protection through the reliance on Model Contract Clauses.

4. Complaints

If you consider that your personal data has been misused or mishandled, you may make a complaint to the Information Commissioner, who is an independent regulator. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

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

Telephone: 0303 123 1113
casework@ico.org.uk

Any complaint to the Information Commissioner is without prejudice to your right to seek redress through the courts.

5. Contact details

The data controller for your personal data is the Cabinet Office. The contact details for the data controller are:

Cabinet Office
70 Whitehall
London
SW1A 2AS

Public Enquiries: Online Contact Form

The Data Protection Officer provides independent advice and monitoring of Cabinet Office’s use of personal information.

The contact details for the data controller’s Data Protection Officer are: dpo@cabinetoffice.gov.uk