Afghan and other UK resettlement schemes privacy notice - Privacy notices

The council provides services for local communities and the people who live in them. Undertaking this work means that we must collect and use information about the people we provide services to and keep a record of those services. Because we collect and use personal information about individuals we must make sure that they know what we intend to do with their information and who it may be shared with.

This privacy notice covers the Afghan and UK resettlement schemes as enacted by the UK Government.

This scheme will support refugees with housing, education, health and integration into the community, as well as supporting local volunteers, community groups and voluntary organisations who wish to offer their support to refugees.

We will always follow policy, advice and guidance from the UK Government when making any changes to the way in which we provide you with the support you need.

To enable Herefordshire Council to co-ordinate and deliver appropriate and suitable support to enable refugees to settle within our community, we will process the following data:

• Name
• Address
• Contact details including telephone number, email address,
• Date of birth
• Visa / Passport information
• Family member's information, including any children
• Disability and health information
• Ethnicity
• Information relating to any safeguarding concerns
• Religion

We receive most of this information from you, but we may also get some of this data from:

• The Home Office (central government)
• Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (central government)
• West Midlands Strategic Migration Partnership

All personal data held, is processed in accordance with data protection law. The data controller for the information outlined in this privacy notice is Herefordshire Council.

We will use the information you provide in order to:

• Facilitate support for refugees arriving in Herefordshire on recognised government resettlement schemes
• Undertake assessments to establish what support we can put in place for you and your family
• Keep a record of the support that we will be providing to you
• Undertake regular reviews to establish whether the programme is working for you, or whether we need to change anything to help you

This will include:

• Developing post arrival support plans involving organisations such as health and support services

We also use this information to assess the quality of our services and evaluate and improve our policies and procedures.

We may also use information in other ways compatible with the above.

We have legal grounds under the GDPR to process this information because it is necessary:

• For the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the Controller (Immigration and Asylum Act 1999)
• To exercise a function of the Crown, a Minister of the Crown or a government department

We have legal grounds to process (including share) special category data and criminal convictions data because it is necessary:

• For the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the Controller (Immigration and Asylum Act 1999)
• To exercise a function of the Crown, a Minister of the Crown or a government department

We may need to share your information with:

• The Home Office
• The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
• West Midlands Strategic Migration Partnership
• Other Herefordshire Council departments
• Other local authorities, including district councils
• Other central government agencies
• Registered social landlords
• Charities and other voluntary organisations who may be able to provide services to you

Any information which is shared will only be shared on a need to know basis, with appropriate individuals. Only the minimum information for the purpose will be shared.

Your personal information may also be given to third parties contracted by the council to provide a service to the council. These service providers are known as data processors and have a legal obligation under GDPR and to the council to look after your personal information and only use it for providing that service.

Your personal information will be securely deleted and destroyed within 2 years from the closure of the end of our three year programme of support, unless the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and/or the Home Office identifies that information should be securely deleted and destroyed before that point.

If we need to use your information for research or reports, your information will be anonymised and any information taken from notes (handwritten or typed) during any consultation sessions will be securely destroyed. The information will continue to be used in a summarised and anonymised form in any research reports or papers that are published. The anonymised information in the papers may be of historic interest and may be held in public archives indefinitely.

Individuals have a number of rights under data protection law, including the right to request their information, please refer to our access to information page.

You also have a right to make a complaint about our handling of your personal data to the Information Commissioner's Office.

Information you provide will only be used for the stated purpose. Further information about the processing of your data can be found on our data protection page.

You can contact the council's data protection officer by emailing informationgovernance@herefordshire.gov.uk

You can find out more information on how Herefordshire supports refugees in the county by looking at our web page on Refugee resettlement.