GDPR Policy

ST AIDAN, GRAVESEND

DATA PROTECTION POLICY

The existing Data Protection Act 1998 is being replaced by the General Data Protection Regulation on 25/5/2018 and our Policy reflects the change in legislation.  A full copy of the new requirements, the Privacy Notice covering 8 pages, is on our website (Newsletter section).  This Policy document, therefore, contains only the information needed to cover most people in most situations.  There will be instances where the Privacy Notice will also need to be consulted.

Personal data is any information about you which allows you to be identified from that data (e.g. name, photograph, address, email address).  The processing of such data is governed by legislation.

The Data Controller, responsible for processing personal data is the Parochial Church Council, a legal entity.  The Data Protection Officer, to whom all requests for information should be channelled is Michael Welch.

The Data Controller processes only personal data: 

• to enable us to meet all legal and statutory obligations (which include maintaining and publishing our electoral roll in accordance with the Church Representation Rules);

• to carry out comprehensive safeguarding procedures (including due diligence and complaints handling) in accordance with best safeguarding practice from time to time with the aim of ensuring that all children and adults-at-risk are provided with safe environments;

• to minister to you and provide you with pastoral and spiritual care (such as visiting you when you are gravely ill or bereaved) and to organise and perform ecclesiastical services for you, such as baptisms, confirmations, weddings and funerals;

• to deliver the Church’s mission to our community, and to carry out any other voluntary or charitable activities for the benefit of the public as provided for in the constitution and statutory framework of each data controller; 

• to administer the parish, deanery, archdeaconry and diocesan membership records; 

• to fundraise and promote the interests of the Church and charity; 

• to maintain our own accounts and records;

• to process a donation that you have made (including Gift Aid information);

• to seek your views or comments;

• to notify you of changes to our services, events and role holders; 

• to send you communications which you have requested and that may be of interest to you.  These may include information about campaigns, appeals, other fundraising activities;

• to process a grant or application for a role;

• to enable us to provide a voluntary service for the benefit of the public in a particular geographical area as specified in our constitution; 

Our processing also includes the use of CCTV systems for the prevention and prosecution of crime.

Personal data is only shared with third parties where strictly necessary, or where you have given prior consent.

Personal data is kept for only as long as is necessary and may be deleted after that.  

You have the following rights with respect to your personal data:

1. The right to access information we hold on you.  At any point you can contact us to request the information we hold on you as well as why we have that information, who has access to the information and where we obtained the information from.  Once we have received your request we will respond within one month. There are no fees or charges for the first request but additional requests for the same data may be subject to an administrative fee. 

2. The right to correct and update the information we hold on you. If the data we hold on you is out of date, incomplete or incorrect, you can inform us and your data will be updated. 

3. The right to have your information erased.  If you feel that we should no longer be using your data or that we are illegally using your data, you can request that we erase the data we hold. When we receive your request, we will confirm whether the data has been deleted or the reason why it cannot be deleted (for example because we need it for our legitimate interests or regulatory purpose(s)). 

4. The right to object to processing of your data. You have the right to request that we stop processing your data. Upon receiving the request, we will contact you and let you know if we are able to comply or if we have legitimate grounds to continue to process your data.  Even after you exercise your right to object, we may continue to hold your data to comply with your other rights or to bring or defend legal claims. 

5. The right to data portability.  You have the right to request that we transfer some of your data to another controller. We will comply with your request, where it is feasible to do so, within one month of receiving your request.

6. The right to withdraw your consent to the processing at any time for any processing of data to which consent was sought.  You can withdraw your consent easily by telephone, email, or by post (see Contact Details below).

7. The right to object to the processing of personal data where applicable.

8. The right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

If we wish to use personal data for a new purpose, not covered by this Notice, then we will provide a new notice explaining this new use prior to commencing the processing and setting out the relevant purposes and processing conditions.  Where and whenever necessary, we will seek prior consent to the new processing.

We will comply with our legal obligations to keep personal data up to date; to store and destroy it securely; to not collect or retain excessive amounts of data and to keep personal data secure.

All holding personal data within St Aidan’s Church are required to keep such data only in accordance with the provisions of St Aidan’s Privacy Notice, this policy and the law’s demands, i.e. it must be  necessary, relevant, accurate, up to date,  and kept securely and must advise the Data Protection Officer of the following, and of any subsequent changes, as they occur:-

• the category of data  (e.g. addresses, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, medical allergies etc)

• the purpose for which it is held  (e.g. organisation members’ list; pastoral etc)

• the medium in which it is stored (e.g. paper, or digitally etc)

• security measures in place for ensuring access is restricted to those entitled to see it (e.g. kept in locked drawer, password protected  etc).