Information about our organisation and website
This site is owned, managed and run by Brent Council.

Our privacy policy covers The London Borough of Brent and its website only.  Should you have any queries about the site, you can contact us by writing to The Web Manager at The London Borough of Brent, Town Hall, Forty Lane, Wembley, Middlesex, United Kingdom, HA9 9HD, or by email at web.manager@brent.gov.uk

Accessing Brent's website
You can access our website home page and browse our site without disclosing your personal data, obtaining information about Brent Council services and activities.  Our website enables you to communicate with other visitors or to post information to be accessed by others. When you do so, other visitors may collect information about you.

What personal information do we collect?
In some areas, we may ask you to register your name, email address and relevant personal details. We will also collect information from you if you complete any other forms on our site or if you contact us with comments or specific requests.  This information is only used for the intended purpose and, if we wish to use it for any other purpose, we will ask you first.

If you choose to complete any of our on-line forms, Brent Council will not use the personal information you provide us with for marketing purposes without first gaining your consent. We may pass your details on to third party service providers who are contracted to Brent Council in the course of dealing with your request. These third parties are obliged to keep your details securely, will use them only to fulfil the request and will dispose of the information at the appropriate time.

Collecting information automatically
We collect web statistics automatically about your visit to our site. This information is used to help us follow browsing preferences on our site so that we can regularly improve our website. These statistics do not contain personal data and cannot be traced back to an individual.

We do not use cookies to store personal data nor do we link non-personal information stored in cookies with personal data about specific individuals.

Disclosure
We will only use personal information you send us for the purposes for which you provide it.  We will only hold your information for as long as necessary for these purposes and will not pass it on to any other parties, except where required to carry out our duties and functions as a local authority.  All employees and subsidiaries who may have access to your personal data are obliged to respect the confidentiality of your personal data.  All your communications to us are protected against unauthorized access by third parties.

Confidentiality / security
We give you the option of using a secure transmission method to send us the following types of personal data:

- primary personal data (such as name and contact details) 
- identifiers (such as credit card details, website password)

All our employees and data processors, who have access to, and are associated with the processing of personal data, are obliged to respect the confidentiality of our visitors' personal data.

We ensure that your personal data will not be disclosed to government institutions and authorities except if required by law or other regulation.

Email monitoring policy
The use of Brent Council's email system may be monitored and communications read in order to secure effective operation of the system and for other lawful purposes.

Asking us for information we may hold about you
You can ask us for information we may hold about you by sending postal mail to The Data Protection Officer, Room 103, The London Borough of Brent, Town Hall, Forty Lane, Wembley, Middlesex, United Kingdom, HA9 9HD.  We will inform you within 40 days if we store any personal information about you.

You may also write to the above address to request a copy of your information and we will provide you with a legible copy of the personal data which we keep about you and to which you are entitled.  This will be sent to you within 40 days of your request- although we may require proof of your identity and information to locate your personal data.

We will provide the information without any charge.

Privacy compliance
We will treat any personal information by which you can be identified (i.e. name, address, email and the like) in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act of 1998.If you have an enquiry or concern regarding the processing of personal data by Brent Council, please contact:

The Data Protection Officer, Room 103, The London Borough of Brent, Town Hall, Forty Lane, Wembley, Middlesex, United Kingdom, HA9 9HD

Or you can send your request by email to: dpo@brent.gov.uk

If you are not satisfied with our response to your concern: you may wish to contact complaints online or at The One Stop Service

Alternatively, you can contact the Information Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, WILMSLOW, Cheshire, CK9 5AF or view the website www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk/

Code of Data Matching Practice

This authority is required by law to protect the public funds it administers. It
may share information provided to it with other bodies responsible for auditing or administering public funds, in order to prevent and detect fraud.
The Audit Commission appoints the auditor to audit the accounts of this
authority. It is also responsible for carrying out data matching exercises.

Data matching involves comparing computer records held by one body
against other computer records held by the same or another body. This is
usually personal information. Computerised data matching allows potentially
fraudulent claims and payments to be identified. Where a match is found it
indicates that there is an inconsistency which requires further investigation.
No assumption can be made as to whether there is fraud, error or other
explanation until an investigation is carried out.

The Audit Commission currently requires us to participate in a data matching
exercise to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud. We are required to provide particular sets of data to the Audit Commission for matching for each exercise, and these are set out in the Audit Commission's handbooks, which can be found at www.audit-commission.gov.uk/nfi

The use of data by the Audit Commission in a data matching exercise is
carried out with statutory authority under its powers in Part 2A of the Audit
Commission Act 1998. It does not require the consent of the individuals
concerned under the Data Protection Act 1998.

Data matching by the Audit Commission is subject to a Code of Practice. This may be found at www.audit-commission.gov.uk/nfi/codeofdmp

SMS
Please note that the use of SMS is entirely voluntary. If you make use of these services, please take time to read through the guidelines that apply to them.

The transmission of SMS messages via public networks is an unprotected medium, and these messages can potentially be intercepted and tampered with by third parties. This means that third parties are able to not only intercept the contents, but also to amend them and also identify the recipient and sender of the SMS message.

Brent Council is not responsible if a short message (SMS) is unable to reach the recipient on time or is unable to reach the recipient at all. For technical reasons, Brent Council is unable to guarantee the availability of the SMS service. Brent Council does not accept any liability whatsoever for losses resulting from SMS messages being received late or not at all.

All short messages sent from Brent Council to the recipient are not chargeable at the point of sending. Brent Council reserves the rights to make the final decision on charging for sending short messages. Although Brent Council provides SMS services free of charge, users may be charged extra by their mobile phone operator for messages. Brent Council shall not be held liable for such costs.

Brent Council will only hold sufficient personal details for the sending of short messages. The personal details held will only be used for the intended lawful purpose and Brent Council will not disclose this information to any third party unless required to do so by law.

Summary of terms
Browser
Used to locate and display Web pages via a software application. The most popular ones are Firefox, Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Cookie
Message given to a web browser by a web server. The message is then stored by the browser in a text file called cookie.txt. Each time the browser requests a page from the server, this message is sent back. A cookie's main objective is to identify users and personalise their visit by customising web pages for them for example by welcoming them by name next time they visit the same site. A site using cookies will usually invite you to provide personal information such as your name, e-mail address and interests.

IP (Internet Protocol)
All networks connected to the internet speak IP, the technical standard which allows data to be transmitted between two devices. TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) is responsible for making sure messages get from one host to another and that the messages are understood.

IP address
If you are connected to the Internet you have one, for example it may look something like this 198.184.98.9

Web server
Delivers (serves up) web pages to your computer.