This privacy notice sets out how the Royal Borough's Communications and Marketing Team is working in collaboration with Public Health England, East Berkshire NHS CCG and those Royal Borough public services directly affected by COVID-19, to produce and publish a dedicated COVID-19 public e-newsletter.
This privacy notice explains how the personal data of residents will be used for the purposes of communicating with our residents to combat and contain the further spread of COVID-19 within the Royal Borough and to help keep our residents safe.
Who we are
Royal Borough Communications and Marketing
Town Hall, St Ives Road
Maidenhead SL6 1RF
Email: Communications@RBWM.gov.uk
How we use information about you
E-newsletters are proven to be an effective communication tool as they are an easy and cost-effective way to disseminate information and do not put residents at risk by non-essential trips from their homes to acquire important information. In this fast-moving environment, with advice and information changing almost daily, the content of e-newsletters is completely up-to-date and relevant. The purpose is to provide residents with the very latest information on matters related to the pandemic needed to empower them to make informed decisions to protect their health and wellbeing.
The COVID-19 e-newsletter will contain only the following information:
- Public health messages from Public Health and Central Government
- Where our residents can get help if they need it
- Local Vaccination and Community Testing updates
- Latest borough COVID-19 statistics and data
- Royal Borough service updates directly affected by COVID such as libraries and parks/ play areas closing/reopening, bin collections affected, support grants, schooling arrangements etc.
Lawful basis for processing information
The law on protecting personally identifiable information is known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Our lawful basis for producing and publishing a dedicated COVID-19 e-newsletter is in accordance with GDPR Article 6(1)(f) – processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the controller or by a third party except where such interests are overridden by the interests of fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject which require protection of personal data, in particular where the data subject is a child.
How we collect information
A residents emailing list for the COVID-19 e-newsletter will be created by pulling existing email subscribers from other databases held by the Royal Borough:
- council tax,
- customer services,
- green bins,
- museums,
- advantage cards,
- residents’ news e-newsletter, staff e-newsletter.
- We liaise directly with the service area holding this information.
What information is collected
Only email addresses of residents will be used for the purposes of compiling the COVID-19 e-newsletter. We collect no other personal information contained in other council databases.
How we use the information provided
Email addresses are uploaded onto the subscription database on Constant Contact – the secure platform (password protected) used by the Royal Borough for its existing e-newsletters – residents’ news, elected members and staff.
Who has access to the information about you
Only designated members of the Communications and Marketing Team have access to Constant Contact.
Who we may share your information with
We share information about subscribers to the COVID-19 e-newsletter with no one else.
How long we store your information
Until which time the World Health Organisation declares the COVID-19 pandemic has ended. At this time, the database will be deleted, and the e-newsletter terminated.
Does your service utilise automated decision making?
No.