Your Information/Data Protection

As a Fire and Rescue Service we deliver a number of prevention and emergency response services that, by law, require us to acquire and keep personal information about people who use our services, as well as our employees; therefore we may hold personal information about you.

More about our regulatory responsibilities

You can find out more about what information we hold about you, how we handle it and the rights you have by clicking below:

What are you doing with my personal information?

How we use your information depends on which of our services you have used. For example, we may use your information to:

• Respond to incidents
• Investigate fire and incidents
• Deliver and manage our safety courses and youth activities
• Offer relevant safety services, including Safe and Well visits
• Help you contact other services
• Recruit, employ and provide staff development
• Record and evaluate our work
• Respond to enquiries

We take your privacy very seriously and like to be transparent with what we do with your information. Below are specific Privacy Notices, outlining the purpose for processing, how we keep your information secure and how long we retain your data based on which service you use. We are currently working with system suppliers to make sure that systems we use are able to delete your details in line with our retention policy.

You can view our privacy notices by the clicking on the links below.

Do you share my personal information?

To deliver a fire and rescue service and meet our responsibility to promote social wellbeing and safeguard the communities we serve, we often need to work with partners. To ensure you receive relevant services we may need to share your personal and sensitive information with other authorities and partners such as:

• North Yorkshire Police
• Local councils
• Health service
• Yorkshire Ambulance Service
• Community organisations
• Voluntary services

This list provides examples only, there may be other organisations we need to share your information with.

In almost all such cases we will make you aware if your information is intended to be used in this way. We can share without asking you or without your agreement if:

• we have a legal duty or power to share information with other statutory bodies from statute or from common law when the public good is thought to be of greater importance than personal confidentiality;
• for the detection, prevention and prosecution of crime or the apprehension of offenders;
• there is a public interest that outweighs the duty of confidence to the individual (e.g. health and safety);
• there is a risk of death or serious harm;
• in the substantial interest of an individual’s health;
• in the vital interest of an individual concerned.

We will make sure that we record the information we share and the reason for doing so.

Where possible your information will be anonymised to remove as much detail as possible leaving only key elements to enable us and our partners to target resources to you and it will be transferred in a secure manner.

Read more on our Examples of Information Sharing Page.

Will anyone else have access to my information?

There are some situations where we are required by law to provide information and reports to several organisations. These organisations include:

• Central Government
• Auditors
• Crime and disorder organisations.

Where possible, this information is made anonymous to protect your privacy. The exceptions to this include:

• Information provided to crime agencies relating to prevention and detection of crime.
• Information which is necessary to prevent serious risk to individuals.
• Information which is necessary for auditors to meet the required function.
• Information which is necessary for auditing and administering public funds. This is for preventing and detecting fraud. You can obtain further details from the Audit Commission and on the National Fraud Initiative page of this website.

There are also other organisations who may have access to your information. These organisations include:

• Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service to handle 999 calls
• Suppliers employed to process data on our behalf. Examples of this currently include our payroll and Service Medical Advisor.

For more information on how we handle your data, please see our Privacy Notices.

What are my personal information rights?

You have the right to be informed why we are processing your information, you also have the;

• Right of Access
• Right to Rectification and Erasure
• Right to Restriction of Processing
• Right to Data Portability (receive information in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format)
• Right to Object
• Right not to be Subject to Automated Decision Making, including Profiling
• Right to Withdraw Consent
• Right to Lodge a Complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office
• In some cases you have the Right to be Informed of a Breach of Your Data

Please be aware that not all of these rights are absolute, so in accordance with the law there will be occasions where a refusal notice is issued or exemption applied.

How can I exercise my rights?

If you want to make a request in accordance with your rights, please email the following inboxes:

The right of Access – FRSDisclosure@northyorksfire.gov.uk

The right to Rectification and Erasure – FRSRecordsCompliance@northyorksfire.gov.uk

The right to object to processing, right to restrict processing and right to object to automated decision making – FRSDataProtectionOfficer@northyorksfire.gov.uk

Who can I contact about my personal information?

We encourage people to bring to our attention any instances where they think our collection, or use of, information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate.

In the first instance you should contact the Data Protection Officer for help and information.

Data Protection Officer

You can contact the Data Protection Officer with regard to any issues related to the processing of your personal information by the Service:

Data Protection Officer: Naomi Mackenzie
North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service
Alverton Court
Crosby Road
North Allerton
DL6 1FE

Email: FRSDataProtectionOfficer@northyorksfire.gov.uk

Phone: 101 FRS (request to speak to Naomi Mackenzie)

Regulatory Body

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the UK’s independent body set up to uphold information rights.  You have a right to lodge complaints with them.  To contact them, either visit their website, dial 03003 123 1113 or write to them at:

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