We take your privacy seriously and will only keep and use your personal information for reasons that the law requires or allows. The Council is the data controller for the personal information we hold about you in relation to Food Safety. In order to comply with data protection legislation we want to be sure you understand how we use this information.

The purposes for which your data will be used are:

1. Updating our list of registered food businesses
2. Identifying food business operators with responsibility for complying with food hygiene laws
3. Recording and investigating complaints or concerns made about food businesses
4. Preventing and detecting fraud or other criminal activity

We are able to do this because legislation says we must do it and it is in the public interest to do it. There are lots of regulations covering Food Safety and the main rules are contained in:

• Food Safety Act 1990
• Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013
• General Food Regulations 2004
• Regulation (EC) 178 / 2002
• Regulation (EC) 852 / 2004
• Regulation (EC) 853 / 2004
• Regulation (EC) 882 / 2004

The above list is not meant to be exhaustive.

We may share your information with:

• Other agencies involved in the enforcement of food hygiene laws (for example, the Food Standards Agency, other Local Authorities)
• Other councils or organisations as part of the national fraud initiative (for example, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, Department of Work and Pensions)

Otherwise, we will only share your data if you ask us to, or if the law requires or allows us to.

We only keep this data for the time specified in our retention schedule or as required by law.

Your personal data is processed (including storage) within the European Economic Area only.

Data protection law provides you with certain rights, however not all of these rights will be available to you in all situations, particularly where we process your information as part of one of our statutory duties.  Where we are under a legal duty to use data for a particular purpose you will not have the right to prevent it being used in that way.

A full list of the rights you may have, under data protection law, is given in the 'Your Rights' section.

For specific enquiries regarding personal data which we process you can contact the Data Protection Officer on email dpo@staffordbc.gov.uk or at Civic Centre, Riverside, Stafford ST16 3AQ.

If you wish to complain about how your personal information has been handled by us then please contact the Data Protection Officer in the first instance using the details above.  If you are not satisfied you can submit a formal complaint to the Council.

Finally you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, Tel: 0303 123 1113 or you can visit their website at ico.org.uk.

You can also find details of how we handle your personal information by visiting www.staffordbc.gov.uk/PrivacyNotice.