Register Office service privacy notice

This explains how the information we collect about you is used and your rights in relation to that information.

Brighton & Hove City Council is the data controller for the purpose of the Data Protection Act 2018 and EU General Data Protection Regulation and is registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) under registration number Z5840053.

The Superintendent Registrar is the data controller for the purpose of the Data Protection Act 2018 and EU General Data Protection Regulation and is registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) under registration number Z5908457.

The Registrar General for England and Wales is joint data controller for the purpose of the Data Protection Act 2018 and EU General Data Protection Regulation and is registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) under registration number Z1272134.

The data controllers above mentioned are committed to protecting your personal information. As data controllers we have a responsibility to make sure you know why and how your personal information is being collected in accordance with relevant data protection law.

Why we are processing your data

The council is collecting your data for the purpose of civil partnerships. The Superintendent Registrar is collecting your data for the purpose of birth, marriages and death registrations. The Registrar General is collecting your data for birth, marriage, death and civil partnership registrations.

Personal information collected from you in order to register an event is required by law. The main legislation which governs the collection of registration information is the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953, the Marriage Act 1949 and the Civil Partnership Act 2004. You are legally obliged by these acts, and other legislation, to provide certain information.

A copy of the information collected by a registration officer will also be sent to the Registrar General for England and Wales so that a central record of all registrations can be maintained.

We have a legal basis for collecting this data as it is considered necessary to enable us to perform a task carried out in the public interest or exercising official authority, and to comply with a legal obligation.

Where we need to process special categories of personal data, we will only do so where we have identified that a special condition applies under data protection legislation, which can be, jointly or individually, to carry out certain obligations and rights, and/or processing is in the substantial public interest.

Your data may be shared with other organisations in the course of carrying out our functions, or to enable others to perform theirs. We will only share information where there is a lawful basis to do so for the following reasons:

1. Statistical or research purposes
2. Administrative purposes by official bodies e.g. ensuring their records are up-to-date in order to provide services to the public
3. Fraud prevention or detection, immigration and passport purposes

How long we will hold your data (retention)

How long we retain your data depends on the type of information, the reason it is processed and what the law says. In some cases we will hold your data indefinitely as required by law. Further information regarding retention policy is available from the Register Office.

How your data will be stored

Your information will be stored electronically and on paper records. We will only make them available to those who have a right to see them.

Examples of the security measures we used are:

• We use encryption meaning that information is hidden so that it cannot be read without special knowledge (such as a password). This is done with a secret code. The hidden information is said to then be ‘encrypted’.
• Pseudonymisation meaning that we’ll use a different name so we can hide parts of your personal information from view. This means that someone outside of the council could work on your information for us without ever knowing it was yours.
• Controlling access to systems and networks allows us to stop people who are not allowed to view your personal information from getting access to it.
• Training for our staff allows us to make them aware of how to handle information and how and when to report when something goes wrong.
• Regular testing of our technology and ways of working including keeping up to date on the latest security updates (commonly called patches).

Will my data be transferred abroad?

No.

Your information rights

You have the right to request access to the personal information we hold about you, to be informed about the collection and use of your personal information, for incorrect information to be corrected (where the law permits) and to request us to restrict the processing of your personal information. In certain circumstances you may have the right to object to the processing of your personal information. 

Further information on your rights is available on our website.

How to get advice or make a complaint 

Data Protection Officer 

If you have a concern about how we collect or use your personal data you can contact the Council’s Data Protection Officer.  

How to make a complaint 

We aim to resolve all complaints about how we handle personal information. You also have the right to make a complaint about data protection to the Information Commissioner's Office.  

Contact them by post: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF or phone 0303 1231 113. 

You can also make a complaint or find out more information on the Commissioner's Office website. 

If your complaint is not about data protection, find details on how to make a complaint about a council service.