Privacy and Data Protection

The Data Protection Act 1998 was introduced to protect personal data and gives you rights to information held about you on computer or in a relevant filing system.  These rights are known an ‘subject access rights’. 

All users of personal information including Cumbria County Council must obey the rules and conditions of the Act when obtaining and using personal information.

The council must obey all the rules and conditions of the Act when obtaining or using personal information. The Act calls us (The Council) the data controller.

The Act provides you with certain rights, which the council must respect.  You can: 

• Ask the council if it holds personal information about you
• Ask what it uses the information for
• Be given a copy of the information
• Be given details about the purposes for which the council uses the information and of other organisations or persons to whom it is disclosed
• Ask for incorrect data to be corrected
• Claim compensation for damage or distress should these be caused by the council's failure to comply with certain requirements of the Act

You also have the right to ask the council not to use personal information about you:

• For direct marketing;
• For any purpose which is likely to cause damage or distress to you; or
• To make decisions about you based on the automatic processing of the data.