Privacy Notice - Licensing: Taxi Licensing

Who we are

We are Spelthorne Borough Council's Licensing Department. You privacy is important to us. We aim for full transparency on how we gather, use, and share your personal information in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation.

What we need

We will collect personal data about you from you and from third parties e.g. the Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS), the Home Office, Driving assessment organisations or your GP.

This service may collect and use some of the following personal and special category information about you as an applicant or licence holder, depending on which licence, permit or consent you hold, are applying for, or enquiring about:

• Name (including previous names)
• Contact details (postal address, telephone number, email address, etc.)
• Date of birth
• Gender
• Photographs
• Proof of identity
• Medical history
• Nationality/country of origin
• Proof of right to work in UK
• Overseas good conduct reports
• National Insurance Number
• Tax code for checks to be made which will be undertaken at a minimum of once per year
• The licence number issued to you
• Details of any criminal offences
• Outcomes of Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks - these will be undertaken at a minimum of every 6 months for the duration of license.
• Bank account or payment information details
• Address history
• Employment history
• Insurance details
• Driving history, for checks to be made which will be undertaken at a minimum of once per year
• Vehicle registration number, make and model
• Whether your vehicle is wheelchair accessible
• Start and end date of your vehicle licence
• Whether your vehicle is hackney carriage or private hire

This list is not exhaustive.

If you choose not to supply the required information we will not be able to progress your application.

Why we need it

We need to use your personal data so we can get in touch, or carry out checks to ensure you are fit and proper to hold a licence - in the interests of ensuring the public with whom you may work are safe. We can also use your personal data under many different laws. In many cases there is a law that says we must or can process your data and we can do so without your consent or permission.

The processing of your data is necessary for assessing your application and administering the licensing regime. This may include:

• Verifying the right to work status of licence applicants. Where necessary, we will do this by verifying your information with the Home Office and/or the Department for Work and Pensions
• Being on a register for public inspection. This information may include your name, registered address, badge/licence number, vehicle registration number.
• Sending you general updates on issues relating to the licensing and operation of the licensing authority in Spelthorne via email, including renewals
• The prevention and detection of fraud as part of the National Fraud Initiative. The Cabinet Office requires councils to participate in data matching exercises for this purpose
• The prevention or detection of crime and/or the apprehension or prosecution of offenders (law enforcement purposes)
• To help safeguard vulnerable adults and children
• For the purposes of assessing your application for or continuing fitness to hold a licence
• For the creation of aggregated, depersonalised data and statistics which may be shared with external stakeholders who have a role in supporting enforcement and compliance in Spelthorne, or for carrying out research and analysis. Individuals cannot be identified using this data

In some instances (for example, when checking medical fitness reports or requesting details on criminal records), we will need to refer your data to a third party organisation. These third party organisations who provide their services have to keep your details safe and secure, and use them only for this purpose.

What is the lawful basis we are relying on?

We collect and use your personal information because it is necessary to perform our legal obligations and our public task, as per Articles 6(1)(c) and (e) of the GDPR.

The Licensing Team is responsible for the processing of applications and payments for the licences, certificates and notices provided under the following legislation:

• Town Police Clauses Act 1847
• Air Quality (Taxi and Private Hire Vehicles Database) (England and Wales) Regulations 2019 (SI 2019 No. 885)
• Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976
• Road Traffic Act 1988

What we do with it

Your personal information will be treated as confidential but it may be shared with other Council services in order to ensure our records are accurate and up-to-date, and to improve the standard of the services we deliver.

In order to comply with Air Quality (Taxi and Private Hire Vehicles Database) (England and Wales) Regulations 2019 (SI 2019 No. 885) some details of your vehicle licence will be shared with DEFRA.

In the event that you are refused a licence or subject to revocation or suspended, we will share your data with the Local Government Association, and it will be uploaded onto the National Register of Refusals & Revocations (NR3), which is a central register of refusals and revocations accessible by all Local Authorities in the UK.

The Council may share information about a refusal or revocation or suspension of license with competent relevant authorities for example Surrey County Council and/or other councils. This data is administrated by the National Anti-Fraud Network and is held under an 11 year retention policy (applicable from the date of refusal or revocation or suspension, notthe relay of such data).

The Council will check all new and renewal applications against the National Register of Refusals & Revocations (NR3).

The Council will inform all licensed Private Hire Operators and the Police if your license is suspended or revoked or suspended

We will only use your information in ways which are permitted by the General Data Protection Regulation and the current UK Data Protection law.

This authority has a duty to protect the public funds it administers and may use information held about you for all lawful purposes, including but not limited to the prevention and detection of crime including fraud and money laundering.

Section 167 of the Equality Act 2010 requires the council to maintain and publish a list of designated wheelchair accessible taxis and private hire vehicles. The duties on drivers at section 165 of the Equality Act 2010 apply to drivers of vehicles included in such a list. This list may contain personal data and will be published on our website.

The Council is subject to the Freedom of Information Act, and the Environmental Information Regulations and may provide personal data in response to questions asked of us.

The Council may also use your information for the purpose of performing any of its statutory enforcement duties. It will make any disclosures required by law and may also share your information with other bodies responsible for detecting/preventing crime including fraud or auditing/administering public funds.

We will not disclose your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes.

How long we keep your information

We will only keep your information for as long as it is required to be retained. The retention period is either dictated by law or by our discretion. Once your information is no longer needed it will be securely and confidentially destroyed.

Information held on the NR3 database will be held for a period of 11 years.

You have the following rights:

• you have the right to be informed via Privacy Notices such as this
• you have the right to request access to and to receive a copy of any information we hold about you (including in an electronic format) - to request a copy of this information you must make a subject access request in writing
• if you find that the information Spelthorne Borough Council holds about you is no longer accurate, you have the right to ask to have this corrected
• you have the right - under certain conditions - to ask us to erase your personal data
• you may request that Spelthorne Borough Council stops processing your personal data in relation to any council service (this may delay or prevent us delivering a service to you, we will seek to comply with your request but may be required to hold or process information to comply with our legal duties)

If you require further information about the use of your data or would like to exercise any of the above rights, please contact the data protection officer, please see contact details below.

If you have concerns

If you have any concerns about how this Department or the Council is handling your personal data, these can be raised with the Council's Data Protection Officer:

Spelthorne Borough Council, Council Offices, Knowle Green, Staines upon Thames, TW18 1XB Email: data.protection@spelthorne.gov.uk

You also have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). This is an independent body responsible for making sure that organisations comply with Data Protection legislation.

The ICO will always expect you to have raised your concerns with us before submitting a complaint.