Privacy Notice

1. Who are we?

Brighton and Hove Green Party is a member-led organisation which exists to promote the aims of the Green Party of England & Wales. It develops, campaigns for and implements ecological and social policies, and campaigns to win seats at all levels of government.

It organises within a geographical area which covers the parliamentary constituencies of Brighton Pavilion, Brighton Kemptown and Hove; at a local government level, this area includes the entire Brighton and Hove City Council unitary authority area and four wards within the Lewes District Council area.

The local party also contributes to Green Party activity at a national and European level.

2. Our Contact Details for privacy queries

Data Protection Team, Brighton & Hove Green Party, 39 - 41 Surrey Street, Brighton, BN1 3PB
Phone: 01273 766670
Mobile 07592503422
Email: Data Protection Officer: [email protected]

3. Keeping your data safe

We are committed to keeping the personal details of our members and supporters safe. This policy explains how and why we use your personal data, to ensure that you remain informed and in control of your information. It sets out what information we may hold about you if you provide it, and how that data will be used. In each case we will only use the information about you for the purpose for which you provide it. We will always respect any communication preferences you give.

No information will be shared more widely than is set out below unless it is required by law.

This policy deals with the way your information is processed by Brighton & Hove Green Party. It should be read in conjunction with the privacy policy of the national Green Party of England & Wales, since we obtain some membership and supporter data from them. The national party’s privacy policy of the can be accessed here https://www.greenparty.org.uk/privacy.html

4. What data do we collect and where from?

We obtain basic information about members and supporters via the national database of the Green Party of England & Wales.

We are also given updated copies of the full electoral register for the 3 local constituencies, recording residents’ names, postal address, and whether or not they voted in the previous election. Further information on the supply of the full register can be found here http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/162578/Part-4-Maintaining-the-register-throughout-the-year.pdf

We also independently collect information as a local party.

Additional data collected by Brighton & Hove Green Party may include:

  • records of donations and pledges
  • your bank details if you are supporting us financially with a Direct Debit
  • ways you have helped us through volunteering your time
  • records of meetings you have attended
  • campaigns or activities that you have been involved in
  • petitions you have signed or surveys you have completed
  • interactions with us on social media
  • political issues that interest you
  • photographs taken during campaigns or at meetings
  • background information supporting application for internal elections
  • background information supporting applications for volunteer opportunities
  • information about problems experienced by individual local residents, that we then pass on to either local councillors or the MP’s office for resolution (casework)
  • how you use our website (via Cookies)
  • anonymised data from our social networking sites Facebook and Twitter
  • research on political issues obtained from surveys or focus groups of local residents

5. Why do we collect your data and what is our legal basis for using your data?

The legal basis for holding and processing your personal information varies. In addition to having a lawful basis for collecting information more generally, we have to meet specific conditions for processing political information. (The EU General Data Protection Regulation classifies political information as special category data: essentially, as more personally sensitive data).

Following data protection law, we will not collect, store or process your personal details if you are under 13 years of age, unless we have express permission from your parent or guardian to do so.

For members: we collect your data to administer your membership and provide information about local Party activities, or to administer any donations to Brighton & Hove Green Party. In communicating with members about their membership, the lawful basis is contractual, in line with the contract entered into when joining the Green Party. Providing information about local political activity or campaigns is on the basis of legitimate interest. Additionally, we require opt-in consent to contact you by phone if you are registered with the Telephone Preference Service, or to take photographs. Administering donations is also on the basis of opt-in consent.

For supporters: we collect your data to send you updates about campaigns and local activity, and to administer any donations. The lawful basis here is your opt-in consent for administering the donations, and legitimate interest with respect to communicating about the specific Party activity you support. We will only send email information about wider local Party activity and campaigns if we have your opt-in consent to do so. Administering any donations is also on the basis of opt-in consent.

For local residents: we canvass your political views on the basis of legitimate interest. We may collect your data to keep you up to date with our community campaigning and other local Party activity, but only with your opt-in consent. We may collect casework information, but only with your opt-in consent. We may ask you to participate in political research (via surveys, focus groups, or interviews), but again only with your opt-in consent.

6. Who do we share this information with?

We will not share your information with any other organisation for marketing purposes.

For donors, there are some occasions when disclosure of your information is required by law. If your donation is over £500 we need to check that you are on the electoral register and eligible to donate. If you donate more than £1500 to the Brighton & Hove Green Party, or over £7,500 to the national party, your name and the amount of your donation will be reported to the Electoral Commission for publication on their public register of donations to the Green Party.

We use a number of external data processors in order to help us provide services. These organisations are required to act on our instruction in relation to their use of your personal data and do not have any control over your data in their own right. We make sure anyone who provides a service for Brighton and Hove Green Party enters into an agreement with us and meets our standards for data security. They will not use your data for anything other than the clearly defined purpose relating to the service that they are providing.

Examples of who we may share your data with include:

7. How do we protect your information?

Electronic data and databases are stored on secure computer systems and we control who has access to this information. Our staff and designated volunteers receive data protection training and we have a set of detailed data protection procedures which personnel are required to follow when handling personal data, to maintain confidentiality.

We will only use and store information for as long as it required for the purposes it was collected for. We will regularly review what information we hold, and delete what is no longer required.

8. How long do we keep your data for?

For members, records will be held for as long as you maintain your membership. If your membership lapses (as distinct from cancellation), we will identify you as a supporter.

For supporters, your information will be kept for as long as you wish to continue your support.

For residents, canvassing data will be held for 10 years ( two election cycles).

Any case work issue will be periodically reviewed and related information deleted once resolved.

Any personally identifiable research data will be deleted once collated and anonymised.

9. Your rights

You should find it easy to access and amend the personal information that we hold on you, or request that we stop contacting you. Further information is available from The Information Commissioner’s Office : https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/individual-rights/

Anyone can opt out of email communications by clicking the unsubscribe links in our emails.

You can opt out of any or all of Brighton & Hove Green Party’s contact methods (email, phone or post) by emailing the Data Protection team: [email protected]

You have the right to request a copy of the data we are holding about you and information about the way we process it. You can ask for a copy of all personal data that we hold about you (subject to some exceptions); this request must be made in writing, sent to: [email protected]or to Data Protection Officer, Brighton & Hove Green Party, 39 - 41 Surrey Street, Brighton, BN1 3PB

If you have any concern about the accuracy of your personal data, please let us know by contacting the Data Protection team.

You have the right to withdraw consent for us to hold your data at any time.

If you would like us to remove the personal information we hold about you, please contact the Brighton and Hove Green Party’s Data Protection team.

We hope we can resolve any concerns you have about the use of your personal information. But you have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority, The Information Commissioner’s Office; further information is available here https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/

For donors, relevant data will be held for 5 years, to comply with financial regulations.