Customer research and competitions privacy statement

Why we collect information about you

We conduct customer research to support the improvement of services provided by Cheltenham Borough Council. Customer research can be administered in different ways, for example surveys, focus groups or one to one interviews. Research reports may be published at the end of the project, but any information or quotes will be anonymised.

We arrange competitions to help promote or help our customers engage with the services provided by Cheltenham Borough Council. Any contact details collected will be used for the administration of the competition. We will contact you to request permission to publish your name in any communications and if you are a winner we may require a postal or email address to release the prize.

Any participation in research projects or competitions is voluntary and we will gain your consent before collecting any personal data from you.

What information do we collect about you?

The information we collect about you will depend upon the needs of the customer research project or competition. We will only collect information which identifies you if that is absolutely necessary and we will ensure you are aware of how the information is to be processed when we collect it. We will always seek to minimise the amount of personal data collected.

Data collected may include, but is not limited to, the following:

Name
Address
Email address
Telephone number
Age
Gender
Your opinions about the services
Equalities information such as health information, race or religious belief will only be collected if absolutely necessary to inform the research or to ensure our services are provided in accordance with Equalities legislation.

Who do we share this information with?

Council officers will use this information for the administration of the customer research or competition.

We will seek your permission, prior to providing your email or postal address to a third party in order to issue your reward or prize.

Any information from customer research or competitions will be anonymised before being analysed either by partner agencies or by the services of Cheltenham Borough Council.

Is there any information transferred to or stored on servers based outside the EEA?

How long do we keep your information?

12 months.

Anonymised data will kept for up to 6 years.

Who do we collect information from?

We will collect it only from you.

What are the consequences if we do not collect the data?

Without your personal data we cannot administer customer research projects and any benefits to the service improvements at Cheltenham Borough Council would be restricted. For some customer research projects, non-compliance will also mean any reward will be forfeited.

Any competition submissions without contact details will be void and prizes could not be awarded.

Corporate services privacy data