Who we are
Looking Local Limited (hereafter referred to as “Looking Local”, “we”, “our” or “us”) is a bespoke digital platform/service provider co-owned by Kirklees Council.
You can view our data protection registration on the Information Commissioner’s Office website.
How we use your information
This privacy notice tells you what to expect when Looking Local collects personal information. It applies to information we collect about:
- visitors to our websites;
- people who use our services, eg who register at BetterOff;
- job applicants and our current and former employees;
- complainants and other individuals in relation to a data protection or freedom of information complaint or enquiry;
Visitors to our websites
When someone visits lookinglocal.gov.uk we use a third party service, Google Analytics, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is only processed in a way which does not identify anyone. We do not make, and do not allow Google to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website. If we do want to collect personally identifiable information through our website, we will be up front about this. We will make it clear when we collect personal information and will explain what we intend to do with it.
Use of cookies by Looking Local
You can read more about how we use cookies on our Cookies page.
Search engine
Our website and our provided solutions use search to power them. Search queries and results are logged anonymously to help us improve our website and search functionality. No user-specific data is collected by either Looking Local or any third party.
E-newsletter
We use a third party providers, HubSpot and Gmass, to deliver our e-newsletters. We gather statistics around email opening and clicks using industry standard technologies including clear gifs to help us monitor and improve our e-newsletter. For more information, please see HubSpot’s privacy notice here and Gmass’ privacy information here.
Security and performance
Looking Local uses a third party service to help maintain the security and performance of Looking Local website. To deliver this service it processes the IP addresses of visitors to Looking Local website.
People who contact us via social media
If you send us a private or direct message via social media the message will be stored by us for twelve months. It will not be shared with any other organisations.
People who call our helpline
We use a company called ICS to help us with our calls. When you call Looking Local’s helpline we collect certain information to help improve our efficiency and effectiveness.
Both ICS and Looking Local undertake that, at all times, it shall:
- keep confidential all Confidential Information;
- not disclose any Confidential Information to any other party;
- not make any copies of, record in any way or part with possession of any Confidential Information; and ensure that none of its directors, officers, employees, agents or advisers does any act which would be a breach of the provisions above
People who email us
Any email sent to us, including any attachments, may be monitored and used by us for reasons of security and for monitoring compliance with office policy. Email monitoring or blocking software may also be used. Please be aware that you have a responsibility to ensure that any email you send to us is within the bounds of the law.
People who use our LiveChat services
We use a third party provider, HubSpot, to supply and support our live chat service, which we use to handle customer enquiries in real time on many of our solutions.
If you use the live chat service we will collect your name, email address (optional) and the contents of your live chat session. This information will be retained for two years and will not be shared with any other organisations.
You can request a transcript of your live chat session if you provide your email address when prompted at the end.
People who make a complaint to us
When we receive a complaint from a person we make up a file containing the details of the complaint. This normally contains the identity of the complainant and any other individuals involved in the complaint.
We will only use the personal information we collect to process the complaint and to check on the level of service we provide. We may compile and publish statistics showing information like the number of complaints we receive, but not in a form which identifies anyone.
We usually have to disclose the complainant’s identity to whoever the complaint is about. This is inevitable where, for example, the accuracy of a person’s record is in dispute. If a complainant doesn’t want information identifying him or her to be disclosed, we will try to respect that. However, it may not be possible to handle a complaint on an anonymous basis.
We will keep personal information contained in complaint files in line with our retention policy. This means that information relating to a complaint will be retained for two years from closure. It will be retained in a secure environment and access to it will be restricted according to the ‘need to know’ principle.
Similarly, where enquiries are submitted to us we will only use the information supplied to us to deal with the enquiry and any subsequent issues and to check on the level of service we provide.
When we take enforcement action against someone, we may publish the identity of the defendant in our Annual Report or elsewhere. Usually we do not identify any complainants unless the details have already been made public.
People who use Looking Local services
Looking Local offers various services to the public. We have to hold the details of the people who use the services in order to effectively provide them. However, we use these details only to provide the service in question and do not use them for any other purposes. People subscribes to our services can cancel their subscription at any time and are given an easy way of doing this.
Job applicants, current and former Looking Local employees
When individuals apply to work at Looking Local, we will only use the information they supply to us to process their application and to monitor recruitment statistics. Where we want to disclose information to a third party, for example where we want to take up a reference or obtain a ‘disclosure’ from the Criminal Records Bureau we will not do so without informing them beforehand unless the disclosure is required by law.
Personal information about unsuccessful candidates will be held for 12 months after the recruitment exercise has been completed, it will then be destroyed or deleted. We retain de-personalised statistical information about applicants to help inform our recruitment activities, but no individuals are identifiable from that data.
Once a person has taken up employment with Looking Local, we will compile a file relating to their employment. The information contained in this will be kept secure and will only be used for purposes directly relevant to that person’s employment. Once their employment with Looking Local has ended, we will retain the file in accordance with the requirements of our retention schedule and then delete it.
Complaints or queries
Looking Local tries to meet the highest standards when collecting and using personal information. For this reason, we take any complaints we receive about this very seriously. We encourage people to bring it to our attention if they think that our collection or use of information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate. We would also welcome any suggestions for improving our procedures.
This privacy notice was drafted with brevity and clarity in mind. It does not provide exhaustive detail of all aspects of Looking Local’s collection and use of personal information. However, we are happy to provide any additional information or explanation needed. Any requests for this should be sent to the address below.
Access to personal information
Looking Local tries to be as open as it can be in terms of giving people access to their personal information. Individuals can find out if we hold any personal information by making a ‘subject access request’ under the Data Protection Act 1998. If we do hold information about you we will:
- provide you with a description of what we hold;
- tell you why we are holding it;
- tell you who it could be disclosed to; and
- let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form.
To make a request to Looking Local for any personal information we may hold you need to put the request in writing addressing it to our Information Governance department, or writing to the address provided below.
If you agree, we will try to deal with your request informally, for example by providing you with the specific information you need over the telephone.
If we do hold information about you, you can ask us to correct any mistakes by, once again, contacting the Information Governance department.
Disclosure of personal information
In many circumstances we will not disclose personal data without consent. However when we investigate a complaint, for example, we will need to share personal information with the organisation concerned and with other relevant bodies. Further information is available in our Information Charter about the factors we shall consider when deciding whether information should be disclosed.
You can also get further information on:
- agreements we have with other organisations for sharing information;
- circumstances where we can pass on personal data without consent for example, to prevent and detect crime and to produce anonymised statistics;
- our instructions to staff on how to collect, use and delete personal data; and
- how we check that the information we hold is accurate and up to date.
Links to other websites
This privacy notice does not cover the links within this site linking to other websites. We encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit.
Changes to this privacy notice
We keep our privacy notice under regular review. This privacy notice was last updated on 26th October 2022.
How to contact us
If you want to request information about our privacy policy you can email us or write to:
Information Governance department
Looking Local Limited
C/O Paris Smith Llp
1 London Road
Southampton
Hampshire
SO15 2AE
