DATA PROTECTION STATEMENT

South East Advocacy Projects (SEAP) is registered under the Data Protection Act 1998 (Registration No. Z9231372). All data we receive we aim to treat in a way that shows respect for all clients.

SUnder South East Advocacy Project’s policy for Data Protection, we agree that:

• All information obtained will be relevant to the objective of the service
• No personal information will be revealed to a third party without gaining your consent first. The only grounds for revealing such information without your consent would be in criminal, national security or life-threatening situations
• All records and files will be secured in a safe place
• All computerised records, emails and any other information will be protected by minimum strength passwords, anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall software. Laptops used within the organisation are also encrypted

Retention periods

• Retention policy on clients over 18 years of age: All evidence of your details will be destroyed 6 years after the case has closed.
• Retention policy for clients under 18 years of age: All evidence of your details will be destroyed 6 years after your 18th birthday, where the case has been closed. Otherwise, the retention period above applies.
• SEAP will keep all of your records in line with our retention policy. If you ask for your file to be returned, all originals will be sent to you and copies of the work completed by SEAP will be kept on file.

Requests for information

• You have the right to request to see any information that is held about you on file. If you wish to do so, please request a Data Access Subject Request form. The data controller must respond within 40 days to your request. A fee of up to £10 is chargeable for such information and up to £50 if the file contains health records. The response will include:
• Why the data has been held
• Who has had access to this information
• A copy of the data
• Any information regarding the data’s original source
• The request for information can be refused and reasons for this will be fully explained to you.