Coventry City Council complies with the Data Protection Act and the UK GDPR and is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) as a Data Controller.

This privacy notice explains how personal information is going to be used, what for, who it will be shared with and why.

Why we collect and use personal information about you

We collect and hold personal information relating to registering events, ceremonies and certificate applications. 

We use this information to:

  • Provide you with necessary and appropriate services
  • Help us to develop and improve our services
  • Complete statistical returns to Government departments

We process personal data because it is necessary to comply with our legal obligations

The main legislation which governs the collection of registration information is the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953, the Marriage Act 1949 and the Civil Partnership Act 2004. You may be legally obliged by these acts, and other pieces of legislation, to provide certain pieces of information.  If you fail to provide information you are required to give us you may be liable to a fine or other sanctions, or we may not be able to provide the service you are applying for, such as a marriage or a civil partnership.

Personal information may also be collected from you if you are making an application to this office, for example for a certificate or to correct information contained in a register entry.

What personal data do we collect about you

Depending on which service you receive some or all of the data listed below will be collected:

  • Name
  • Contact details
  • Date of birth
  • National insurance number
  • Bank account details
  • Marital status
  • Nationality
  • Driver Licence/passport details/proof of address
  • Parents names and occupations

Who we share your personal information with

We share data with:

  • Other internal Coventry City Council service areas - during carrying out our functions, or to enable others to perform theirs.
  • Registrar General for England and Wales - so that a central record of all registrations can be maintained.

We will only share information where there is a lawful basis to do so for the following reasons:

  • Statistical or research purposes
  • Administrative purposes by official bodies e.g. ensuring their records are up-to-date to provide services to the public
  • Fraud prevention or detection, immigration and passport purposes

How long will we keep your information?

We will only keep your information for as long as we need to, so we can give you the service you need, unless we must keep it for legal reasons. The time can be different depending on the service you have asked for. Registration information is retained indefinitely as required by law.

Your rights

You have the right to:

  • Ask to see the personal information we hold about you (also known as a Subject Access Request)
  • Ask us to change information we hold about you if it is wrong
  • Ask us to delete the information we hold about you
  • Ask us to limit the way we use your personal Information
  • Data portability (have your data transferred to another Authority)
  • Question decisions made about you by a computer
  • Complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (information below)

To exercise any of these rights please contact the Register Office on 024 7683 3141 or email registeroffice@coventry.gov.uk [mailto:registeroffice@coventry.gov.uk]

Complaints

You have the right to submit a complaint if you are unhappy with the way your request is handled or disagree with a decision made by the council regarding your data. In these circumstances you can contact the Data Protection Team (DPO) and request a review of the decision. DPOTeam@coventry.gov.uk [mailto:DPOTeam@coventry.gov.uk]

If you are not satisfied with any outcome from the DPO you may wish to apply to the Information Commissioner's Office at:

The Information Commissioner's Office,
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wilmslow,
Cheshire,
SK9 5AF.

Date of last review: January 2022