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 data about you
The Coroner’s service is legally obliged to investigate all deaths where one of the following applies:
- No doctor saw the deceased during his or her last illness
- Although a doctor attended the deceased during the last illness, the doctor is not able or available, for any reason, to certify the death
- The cause of death is unknown
- The death occurred during an operation or before recovery from the effects of an anaesthetic
- The death occurred at work or was due to industrial disease or poisoning
- The death was sudden and unexplained
- The death was unnatural
- The death was due to violence or neglect
- The death was in other suspicious circumstances; or
- The death occurred in prison, police custody or another type of state detention
We use your personal information to:
- contact and communicate with you
- meet various legal requirements and statutory obligations, specifically the Coroners and Justice Act 2009
- undertake legal proceedings
We process personal data because it is necessary to comply with our legal obligations. Our lawful basis for processing your personal information is primarily defined within the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 and subordinate legislation. This means that the service has a legal obligation to process personal data. In addition, Article 23 (f) introduces exemptions from the UK General Data Protection Regulation on the grounds of the protection of judicial independence and judicial proceedings.
We may also collect and process your personal information if we have obtained your consent to do so.
What information do we collect?
We may hold the following types of information about you:
- Name
- Date of birth
- Address
- Contact details (for example phone number and email address)
- Details of any contact with you.
- Information relevant to the delivery of the Coroner’s service.
Who we share your personal data with
We share data with:
- Coventry City Council
- The chief Coroner
- Assistant Coroners
- West Midlands Police
- Pathologists
- Funeral Directors
- Cemetries and Crematoria
- The Clinical Commissioning Group
- NHS Hospital Trusts
- The UK Health Security Agency (formerly Public Health England)
- West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner
- Ministry of Justice
- West Midlands Fire and Rescue Service
- Crown Prosecution Service
- Health and Safety Executive
- GP Surgeries
- Coventry Register Office
- Alcohol and drug teams
- Safeguarding boards and teams
- Other organisations which, from time to time, are involved with an investigation and who are required to provide evidence or assistance to the Coroner
- Support services we commission e.g., bereavement support
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. We will stop using your information after the case is closed. Under Regulation 27 of The Coroners (Investigations) Regulations 2013 your information will be deleted after 15 years, for deaths that do not proceed to an inquest, after two years for information relating to Treasure inquests and will be held indefinitely for information relating to deaths which proceed to an inquest.
Your rights
You have the right to:
- Ask to see the personal information we hold about you
- Withdraw consent (see below)
- Ask us to change the 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
- Ask for human intervention regarding decisions made about you by a computer
- Data portability (have your data transferred to another Authority)
- Complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office
To exercise any of these rights please contact the Coroner’s team: coroner@coventry.gov.uk
Withdrawal of consent
Where personal data is processed under the lawful basis of consent, you will have the right to withdraw that consent. However, Coventry City Council processes personal data that it is necessary to do so in order to comply with our legal obligations and to enable us to perform tasks carried out in the public interest.
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
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: February 2022