Building Standards Privacy Notice

When you are accessing or applying for services provided by Building Standards you will need to provide us with some personal data or information.

As the 'data controller' for the personal information - or data - we hold about you, South Ayrshire Council decides how your personal information is used/processed, and what it is used for.

This statement provides more details about this and provides information on how to get in touch with us if you need to know more.

Your personal data - what is it?

Personal data is information relating to a living person who can be identified from that data. Identification can be based on the information alone, or in conjunction with any other information. The processing of personal data is governed by the UK General Data Protection Regulation ('UK GDPR') and supplemented by the Data Protection Act 2018.

What Personal Data will we collect from you?

We will only collect the personal information we need to provide you with relevant information, services and support. The personal data we will collect may include:

• Name
• Address
• Telephone number (landline and mobile)
• Email address
• Signature
• Health related information (relevant to building warrant fee exemption / grants)
• Financial or Business Information (relevant to making a payment for an application or processing a refund where appropriate).

In certain circumstances, where you apply for your building warrant application to be fast tracked, we may require information relating to your health conditions.

How will we use your information?

The information will be used to manage all building standards related matters. We will collect personal data in order to oversee the provision of building standards advice and services and to ensure compliance with relevant laws. This includes:

• Processing and determination of building warrants and related building warrant documentation

• Processing and determination of raised structure applications and related documentation

• Dangerous Buildings and Enforcement

• Housing Grant applications

• Street Naming and Numbering

• Licensing

• Safety of Sports Grounds

• Processing property and ownership enquiries

• Maintaining the Building Warrant Register

• Consultation on Short Term Let Licences

Building Warrant Registers

We have a statutory requirement under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 to provide access to building warrant related personal information within our Building Warrant Register. The Register is available to view by appointment at our Council Office.  We will also publish personal data relating to building warrant applications, Dangerous Building Notices and enforcement cases in our online Register on our Building Standards website at Search the Building Standards Register which will include the applicant / relevant person's name and address.

Enforcement Action

It may be necessary for us to undertake an investigation into non-compliance with Building Standards legislation.

When this needs to happen we will process personal information under Part 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018 which sets out the requirements for the processing of personal data for law enforcement purposes ('LEP').

Customer Satisfaction

You may  be invited to participate in this survey during your Building Warrant application process and any information you submit will be accessible by the Improvement Service and our local authority. The Improvement Service's privacy notice can be found here https://www.improvementservice.org.uk/home/privacy-statement.  This survey is issued to all users of Building Standards services in Scotland to collect your views on the service you have received. The survey is designed to be anonymous and does not require you to provide any personal information, unless you choose to add personal information in the survey comments

This is a survey from the Improvement Service which uses "Smart Survey". Smart Survey's Privacy Policy can be found here https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/company/privacy-policy. 

If you decide to provide your personal data to participate the lawful basis of processing is 'consent-based' in accordance with Data Protection legislation.  You have the right to withdraw your consent in whole or in part, at any time.  If you wish to withdraw consent, please contact [email protected].

What is the legal basis for using/sharing your information?

The legal basis is it is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the data controller, as per Article 6(1) (e) of the UK GDPR, and the task or function has a clear basis in law.  The primary legislation underpinning the Building Standards functions is:

• Building (Scotland) Act 2003
• Building (Scotland) Act 1959 & 1970
• Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975
• Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982
• Public Health Act 1925

The legal basis for enforcement actions and our survey is outlined above. A full list of Building Standards legislation is available on request.

Special category data

For some activities, we also need to process more sensitive personal information about you known as special category data, for example health information.  Processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest as set out in Article 9(2) (g) of the UK GDPR and meets a condition in Part 2 of Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018.

Who will we share your information with?

As interested parties in relation to the Building Warrant process and for the purposes of consultation and professional advice we may share your information with:

• Ayrshire Valuation Joint Board
• The Scottish Government Building Standards Division
• Scottish Government eDevelopment.scot Service
• Scottish Environment Protection Agency
• Police Scotland
• Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
• Scottish Water
• Procurator Fiscal
• South Ayrshire Council Services, e.g. Planning, Environmental Health, Legal, Licensing and Housing
• Ayrshire Roads Alliance
• Other Local Authorities as part of the South West Scotland Building Standards consortium

The Council has a duty to protect public funds and to this end, we may check the information you have given with other information we hold, share your information with other Council services and share your information with other local authorities, for the purpose of protecting public funds and to prevent or detect fraud or crime.

How long do we keep hold of your information?

Details of applications are made public in accordance with the procedural regulations, with information on the application available online, and drawings etc. available for copy or inspection at local authority premises, subject to certain restrictions.

The local authority may remove documents from the register if they are satisfied there are genuine security concerns.  For those documents on the register there are also restrictions on their copying. The first restriction relates to non-residential buildings, prisons, a building where a person may be legally detained or otherwise held in custody, the Scottish Parliament or the Royal Private Estate and applies where the applicant has confirmed the disclosure or copying would raise security concerns.

Details agreed between South Ayrshire Council and the applicant will be withheld unless the owner of the building gives written permission for them to be released. Thus, parts of applications for buildings such as banks may only be available with the owners' written permission. The second restriction relates to all other residential buildings and copying is restricted to owners, occupiers or tenants, or prospective owners, occupiers or tenants of the relevant building or an adjoining building. There will thus normally be no need to further restrict access to any details in relation to residential buildings.

We keep your personal data for no longer than reasonably necessary and in accordance with The Building (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 2004, Section 57 (2) (b) & 57(4) and the Building Standards Procedural Handbook. 

A full list of retention periods for Building Standards data can be found within the Council's Corporate Records Retention Schedule on our website here https://www.south-ayrshire.gov.uk/article/29971/Records-management.

What are your rights?

The lawful basis for processing/using your personal data directly impacts which rights are available to you. For example, some rights will not apply, if we are processing your data under public task (Article 6 (1) (e)) we are not required to:

• erase your personal information
• enable the right to data portability

However, you do have the following rights and you can ask us to:

• correct your personal information if it is inaccurate;
• complete your personal information if it is incomplete; and
• restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.

You also have the right to object to the processing of your personal information.

What are the consequences of failing to provide personal information?

If you fail to provide the required information, we will be unable to process your enquiry or application and could also delay your application from being registered or allocated to an officer.

What about Automated Decision-Making?

The Council does not use profiling or automated decision-making. Some processes are semi-automated (such as data matching for the prevention or detection of fraud), but an actual person will always be involved before any decision is reached affecting any individual.

Do you require this statement in a different format?

Please contact us if you require this information in an alternative format.

How can you get in touch with us?

If you wish to obtain any records held by the Council relating to you, or if you have any general data protection queries, please contact the Council's Data Protection Service at:   

Data Protection Officer

South Ayrshire Council

County Buildings

Wellington Square

Ayr

KA7 1DR

Email: [email protected] 

Telephone: 01292 612223

Are you dissatisfied with the way your Personal Information has been handled?

If you are unhappy with the way we have dealt with your personal information, you can complain to the Council's Data Protection Officer using the contact details noted above.

If you remain dissatisfied after contacting us, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner (https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/):

Information Commissioner's Office - Scotland

Queen Elizabeth House

Sibbald Walk

Edinburgh

EH8 8FT

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: 0303 123 1115