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Data Protection Act - Fair Processing Notice

North Hertfordshire District Council (NHDC) might sometimes collect, store and use personal information that you provide to us. Personal information means any information by which you can be identified, including your name, address, telephone number and date of birth.

Why do we collect personal information?

We collect personal data so that we can provide our services to you. For example, we cannot pay your benefit or collect your waste if we do not know where you live.

We also hold personal information about our employees, customers and our suppliers. We are sometimes required to collect and store information because the law requires it e.g. for the Council Tax register.

For full details on how we use your personal data please refer to our Corporate and Service area Privacy Notices.

Data matching

NHDC is required by law to protect the public funds it administers. It may share information provided to it with other bodies responsible for auditing or administering public funds, in order to prevent and detect fraud.

The National Fraud Initiative appoints the auditor to audit the Council's accounts. It is also responsible for carrying out data matching exercises.

Data matching involves comparing computer records held by one body against other computer records held by the same or another body to see how far they match. This is usually personal information. Computerised data matching allows potentially fraudulent claims and payments to be identified. Where a match is found it may indicate that there is an inconsistency which requires further investigation.

The National Fraud Initiative currently requires NHDC to participate in a data matching exercise to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud. NHDC is required to provide particular sets of data to the National Fraud Initiative for matching for each exercise and these are set out in the National Fraud Initiative guidance.

The use of data by the National Fraud Initiative in a data matching exercise is carried out with statutory authority under its powers. It does not require the consent of the individuals concerned under the Data Protection Act.

For further information on data matching at NHDC, please contact our Data Controller.