Translation & Interpretation Service
The London Borough of Hounslow is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. Through this Privacy Notice we have sought to be as transparent as possible and fully explain how your personal data is held and processed.
This privacy notice applies to services provided by our translation and interpretation service and tells you what to expect us to do with your personal information.
If you have any questions about this privacy notice or any concerns about how we process your data, please email Customer Service. The privacy notice will continue to be monitored and updated. You are advised to check this page from time to time.
What type of information we have
We currently collect and process the following information:
- Names and titles
- Language spoken
- Contact details (e.g. mobile phone number or email address)
- Your address if you need a member of staff to visit you at home
We may in our correspondence with you have elements of personal data that may need to be translated that are not listed in the above. Such as, if you need private & confidential letters translated.
How do we get your information?
Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you for one of the following reasons:
- You may have provided your personal information when you visited a Council building to enquire about council provided services, requested information, completed a survey, provided us feedback or made a complaint.
- You may have given us your personal data by directly contacting us and our staff have identified that you may require or you’ve requested an interpreter
- Your personal data may have been shared with us by an external partner or charity, such as the NHS
Our Lawful basis for processing your information
The lawful basis we rely on for processing this information is
- Public task
It is necessary for the Council to provide a translation and interpretation service to ensure everyone in our community can effectively communicate and interact with us, regardless of their background, race or ability. This is supported by the Equality Act 2010 under section 6 and section 9, which names Disability and Race as protected characteristics.
If the information you provide us contains special category data, such as health, religious or ethnic information the legal basis we rely on to process is substantial public interest.
The substantial public interest conditions, which are the following:
- Statutory and government purposes
- Safeguarding of children and individuals at risk
- Equality of opportunity
Why we need your information (purposes of processing)
The personal data we collect will be used for the following purposes:
- Language spoken to ensure we can provide you with an interpreter or resources that have been translated into a language you understand.
- For online meetings where an interpreter is required, we may also need your email address so we can send you the joining instructions to the meeting
- For in person meetings, we will need location information of where the meeting will take place, this could be in a Council building or anywhere in the borough, including your home address if you are happy to be visited at home
- We may also need your address to be able to send you translated letters of other materials.
- Some translated letters may contain sensitive information that is needed to be translated into a format that can be better understood.
Who your information may be shared with (internally and externally)
We share your information with:
- Language Line Solutions UK– this is a language translation service agency who supplies us with our translation and interpretation service.
- With other internal council departments (only if required)
We will strive to ensure that any personal data in our care will be kept safe and that where your information is disclosed to a third party working on our behalf, we will seek to ensure that they have sufficient systems and procedures in place to prevent the loss or damage of personal data.
How long we keep your information
Any personal information that is collected through Language Line’s services is kept for 1 year. After this period, your information will be disposed in the most secure manner possible. Your right to make a complaint
The Council tries to meet the highest standards when collecting and using personal information. For this reason, we take any complaints we receive about this very seriously. We encourage people to bring it to our attention if they think that our collection or use of information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate.
If you want to make a complaint you can contact us on:
Complaints Team
London Borough of Hounslow
Hounslow House,
7 Bath Road,
TW3 3EB
Data Protection Officer
The Council’s Data Protection Officer can be contacted via email or at:
Information Governance Team
London Borough of Hounslow
Hounslow House,
7 Bath Road,
TW3 3EB
Information Commissioner’s Office
The Information Commissioner is the UK's independent body set up to uphold information rights.
If you would like to know more about your rights under the Data Protection law, and what you should expect, visit the Information Commissioner’s website.
If you have any concerns regarding any privacy practices or about exercising your Data Protection rights, you may contact the Information Commissioner’s Office:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545 745 or e-mail.
A full list of what information we control and process and for what purposes is set out in our notification with the Information Commissioner's Register of Data Controllers. Our registration number is Z5761176. You can view our registration on the Information Commissioner's website.
