Confidentiality/security

We give you the option of using a secure transmission method to send us the following types of personal data:

• primary personal data (such as name and contact details)

• indentifiers (such as credit card details, website password)

All our employees and data processors with access to, and associated with the processing of, personal data are obliged to respect the confidentiality of our visitors’ personal data.

We ensure that your personal data will not be disclosed to government institutions and authorities except if required by law or other regulation.

Email messages

You may receive occasional email messages from St Albans Council on matters that we consider may be of interest to you, if you have provided your email address to us for this purpose.

Email monitoring

The use of St Albans Council’s email system may be monitored and communications read in order to secure effective operation of the system and for other lawful purposes.

External Links

www.stalbans.gov.uk  contains links to other websites. This privacy policy applies only to the City and district Council of St Albans website. When you are transferring to another site you should read their privacy statement for their policy on the use of personal information.

Changes

If this privacy statement changes in any way, we will place an updated version on this page.

By regularly reviewing this page you will ensure that you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we will share it with others.

Google analytics

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. ("Google"). Google Analytics uses "cookies", which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyse how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States.

Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage.

Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google's behalf.
Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google.

You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website.
 
By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above.

Audit Commission data matching practice 2008

St Albans District Council 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 Audit Commission appoints the auditor to audit the accounts of this authority, 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. This is usually personal information. Computerised data matching allows potentially fraudulent claims and payments to be identified. Where a match is found it indicates that there is an inconsistency which requires further investigation. No assumption can be made as to whether there is fraud, error or other explanation until an investigation is carried out.

The Audit Commission currently requires us to participate in a data matching exercise to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud. We are required to provide particular sets of data to the Audit Commission for matching for each exercise, and these are set out in the Audit Commission’s handbooks, which can be found at www.audit-commission.gov.uk/nfi, and extract of which is below:

The mandatory datasets for NFI 2006/07, that are not collected from a single source, are creditors’ (payment history and standing data), housing rents, payroll and pensions payroll. The other two mandatory datasets, ie, housing benefits and students eligible for a loan will be collected from the DWP and SLC respectively. Each local government body should submit whichever of these are relevant to its functions, that is:

• London Boroughs and Unitary councils - creditors, payroll, pensions payroll and
  housing rents (where housing stock remains with the authority or where it has been transferred to an arm’s length management organisation (ALMO)).

• County councils - creditors, payroll and pensions payroll.

• District councils - creditors, payroll and housing rents (where housing stock remains with the authority or where it has been transferred to an ALMO).

• Pension authority (local government) - pensions payroll.

• Police and Fire - creditors, payroll and pensions payroll.

• Probation and Passenger Transport - payroll (creditors is not mandatory).

The use of data by the Audit Commission in a data matching exercise is carried out with statutory authority under its powers in Part 2A of the Audit Commission Act 1998. It does not require the consent of the individuals concerned under the Data Protection Act 1998.

Data matching by the Audit Commission is subject to a Code of Practice. This may be found at www.audit-commission.gov.uk/nfi/codeofdmp.

For further information on the Audit Commission’s legal powers and the reasons why it matches particular information, consult www.audit-commision.gov/nfi.