RCGP Data Protection Policy
RCGP needs to collect and use certain types of information
about people with whom it deals in order to operate. These
include current, past and prospective employees, suppliers,
clients/customers, and others with whom it communicates. In
addition, it may occasionally be required by law to collect and use
certain types of information of this kind to comply with the
requirements of government departments for business data, for
example. This personal information must be dealt with
properly, however it is collected, recorded and used – whether on
paper, in a computer, or recorded on other material – and there are
safeguards to ensure this in the Data Protection Act 1998.
We regard the lawful and correct treatment of personal
information as very important to successful operations, and to
maintaining confidence between those with whom we deal and
ourselves. We ensure that our organisation treats personal
information lawfully and correctly.
To this end we fully endorse and adhere to the Principles of
Data Protection, as enumerated in the Data Protection Act 1998.and
have developed and implemented policies, procedures and controls to
assist with data protection compliance.
Specifically, the Principles require that personal
information:
- Shall be processed fairly and lawfully and, in particular,
shall not be processed unless specific conditions are met;
- Shall be obtained only for one or more specified and lawful
purposes, and shall not be further processed in any manner
incompatible with that purpose or those purposes;
- Shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to
the purpose or purposes for which they are processed;
- Shall be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date;
- hall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose
or those purposes;
- Shall be processed in accordance with the rights of data
subjects under the Act;
- Appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be
taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data
and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to,
personal data.
- Shall not be transferred to a country or territory outside the
European Economic Area unless that country or territory ensures an
adequate level of protection for the rights and freedoms of data
subjects in relation to the processing of personal
data.
Therefore, RCGP will, through appropriate management, strict
application of criteria and controls:
- observe fully conditions regarding the fair collection and use
of information;
- meet its legal obligations to specify the purposes for which
information is used;
- collect and process appropriate information, and only to the
extent that it is needed to fulfil operational needs or to comply
with any legal requirements;
- ensure the quality of information used;
- apply strict checks to determine the length of time information
is held;
- ensure that the rights of people about whom information is
held, are able to be fully exercised under the Act. (These
include: the right to be informed that processing is being
undertaken, the right of access to one’s personal information, the
right to prevent processing in certain circumstances and the right
to correct, rectify, block or erase information which is regarded
as wrong information.);
- take appropriate technical and organisational security measures
to safeguard personal information;
- ensure that personal information is not transferred abroad
without suitable safeguards.
- ensure that appropriate measures are put in place to safeguard
any personal data that is processed on its behalf by other
organisations.
In addition, RCGP will ensure that:
- there is someone with specific responsibility for data
protection in the organisation. (Currently, the nominated
person is Mike
Eastwell);
- All employees and others acting on behalf of the College,
managing and handling personal information:
- understands that they are contractually responsible for
following good data protection practice;
- is appropriately trained to do so;
- is appropriately supervised;
- anybody wanting to make enquiries about handling personal
information knows what to do;
- queries about handling personal information are promptly and
courteously dealt with;
- methods of handling personal information are clearly
described;
- a regular review and audit is made of the way personal
information is managed;
- methods of handling personal information are regularly assessed
and evaluated;
- performance with handling personal information is regularly
assessed and evaluated.
If you have any queries relating to the RCGP Data
Protection Policy