Privacy notice – slimming on referral

North Somerset Council is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office for the purposes of processing personal data.  The Slimming on Referral service is jointly controlled by North Somerset Council and WeightWatchers®.

The information you provide will be held and used in accordance with the requirements of UK and European data protection law.  The information will form part of your Slimming on Referral file, and held for two years following the end of your 12-week programme.

Unless otherwise agreed with you, we will only collect the minimum personal data required to deliver the service, which includes name, contact details, NHS number, GP details, your progress in the programme.  This information is provided to us by your GP or referring professional, and shared with us by WeisghtWatchers®.  It does not include any information relating to criminal convictions or offences.

The information will be used for the administration of the Slimming on Referral service, a voluntary service designed to improve your health and wellbeing.  The processing of this information is lawful as it is necessary to protect the vital interests of a living person, in accordance with GDPR Article 6(1)(d).  We require the special category information in order to monitor the delivery of the service, identify additional services that may be of assistance to you, and distribute funding appropriately, in the public interest, in accordance with Article 9(2)(g) of GDPR.

We will not use your personal information in a way that may cause you unwarranted nuisance.  Failure to provide the information could result in the inability to monitor and improve upon our service, or receive the appropriate funding.

The information provided will be shared with the GP or referring professional and WeightWatchers® to ensure your ongoing progress is recorded in your file.  The information will also be shared with Public Health teams in local authorities in the South West and the NHS Clinical Care Group, in an anonymised format for statistical and monitoring purposes.

WeightWatchers® is an international organisation, with their headquarters based in the US.  The information we share with WeightWatchers® is processed on our behalf in the UK.  WeightWatchers®, as a data controller in their own right, may choose to process and / or share the information they obtain outside of the UK.  In order to grant sufficient protection of your Personal Data in this context, WeightWatchers® use standard data protection clauses adopted by the European Commission according to Article 46(2)(c) of GDPR with such companies or certifications of such companies under the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield according to Article 45(1) of GDPR.  For further details of this, please contact WeightWatchers® directly.

We may lawfully disclose information to public sector agencies to prevent or detect fraud or other crime, or to support the national fraud initiatives and protect public funds under the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014.  Under the conditions of the Digital Economy Act 2017, we may also share personal data provided to us with other public authorities as defined in the Act, for the purposes of fraud or crime detection or prevention, to recover monies owed to us, to improve public service delivery, or for statistical research.  We do not share the information with other organisations for commercial purposes.

You have the right to see the personal data we process about you, as well as the right of rectification and  restriction to destruction of records only.

If you have any questions or concerns about the way we process your personal data, contact our Data Protection Officer at DPO@n-somerset.gov.uk