Privacy & Cookies Policy

Date: March 2026 | Version: 1.0

Data Protection Policy for Essex Divest For Palestine

1. Introduction

Essex Divest 4 Palestine ("the Organisation," "we," "us," "our") is committed to protecting the privacy and security of the personal information we collect. This policy outlines how we handle the personal data of residents who sign our petition. We comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

2. Purpose of This Policy

This policy explains to petition signatories ("data subjects") what personal data we collect, why we collect it, how we use it, and their rights regarding that data. This is often referred to as a Privacy Notice.

3. Who We Are

Essex Divest 4 Palestine is a voluntary organisation. For the purposes of data protection law, we are the Data Controller. This means we decide how and why your personal data is processed.

4. The Personal Data We Collect

We only collect the minimum amount of information necessary to validate the petition. When you sign our petition, we collect:

• Full Name
• Address (including postcode)
• Signature (on paper petitions)
• Email Address (optional, primarily for the petition organiser or to verify online signatures)

5. Why We Collect Your Data (Lawful Basis)

Under UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis to process your data. We rely on the basis of "Public Task" (or "Legitimate Interests" for a non-public body).

Processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller. Submitting a petition to the local council is a democratic activity that supports public engagement in local decision-making. We use your data specifically to:

• Authenticate that the petition is valid (ensuring signatories are genuine residents).
• Submit the petition to the relevant authority (e.g., the local council).
• Keep the petition organiser informed of progress.

6. Sharing Your Personal Data

We will only share your personal data where necessary to achieve the purpose of the petition:

• The Relevant Authority: We will share the petition (including names and addresses) with the local council, Members of Parliament, or other relevant public bodies to whom the petition is addressed.
• Service Providers: If we use a third-party platform to host an e-petition, we will ensure they have appropriate data protection safeguards in place.

We will never sell your data to third parties for marketing purposes.

7. Data Security

We take the security of your data seriously.

• Paper Petitions: Physical signature sheets will be kept securely and handled only by authorised volunteers.
• Digital Data: If stored electronically, data will be held on password-protected devices or secure cloud services.

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to prevent unauthorised access, loss, or damage.

8. Data Retention (How Long We Keep Data)

We will only keep your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purpose it was collected for.

• Immediate Use: Data will be retained until the petition has been formally submitted and responded to by the relevant authority.
• Archiving: Once the petition process is complete, we will securely destroy or delete all personal data (names, addresses, signatures). We may retain anonymised statistics (e.g., "300 people signed the petition") but will remove all identifiable information.
• Retention Period: We estimate this retention period to be 2 years. We will not keep your information longer than one year after the petition is submitted, unless we are legally required to do so.

9. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have the following rights:

• The right to be informed: You are receiving this information via this policy.
• The right of access: You can ask us for a copy of the personal data we hold about you (a "Subject Access Request").
• The right to rectification: You can ask us to correct inaccurate data.
• The right to erasure ('the right to be forgotten'): You can ask us to delete your data, provided there is no overriding legal reason for us to keep it.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details in Section 3.

10. Complaints

If you have a concern about how we are handling your data, you are entitled to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK regulator for data protection.

• ICO Website: https://ico.org.uk/
• ICO Helpline: 0303 123 1113

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