Guidance

10 Downing Street correspondence, communications, gifts and hospitality privacy notice

Updated 23 July 2024

© Crown copyright 2024

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/10-downing-street-correspondence-communications-gifts-and-hospitality-privacy-notice/10-downing-street-correspondence-communications-gifts-and-hospitality-privacy-notice

Your data

Purpose

The purposes for which we are processing your personal data are to:

  • manage the exchange of correspondence between the Prime Minister’s Office and stakeholders, members of Parliament, peers and members of the general public
  • manage Freedom of Information, Environmental Information Regulations and Subject Access Requests as per the relevant Acts
  • manage phone queries received by the Prime Minister’s office
  • monitor the offering and acceptance of gifts and hospitality so that the department can meet the required standards of propriety, transparency and accountability as a public body

The data

We will process the following personal data when you contact the Prime Minister’s office:

  • your name including your title
  • the date you contacted the Prime Minister’s office
  • your home address including your postcode (if applicable)
  • your email address (if applicable)
  • your phone number including landline and/or mobile phone numbers (if applicable)
  • your organisation (if applicable)
  • nature of gift, hospitality or donation offered/received (if applicable)
  • concerns or opinions raised in correspondence/communication including any biographical information about yourself or third parties which is volunteered in the correspondence/communication

We may also process special category data or data about criminal convictions if such data is volunteered. Special categories of personal data include data about:

  • racial or ethnic origin
  • political opinions
  • religious or philosophical beliefs
  • trade union membership
  • genetic data
  • biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person
  • health and sex life
  • sexual orientation

In relation to responding to freedom of information and data subject requests, the legal basis for processing your personal data is that it is necessary to comply with a legal obligation placed on us as the data controller.

In relation to correspondence, phone queries, gifts and hospitality, the legal basis for processing your personal data is that 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 data controller. In this case that is being transparent and accountable for the policies of the government.

Our legal basis for processing any special category data or data about criminal convictions is:

The processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest for the exercise of a function of the Crown, a Minister of the Crown, or a government department. In this case, the substantial public interest is being accountable and transparent for the policies of the government.

And, in relation to constituency correspondence:

The processing consists of the disclosure of personal data to an elected representative or a person acting with the authority of such a representative; and it is in response to a communication to the controller from that representative or person which was made in response to a request from an individual; and the personal data is relevant to the subject matter of that communication; and the disclosure is necessary for the purpose of responding to that communication.

Recipients

Your personal data may be shared with other public bodies, and the devolved administrations, including other Government Departments, Government Agencies and Executive Agencies in order to manage correspondence/communication effectively and/or to provide a full response.

Your data may also be transferred to another public body when it has responsibility for the matter(s) in question. This includes transferring correspondence to a devolved administration if the matter sits with them. In each of these cases the sharing is necessary in order that accountability and transparency about public functions can be discharged.

Correspondence may be transferred to the Prime Minister’s political party, or the Prime Minister’s Parliamentary or constituency office, such as if the matter raised is a political or constituency matter. Information about correspondents may be shared with sitting Members of Parliament when they are writing on your behalf.

Information regarding gifts and hospitality to, or meetings with, the Prime Minister or Senior Officials may be publicly disclosed as per transparency requirements. We may also share your personal data with law enforcement bodies if your correspondence or communication is threatening or suggests a possible risk to you or a third party.

Retention

Personal information in correspondence will usually be deleted 3 calendar years after the most recent correspondence or case is closed or concluded, unless there is a security or legal implication, in which case it may be held for up to 10 years.

Public correspondence may be kept longer if it is sufficiently significant that it should be retained for the historical record.

Gifts and hospitality data may be kept longer if it is sufficiently significant that it should be retained for the historical record.

Source of information

Where we did not receive your personal data from you, it was received from your MP, or by another person writing in on your behalf, or by another correspondent.

Your rights

You have the right:

  • to request information about how your personal data are processed, and to request a copy of that personal data
  • to request that any inaccuracies in your personal data are rectified without delay
  • to request that any incomplete personal data are completed, including by means of a supplementary statement
  • to request that your personal data are erased if there is no longer a justification for them to be processed
  • in certain circumstances (for example, where accuracy is contested), to request that the processing of your personal data is restricted
  • to object to the processing of your personal data where it is processed for direct marketing purposes
  • to object to the processing of your personal data in relation to correspondence, telephone queries, gifts and hospitality

Complaints

If you consider that your personal data has been misused or mishandled, you may make a complaint to the Information Commissioner, who is an independent regulator. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113
casework@ico.org.uk

Any complaint to the Information Commissioner is without prejudice to your right to seek redress through the courts.

Contact details

The contact details for the Cabinet Office are:

Cabinet Office
70 Whitehall
London
SW1A 2AS

Public Enquiries: Online Contact Form

The Data Protection Officer provides independent advice and monitoring of Cabinet Office’s use of personal information.

The contact details for the data controller’s Data Protection Officer are: dpo@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

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