Transparency data

HM Courts and Tribunals Service privacy policy

Published 5 March 2021

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmcts-privacy-policy/hm-courts-and-tribunals-service-privacy-policy

This privacy notice explains what you can expect from the HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) when we hold or request personal information (‘personal data’) about you; how you can get access to a copy of your personal data; and what you can do if you think we’ve done something wrong.

HMCTS is an Executive Agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). MoJ is the data controller for the personal information we hold.

HMCTS collects and processes personal data for the performance of its public functions. These include:

  • the administration of Justice
  • criminal and civil enforcement of fines
  • research for the development of justice policies and statistics
  • and for improvements to the services we provide.

1. About personal information

Personal data is information about you as an individual. It can be your name, address or telephone number. It can also include sensitive information about your physical and mental wellbeing, information about children and family members, spent and unspent criminal conviction details, racial and ethnic origin, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, trade union membership and political beliefs.

We know how important it is to protect customers’ privacy and to comply with data protection laws. We will safeguard your personal data and will only disclose it where it is lawful to do so, or with your consent.

2. Types of personal data we process

We only process personal data necessary for the administration of justice and other civil justice services we provide to you. The personal data HMCTS may collect includes names, dates of birth, addresses, email addresses, mobile phone numbers, national insurance numbers, nationality and ethnicity, financial information, sexual orientation, information about offences or alleged offences committed, physical and mental health information.

3. Purpose of processing and the lawful basis for the process

We work to administer criminal, civil and family courts and tribunals in England and Wales and support the judiciary. We also work to provide a more effective, transparent and responsive criminal, civil, family and tribunals justice system for victims and the public.

We collect personal data directly from individuals and we are provided with personal data by other justice and government organisations including the Crown Prosecution Service, police, prisons and probation as required by law for the administration of justice.

If you choose to access our services online you will need to provide your personal information.

Details on how your personal information is used by HMCTS for online services and terms and conditions.

4. Who your information may be shared with

We sometimes need to share the personal information we process with other justice and public sector organisations. Where this is necessary we will comply with data protection laws. The organisations we may share your personal information include but are not limited to:

  • the Crown Prosecution Service
  • police, prisons and probation services
  • enforcement agencies
  • local authorities
  • financial authorities
  • NHS and HMCTS Delivery Partners
  • Cafcass/Cafcass Cymru
  • General Register Office
  • Office of National Statistics
  • Law Society
  • other government departments
  • HMCTS third party service providers such as Dynatrace.

5. Details of transfers to third country and safeguards

It may sometimes be necessary to transfer personal information overseas. When this is needed information may be transferred to countries within and/or outside of the European Economic Area (EEA). Any transfers made will be in full compliance with all aspects of the data protection law.

6. Retention period for information collected

We will only hold information in accordance with the legal requirements applicable to the data or in line with our ‘record retention and disposal schedule’ and policy, which we review regularly. We will only retain your information for as long as we need to. This includes the time during which you are our customer or customer’s representative.

7. Access to personal information

You can find out if we hold any personal data about you by making a ‘subject access request’. To do this please contact:

Disclosure Team
Post point 10.24
102 Petty France
London SW1H 9AJ

Email: data.access@justice.gov.uk

If you want to know what information is on your current or a previous prison record, contact:

Branston Registry
Building 16, S & T Store
Burton Road
Branston
Burton-on-Trent Staffordshire DE14 3EG

8. When we ask you for personal data

We promise to inform you why we need your personal data and ask only for the personal data we need and not collect information that is irrelevant or excessive.

  • you can withdraw consent at any time, where relevant
  • you can lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority
  • protect it and make sure no unauthorised person has access to it
  • only where appropriate and necessary share it with other organisations for legitimate purposes or where required or permitted by law
  • make sure we don’t keep it longer than is necessary
  • not make your personal data available for commercial use without your consent
  • consider your request to correct, stop processing or erase your personal data

9. Getting more information

You can get more details on:

  • agreements we have with other organisations for sharing information
  • circumstances where we can pass on personal information without telling you, for example, to help with the prevention or detection of crime or to produce anonymised statistics
  • our instructions to staff on how to collect, use or delete your personal information
  • how we check that the information we hold is accurate and up-to-date
  • how to make a complaint

by contacting the court handling your information or see the information provided when you accessed our services or were contacted by us.

The MoJ data protection officer can be contacted at:

The Data Protection Officer
Ministry of Justice
3rd Floor, Post Point 3.20
10 South Colonnades
Canary Wharf
London E14 4PU

Email: DPO@justice.gov.uk

10. Complaints

When we ask you for information, we will keep to the law. If you consider that your information has been handled incorrectly, you can contact the Information Commissioner for independent advice about data protection. You can contact the Information Commissioner at:

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

Tel: 0303 123 1113
ICO website

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