The ICO exists to empower you through information.

Purpose and lawful basis for processing

Our purpose for collecting this information is so we can respond to you and give you information about the legislation we oversee in order for you to publish.

The lawful basis we rely on for processing your personal data is public task, under article 6(1)(e) of the UK GDPR.

What we need

We need enough information from you so we can respond to you. We’ll take your name and number/contact email address and, where relevant, the name of the organisation you represent.

Why we need it

We need to keep a record of who we have spoken with and what has been asked for/provided. If we can’t answer your query/request over the phone, we’ll need your contact information for our response.

What we do with it

We’ll only use your personal information to respond to you and will make a record of our communications with you, both verbal and written.

We’ll also use your contact information to send you our press releases.

How long we keep it

For information about how long we hold personal data, see our retention schedule.

What are your rights?

We are acting in our official capacity as a regulator in providing you with press releases and responding to media enquiries. This means you have the right to object to our processing of your personal data. There are legitimate reasons why we may refuse your objection, which depend on why we are processing it.

You can however, ask us to stop sending you press releases at any time and we’ll update our records immediately to reflect your wishes. 

For more information on your rights, please see ‘Your rights as an individual’.

Do we use any data processors?

Yes – We use PRgloo and Kantar, who are in partnership with Agility, to store communications and distribute our press releases.

Go to the privacy notices for Kantar and PRgloo to find out more about how they process personal data.