Safe and Well checks

If you have decided that you want Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service to undertake a Safe and Well Check visit it is important that you understand how your personal information will be collected and used and what rights you have when it comes to your information.

Why do you need to process my information?

The information we collect is needed to enable us to visit you, for example, your address, and to then carry out the purpose of the visit (providing advice).

The visit takes place, upon request, and the information that is collected is used by us is to provide the requested service and to meet our obligations under the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004. These obligations include promoting fire safety, reducing yours and others risks from fire, providing advice on actions to take in the event of a fire, safeguarding our community by improving yours and others safety and providing support to improve your health and wellbeing.

Therefore, the use of personal information is necessary to meet our obligations under the Act (exercising official authority that we have as a controller) and for the more sensitive data, such as health information the use is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest in meeting our core functions.

How will my information be used?

Prior to the visit, we will have your name and contact details which will have been given to us directly by you or via a referral, for example, from a family member, carer or agency which may be working with you currently such as Age UK, Social Services.

We use your name and contact details to arrange the visit. Where you have completed a pre-visit questionnaire, this information is used to determine the priority of the visit.

The visit will be undertaken by either operational personnel or one of our Community Safety Officers.

During the visit we will ask fire safety related questions and additional safe and well questions if it’s a Safe and Well Check visit.

The Safe and Well Check visit includes questions and observations around:

Smoking
Slips, trips and falls
Wellbeing
Loneliness
Deaf alarm requirements

This helps us assess risk and provide the necessary advice and support.

We will make a record of your responses, and document anything we’ve seen that relates to the questions and the purpose of the visit. We will also keep a record of referrals made and the reasons why.

The information we collect during the visit will be used:

To provide appropriate services to protect your safety or the safety of others.
To record and evaluate outcomes of the activities the Fire Service have provided into our internal database, including any referral information.
For statistical purposes to analyse activity, identify any trends and provide anonymised statistics to the Home Office on the total amount of visits that have been undertaken.

See the Home Office statistics.

Who will have access to the information?

Your information will be stored on an internal system and will be used by staff who require it to undertake their role, in order to carry out the visit, progress outcomes from the visit and administer and evaluate the service, where appropriate, including our safeguarding team.

An outcome of the visit could be that control room personnel and operational crews would benefit from having access to certain information to provide an effective emergency response. In these circumstances, they would have access to an address and a note against that address, such as: 22 Cherry Lane – mobility issues.

If we make a referral your information will be shared. Protecting your personal information is vital to us, so appropriate security measures are in place to ensure this is shared securely and we only share what’s necessary to meet the purpose of the referral. For example, we would send it via secure email or in an encrypted format and only provide the referral agency with the information that they require to undertake their service and not all the information we have collected and are storing to meet our obligations.

In the majority of cases we will not disclose (pass on) your personal information without your agreement and you will be informed at the time of the referral.

Example of referrals which could be offered during the visit, dependant on our findings are:

Trading Standards, to safeguard you as a consumer, and support legitimate trade.
Derbyshire County Council or Derby City Council to access a range of health information and resources to help you stay healthy.
Living Well in Derbyshire which aims to improve the health, wellbeing and independence of adults.
Derbyshire Police to provide advice and support to those who have concerns involving crime, anti-social behaviours, vulnerability and safeguarding.
Age UK, so you can get information on age-related health conditions, tips and advice on staying fit and health as well as information on dealing with health services and leaving hospitals.

There are occasions where your personal information can be shared without us asking you; if we have a legal duty or power to share information with other statutory bodies from statute or from the common law when the public good is considered to be of greater importance than personal confidentiality. Decisions will be made on a case by case basis.

Examples of this would be:

Disclosure is required by law, for example, under a court order or under an Act of Parliament creating a statutory duty to disclose the information;
For the detection, prevention and prosecution of crime or the apprehension of offenders;
Where your safety or the safety of others is at risk or in cases of abuse or neglect and we feel the making of a safeguarding referral to Adult or Children’s Services is appropriate.

Please note that Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service will not sell or rent your personally identifiable information to anyone.

How long will you keep hold of my information?

The fire safety related information collected from the visit will be kept for up to ten years. Responses to the safe and well questions are kept for up to three years.

If we are destroying hard copy information, a third party securely disposes of it on our behalf. The third party cannot do anything with your personal information as they are providing a service for us and work under our instruction.

Is there anything else I need to know when it comes to my personal information?

Find out more about the rights you have when it comes to your personal information or who you can contact to discuss it further.

Who can I contact about my personal information?

You can contact our Data Protection Officer with regard to any issues related to the processing of your personal information, including exercising any of your rights or making a complaint.

We encourage people to bring to our attention any instances where they think our collection, or use of, information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate.

Data Protection Officer
Joint Police & Fire Headquarters
Butterley Hall
Ripley
Derbyshire DE5 3RS

Telephone: 01773 305305
Email: dpo@derbys-fire.gov.uk

Right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office

If you wish to complain about any aspect of the handling of your request, then you should contact our Data Protection Officer at:

Data Protection Officer
Joint Police & Fire Headquarters
Butterley Hall
Ripley
Derbyshire DE5 3RS

Telephone: 01773 305305
Email: dpo@derbys-fire.gov.uk

If informal resolution is not possible and you are still dissatisfied then you may apply for an independent internal review by our Chief Fire Officer/Chief Executive. Please note that any request for an internal review must be made within 40 working days of the date on which the attempt to reach informal resolution has come to an end.

If you remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you may take your complaint to the Information Commissioner. Please note that the Information Commissioner will not investigate your case until our internal review process has been completed.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the UK's independent body set up to uphold information rights. You have a right to lodge complaints with them.

To find out more about them, visit https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/who-we-are/

To contact them, either visit their website, dial 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545745 or write to them at:

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

Last updated 30 April 2018