Personal information charter

How the Government Chemist treats your personal information and how to check what details they have for you.

When we ask you for personal information we promise to:

  • tell you why we need it
  • only ask for what we need
  • make sure nobody has access to it who shouldn’t
  • let you know if we’re going to share it with other organisations so that you can benefit from better public services (and if you can say no to this)
  • only keep it for as long as we need to
  • not make it available for commercial use without your permission, unless it’s information that we’re required to make publicly available on a public register

In return we ask you to:

  • give us accurate information
  • tell us as soon as possible if there are any changes, such as a new address

This helps us to keep your information reliable and up to date.

All the personal information we hold is protected under the Data Protection Act.

Make a subject access request

You can find out if we hold any of your personal information by making a subject access request under the Data Protection Act. If we do hold information about you we will:

  • give you a description of it
  • tell you why we are holding it
  • tell you who can access it
  • let you have a copy of it

To make a subject access request send an email to [email protected] or telephone 020 8943 7374.

For independent advice about data protection, privacy and data-sharing issues, you can contact the Information Commissioner.

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