When a parishioner writes to a Parish Council who is she/he legally writing to

Question

Our Parish clerk does not send on emails from parishioners as the clerk thinks it will  breach  data information laws. I maintain that the parishioner is writing to the elected members via the clerk. Is the parishioner legally writing to the members?

Answer 1

It may breach data protection laws because sometimes the parishioners don’t want their information sent out, so why don’t you ask your Clerk if they can forward on the body of the email so redacting any personal information.  The Clerk might be able to answer the question themselves and then just report it in their clerks report.

Answer 2

The partitioner is writing to the councillors. They may have a scheme of delegation that permits the clerk to deal with some correspondence directly such as requests for information, but councillors should always be made aware of all incoming correspondence even if their participation in a response isn't required. The council (clerk and councillors effectively) have an obligation to comply with  GDPR, but I would argue that redaction isn't necessary, unless the E mails or paper copies are forwarded to people or organisations external to the council

Answer 3

The simple solution is for the Clerk to ask the parishioner for their consent, then there can be no doubt. I always explain how the Council functions and the fact that the elected members are the decision-makers. If necessary, I can report the matter anonymously, but I prefer not to.

Comments

Agreed and also point the parishioner to the Council's Privacy Notice.

Answer 4

Ideally, such matters should be set out in the PC's Privacy Notice.

Answer 5

In some respects, the answer is in the question;   when someone writes to "the parish council" .  A parish council is a separate legal entity in its own right which is separate from individual councillors.  This is very much like a business which is separate from its owners or directors, albeit that it is the owners/directors/staff who will deal with issues raised by any correspondence.   Putting this into a town and parish council context, correspondence is therefore technically addressed to the proper officer who is the legal entity responsible for receiving it on behalf of the parish council and your internal systems will dictate how that then is dealt with.

If parishioners wish to write or contact parish councillors as individuals rather than the council as a whole, then clearly they can do so and many councils publish their councillor contact details separately from the "corporate" address to facilitate this but everyone needs to be clear that the official lines of communication to "the parish council" is via the Clerk who will then act in accordance with the internal systems and controls that the council has agreed and which are consistent with all sorts of legislation which of course would include data protection regulations.