Privacy Policy

Keeping your data safe

The Milton Keynes Green Party is committed to protecting your privacy, including online, and in the transparent use of any online information, you give us in accordance with our legal obligations. This Privacy Policy sets out in detail the purposes for which we process your personal data, who we share it with, what rights you have in relation to that data and everything else we think it’s important for you to know.

Personal data means data that relate to a living individual who can be identified:

  1. from those data, or
  2. from those data and other information which is in the possession of, or is likely to come into the possession of, the data controller,

and includes any expression of opinion about the individual and any indication of the intentions of the data controller or any other person in respect of the individual.

Who are we?

Milton Keynes Green Party
C/O 36 Station Road, Woburn Sands, MK17 8RW

Who is in control?

It is important that you understand who is responsible for keeping your data safe. We are the “controller” of all personal data collected and used by the Milton Keynes Green Party for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. This means that we are responsible for deciding how and why your data is used and for ensuring that your data is handled legally and safely.

What data do we collect and where from?

Website subscription forms

We collect the details you submit to us when you complete an online form on mkgreens.org, asking us to keep you updated on party activities and related issues.

Petitions and Surveys

We also collect information that you voluntarily provide to us when you respond to petitions or surveys including your responses to any questions they might ask.

Membership Signups

When you join as a member of the party we receive from the Green Party of England and Wales all the details you provide including contact details and any other details that are voluntarily provided.

Cookies and IP addresses

We collect information about how you interact with our websites using a cookie-free analytics software called umami and your connections Internet Connection (IP) Address if your browser is set to accept/provide such in an anonymised manner which cannot be used to directly identify you. You can find out more about the software on their website.

The Electoral Register

As a political party, our local parties are provided with access to the electoral register for the purposes of canvassing and promotion.

Social Media

We also collect publicly available information from social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, for example, likes, shares, tweets and posts about the Milton Keynes Green Party and its activities and campaigns. This information is provided to us by a third party social media platform.

What do we use your data for?

We use the data you provide us to communicate with our membership and supporters about party business, activities and campaigns. From time to time we will also communicate with you about fundraising campaigns we run in order to finance the operation of the local party and/or support specific causes.

We use your data, including any voluntarily provided information, to choose which campaigns or Party activities we believe may be of interest to you. Our communications may be via Post, Telephone, Text message, Email or Social Media.

Your address information (where provided) is used to identify the local Green Party in your area and may be used in an automated way to inform you of campaigns of local geographical relevance.

As a Political Party, we use your expressed political opinions to inform our campaigning including what issues we promote, how we contact you and what we say to you.

What is our legal basis for using your data?

In order to hold and process your data, we are obliged to identify the lawful basis upon which we do so. The lawful basis is different for the different purposes identified above.

Purpose: Informing Members and Supporters of Green Party Activities and campaigns

Lawful Basis: Public task.

We process this personal data on the basis that we have a legitimate interest in ensuring that we communicate effectively with actual and potential supporters of the Green Party and its campaigns. This ensures that we can continue to represent supporters views in a democratic way. and to help us generate revenue to fund our political activities.

Purpose: Communicating with Members about their membership and constitutional role within the Party.

Lawful Basis: Public task.

We process your membership and personal data with respect to your membership position in line with the contract entered into upon joining the party. As a membership organisation, we require that we be able to communicate with members about constitutional issues (such as leadership elections, candidate selection, our AGM and meetings, and changes to the constitution).

Purpose: General Purpose Direct Marketing

Lawful basis: Public task.

We will only send email marketing messages to supporters where we have your consent to do so. Your consent may be obtained verbally, on paper, or via electronic means, for example, signing up to receive updates from the party via email.

Purpose: Canvassing of Political Opinions

Lawful Basis: Public task.

As a political party, we have a legitimate interest in understanding the political opinions of the UK electorate both nationally and on local campaigns and issues. Political opinions are classed as ‘special category’ data under data privacy legislation and our processing of this data is in accordance with Article 9 (g) of the General Data Protection Regulations which states that “processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest, on the basis of Union or Member State law…”

Who do we share your data with?

Milton Keynes Green Party and the national office

The data we have is kept by the Milton Keynes Green Party. Data you provide will be shared between the Milton Keynes Green Party, other local parties in SE England, and the Green Party of England and Wales national office.

Donations and financial information

The personal details you provide will be held internally by our finance officers and will be shared with the Electoral Commission in the case where your donations exceed declarable thresholds £7,500 per person per calendar year for the National Party and £1,500 per year for our Local Parties (see http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk for current thresholds). The personal details you provide will be held internally and the bank details you provide will be kept securely by our payment processor Paypal. Your bank details will only be shared with your bank and ours.

Third-Party Platforms

Other processors

From time to time we may need to share some of your data with third party data processors (such as technology providers, website hosts, online systems). Where we do so we will have a data processing agreement with the third party, and where they are located outside the European Economic Area (EEA) we will ensure that they provide enough security and privacy to enable us to meet our legal obligations to you.

How long do we keep your data?

Where you join as a member of the Party your data will be held for as long as you maintain your membership. If your membership lapses, your status will change to a supporter.

Where you have identified as a supporter your data will be held until such time as you unsubscribe from receiving communications from the party.

Where you have donated to the Party or one of its campaigns the related data will be held for a period of 5 years to ensure we can comply with financial regulations.

What rights do you have?

You have a number of rights under data protection law. Some of these rights and how you can exercise them are set out in this section, more information can be found from the Information Commissioners office (https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/individual-rights/).

We will normally need to ask you for proof of your identity before we can respond to a request to exercise any of the rights in this section and we may need to ask you for more information, for example, to help us to locate the personal data that your request relates to.

The right to be informed

You have the right to be informed as to how we use your data and under what lawful basis we carry out any processing. This privacy policy sets this information out however if you would like further information or feel that your rights are not being respected please email dataprotection@greenparty.org.uk.

A right to access your information

You have a right to ask us to send you a copy of all personal data that we hold about you (subject to some exceptions). A request to exercise this right is called a “subject access request” and must be made in writing to: dataprotection@greenparty.org.uk or to: Data Protection Officer, Green Party of England and Wales, The Biscuit Factory, Unit 201 A Block, 100 Clements Road, London, SE16 4DG.

A right to object to us processing your information

You have a right to object to us processing any personal data that we process where we are relying on legitimate interests as the legal basis of our processing. You also have the right to withdraw your consent from our processing that requires it (such as our email communications). Every communication will have an option for you to withdraw your consent directly, or you can email dataprotection@greenparty.org.uk at any time to exercise this right.

A right to ask us not to market to you

You have the right to opt-out of any marketing or personally addressed direct mailings we send to you. If the communication is electronic it will include simple links and instructions to ‘unsubscribe’. For other media please email dataprotection@greenparty.org.uk or write to Data Protection Officer, Green Party of England and Wales, The Biscuit Factory, Unit 201 A Block, 100 Clements Road, London, SE16 4DG.

A right to have inaccurate data corrected

You have a right to ask us to correct inaccurate data that we hold about you. If we are satisfied that the new data you have provided is accurate, we will correct your personal data as soon as possible.

A right to have your data erased

You have a right to ask us to delete your personal data in certain circumstances, for example if we have processed your data unlawfully or if we no longer need the data for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy.

A right to have processing of your data restricted

You can ask us to restrict processing of your personal data in some circumstances, for example if you think the personal data is inaccurate and we need to verify its accuracy, or if we no longer need the data but you require us to keep it so that you can exercise your own legal rights. Restricting your personal data means that we only store your personal data and don’t carry out any further processing on it unless you consent or we need to process the data to exercise a legal claim or to protect a third party or the public.

To exercise any of the rights above please email dataprotection@greenparty.org.uk or write to Data Protection Officer, Green Party of England and Wales, The Biscuit Factory, Unit 201 A Block, 100 Clements Road, London, SE16 4DG..

To further understand your rights please visit the website of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at http://www.ico.gov.uk.