Insight and Intelligence

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It is important that the council’s decisions are based on information and analysis that is accurate and appropriate.

How we use personal information

We use personal information to analyse patterns and trends of service use; plan and improve the services we deliver; better plan where and how we spend public money; and to help us make decisions and create policy. This is called insight.

By using data analysis and insight, we are able to make informed decisions to: 

  • design, deliver and transform services
  • improve outcomes for our residents
  • make the council more efficient in how it uses its resources (people and money).

A lot of the insight and analysis work we do uses anonymised data. This means that a person cannot be identified. In some cases we need to use identifiable data.   

We use personal information we hold about individuals and information that we get from other organisations, like government departments and credit reference agencies. We combine, compare and/or match data from these sources to produce our insights. This helps us to look at a problem or service as a whole, improving how we deliver our services to the borough.

Usually the results of an analysis don't identify an individual. If we do have to identify individuals, for example, those that qualify for a service. Your personal information will not be made public and any reports we publish will not identify any individual.

Personal information we collect

The personal data we use can come from any department or team. Below is a list of the types of personal data we use for insight work. We do not usually use all this data at once for any insight project.

  • name
  • address & contact details
  • date of birth
  • financial information
  • equalities information
  • property information
  • criminal/prosecution information 
  • health/medical information  
  • Social Services records 
  • Human Resources records
  • other agencies involved 
  • education information 
  • housing information  
  • employment information
  • family/relationship information
  • NHS Number
  • images in photographs or film/CCTV.

Who we share your information with

Where we do a piece of insight work that must identify individuals, we may share the outcomes with certain people or organisations. This depends on the project we are doing. For example, we may share information with the Department of Education if we are doing a project to look at how to place children with Special Educational Needs in a suitable school.

  • DWP 
  • Police 
  • health agencies 
  • council services
  • Government departments - Reports may be shared with government departments as part of our partnership work with them or where a law allows us or requires us to share.
  • professional regulatory bodies
  • Council Legal Service
  • other local authorities
  • Ofsted
  • voluntary agencies /third sector
  • housing providers
  • specialist organisations - Reports maybe shared with specialist organisations as part of our response to the problems identified as part of the insight work.
  • Home Office.

Legislation that applies

We deliver most of our services because the law says that we, as a local authority, must do so. This is where we have a legal obligation to deliver a service; where it is part of our task as a public authority; or where it is in the public interest to deliver a service. Reviewing our work and trying to improve services is all part of the council meeting these obligations that are listed in the many laws that drive or affect our work.

Sometimes our insight work is directly required under a piece of legislation. In most cases the council is trying to identify where it can do better or make a service more effective and efficient. This is very important to help us spend public money in the best way.

The Local Government Act 2000 allows a local authority to undertake activities which they consider likely to achieve the promotion or improvement of the wellbeing of their areas and residents. It also provides the council with the powers to do anything which is aimed to support or improve the discharge of our functions.

How long we keep your information

The personal data used for insight purposes is kept by the Insight team for 5 years from the close of a project. This is so we have time to review the data after recommendations have been implemented.