West Yorkshire (Western Division) Coroner’s Service Privacy Notice

Who is the data controller?

The Senior Coroner for West Yorkshire (Western) which covers the metropolitan districts of Bradford, Kirklees (Huddersfield and Dewsbury) and Calderdale is the data controller for the purposes of the Data Protection Act 2018 other regulations including the UK General Data Protection Regulation, which means they determine what your data is used for and why it is collected. The purpose of this privacy notice is to tell you about what information is collected about you when you use our service, how that information is used and who it may be shared with.

The Senior Coroner for West Yorkshire (Western) is supported by a number of Assistant Coroners.

The contact details of the data controller are:
HM Senior Coroner for West Yorkshire (Western)
HM Coroner’s Court,
Cater Building, 1 Cater Street
Bradford, BD1 5AS
Telephone: 01274 438770

The personal information we hold and the legal basis for processing it

Where relevant, we will collect the following information:

• Name
• Date of Birth
• Medical history from GP and hospitals
• Cause of death
• Family details
• Lifestyle and social circumstances
• Addictions
• Financial details
• Employment and education details
• Occupation and place of work
• Offences and alleged offences contained in police report
• Physical or mental health details
• Racial or ethnic origin
• Religious or other beliefs
• Criminal proceedings, outcomes and sentences
• Results of DNA reports and finger reports results
• Juror information - name, address, bank account details to pay expenses
• Witnesses - name, address, bank account details to pay expenses

When deciding what personal information to collect, use and hold, we are committed to making sure that we will:

• Only collect, hold and use personal information where it is necessary and fair to do so
• Keep your personal information secure and safe
• Securely dispose of any personal information when it is no longer needed

We collect this data because we are required to under the Coroners Act 1988, the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 and its subordinate legislation, and other legislation appertaining to the administrative and judicial functions of the Coroner.

How long we will keep your data for?

Matters reported to the Senior Coroner for West Yorkshire (Western) that are deaths due to natural causes (Form 100A and 100B) are held for 15 years, after which the paper copy data will be destroyed. Electronic records will be held indefinitely. We will dispose of paper records or delete any electronic personal information in a secure and confidential way.

Why we need to collect your data

The Senior Coroner and Assistant Coroners must investigate all deaths which are violent or unnatural; where the cause of death is unknown; death while in custody or state detention. 

Your personal data is collected to enable us to administer the running of a Coroner's Office in order to carry out our statutory responsibilities under the different legislative frameworks.

In addition, we collect your personal data for the following:

• Service delivery
• Statistical analysis and reporting
• Safeguarding (future prevention of death)

Who we share your data with and why

As inquests are publically accessible, this data will be shared with anyone attending the proceedings, including the press.

Article 23 of the UK GDPR introduces exemptions from the regulations of UK GDPR for the purpose of the protection of judicial independence and proceedings.

During the course of undertaking their statutory duties, the Senior Coroner and Assistant Coroners may share data with the following main organisations:

• Bradford Metropolitan District Council
• Kirklees Council
• Calderdale Council
• Chief Coroner
• West Yorkshire Police
• Pathologists
• Bradford Public Mortuary and Forensic Science Centre
• Funeral directors in the metropolitan districts of Bradford, Kirklees, Calderdale and surrounding areas
• Local Coroners – specifically those where cases are often transferred to/from
• NHS Trusts in the Western Division Coroner Area
• Clinical Commissioning Groups covering the Western Division Coroner Area
• Ministry of Justice
• West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service
• British Transport Police
• West Yorkshire Ambulance Service
• Crown Prosecution Service
• Health and Safety Executive
• GP’s
• Accident investigation branches
• Bradford, Kirklees and Calderdale Register Office staff
• Cemeteries and Crematoria in the Bradford, Kirklees, Calderdale and surrounding area
• Families affected, appointed executor representative of the person whose personal data we are processing
• Financial organisations such as insurance companies and pension schemes
• Other organisations which from time to time are involved with an investigation and who are required to provide evidence or assistance to the Coroner

Where we have received your data from a third party

We primarily receive data from West Yorkshire Police, NHS Hospital Trusts in the West Yorkshire (Western) Coroner Area and GP’s, however, data will be received from other organisations and individuals listed above. The data we have includes personal details and/or sensitive classes of data.

Automated decision making

We do not use automated decision making.

Will my data be transferred abroad?

We do not transfer data abroad

Use of CCTV

There is CCTV installed on the outside of our building, which covers the small courtyard area and inside the building within the public areas, for the purposes of monitoring building security and crime prevention and detection.

Images captured by CCTV will not be kept for longer than necessary. However, on occasions there may be a need to keep images for a longer period, for example where a crime is being investigated. CCTV images will only be disclosed to third parties for the purposes stated above. CCTV images will not be released to the media, used for entertainment purposes or placed on the internet.

Your rights under the UK GDPR

• Find out about the rights for individuals under the UK GDPR

What are your rights?

Please contact the Corporate Information Governance Team at dpo@bradford.gov.uk to exercise any of your rights, or if you have a complaint about why your information has been collected, how it has been used or how long we have kept it for.

You can contact our Data Protection Officer at dpo@bradford.gov.uk  or write to: Data Protection Officer, City Hall, Centenary Square, Bradford, BD1 1HY.

The UK GDPR also gives you the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office who are the supervisory authority responsible to regulate and monitor the legislative obligations within the UK and can be contacted on 03031 231113.

Further information

Information and guidance on researching coroners inquest records can be found from the The National Archives.

To learn more about the work of the Coroner please read the Ministry of Justice's Guide to Coroner Services (pdf).