Our Business

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The Forensic Psychologist Service Ltd provides a range of services including expert witness, teaching, training, supervision, consultancy, clinical and therapeutic services.

 

We take data protection very seriously and we act in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) at all times.

 

We are committed to ensuring your personal information is protected and that you have a clear understanding of how and why we use your personal data.

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This privacy policy tells you what we will do with your personal information when you visit our website, make contact with us or use one of our services.

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How to contact us

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The Forensic Psychologist Service is responsible for ensuring your personal information is managed correctly. If you have any questions or would like to exercise your privacy rights, this is how to get in touch.  

Dr Louise Bowers, HCPC Registered Forensic Psychologist, is the data controller for The Forensic Psychologist Service (South) Ltd. The Forensic Psychologist Service (South) Ltd. is registered with the Information Commissioners Office and the company registration number is Z3086407.

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PO Box 9551
Earls Colne 
Colchester 
CO6 2WQ

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Email: louise.bowers@forensicpsychologist.co.uk
Tel: 07787 436148 

Emma Stevenson, HCPC Registered Forensic Psychologist, is the data controller for The Forensic Psychologist Service (North) Ltd. The Forensic Psychologist Service (North) Ltd. is registered with the Information Commissioners Office and the company registration number is Z317067X.

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34 Bradford Road

Brighouse

West Yorkshire

HD6 1RW

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Email: emma.stevenson@forensicpsychologist.co.uk
Tel: 07717 838781

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How we process your information

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This varies, dependent on your reason for engaging with the Forensic Psychologist Service. 

1) Initial enquiries to our office

 

Contacting us by email - The Forensic Psychologist Service stores emails on our servers so we can refer back to them to help resolve your enquiry. Our servers are GDPR compliant, and emails are stored on password protected and encrypted hardware. We do not receive or store emails on our phones. We will destroy your email once your query is dealt with. If we go onto provide a service for you, your data will be processed as per the details below. 

Calling us - If you call us, we will record your call line Identification unless you withhold your number. We will delete this number as soon as your enquiry is dealt with. We do not record telephone calls. We will respond to any messages left on our voicemail system as soon as possible and then we will delete them. 

Writing to us - if you write to us we will scan your letter and store an electronic copy of the letter on password protected and encrypted hardware before destroying the original letter. We will destroy the electronic copy of your letter once your query is dealt with. If we go onto provide a service for you, your data will be processed as per the details below.

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2) Users of our services (expert witness, teaching and training, supervision and consultancy, clinical and therapeutic services)

 

2.1    What categories of personal data do we process? 

 

Criminal justice/ mental health/ education/ children’s services cases

 

• Names, addresses, dates of birth and other personal data contained in case files, witness statements and other evidence relevant to the issues

• Health information contained in medical records, together with information on sex, race and ethnic origin

• Information about behaviour (including crimes committed) and psychological functioning contained in case files

• Personal data in invoices and copy receipts, accounting records, tax returns and related information

 

Students/ professionals

 

• Names, other personal data contained in employee files (such as application forms, assessments etc)

• Health information contained in employee files, together with information on sex, race and ethnic origin

• Information about behaviour and psychological functioning contained in employee records and supervision/ training notes

• Personal data in invoices and copy receipts, accounting records, tax returns and related information

 

Members of staff

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• Names, addresses, dates of birth, personal email addresses and telephone numbers

• CVs, contracts of employment, salaries

• Bank details and pay slips

 

Special category data (‘sensitive’ information)

 

• race

• ethnic origin

• politics

• religion

• trade union membership

• health (physical and mental)

• sex life

• sexual orientation

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2.2    Why do we process the data?

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The data that The Forensic Psychologist Service Ltd. processes is generally provided by the instructing party and their partner agencies (which includes but is not limited to criminal justice agencies, universities and social care departments), and by the client or service user (eg prisoner, patient, student). 

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The reason we collect and process this data is so that we can carry out our legitimate business (ie so that we can do our job properly). For example, we need the right information to prepare a valid expert witness report, or to provide effective therapy or supervision. 

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Personal data must be processed in a lawful way according to the legitimising conditions set out in the GDPR. The Forensic Psychologist Service Ltd. generally relies on the following legitimising conditions:

 

• Legitimate interest as a business

• Contract (with employees)

• Consent

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When processing special category data, The Forensic Psychologist Service Ltd. generally relies on one of the following additional legitimising conditions:

 

• Legal matters

• Public tasks

• Explicit consent

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Criminal offence data: 

 

The Forensic Psychologist Service Ltd. may also process personal data relating to criminal convictions and offences, or related security measures, under the control of an official authority (such as HMPPS, the police or courts)

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2.3    How long do we retain your data for? 

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The retention periods for the personal data The Forensic Psychologist Service Ltd. stores varies depending on the nature of the service we are providing:

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• 99 years for life sentence and indeterminate sentence prisoners 

• 7 years after sentence expiry date for determinate sentence prisoners

• 7 years for other criminal justice cases and for mental health service users

• Until the age of 25 for children (unless they are subject to criminal sentences, in which case retention periods for sentencing apply)

• For the term of employment, and then 6 years from the end of the financial year for employee data

• For data collected working with professionals 6 years

• For students’ data is kept until they pass their qualification

• 1 month for data stored via email or telephone communications (following which it must be stored in another format if the data is being retained). 

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2.4    Who do we share your personal data with? 

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The Forensic Psychologist Service Ltd. shares personal data internally on a strictly need to know basis. Special category data and personnel files held electronically are encrypted with restricted access. Hard copy special category and other personal data is stored securely with restricted access.

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We do not share personal data with anyone external to the organisation unless this is necessary to achieve our business purposes. Personal data may be shared with: 

 

• Those who have instructed us as an expert witness/ psychologist and their partner agencies (as defined by the instructing party). 

• Other professionals where there is a legitimate purpose 

• Website providers (employee information only)

• Accountants and other professional advisers (employee data only for example professional indemnity provider)

• HMRC (employee data only)

• Companies House (employee data only)

• With others pursuant to a court order

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In exceptional circumstances, such as where there is an identified risk to yourself or other members of the public, then we may contact other services, such as your social worker, GP or police without your consent, as this is a professional obligation; see The British Psychological Society, Generic Professional Practice Guidelines www.bps.org.uk.

 

However, we would always try to inform you if we were going to do this, unless this would raise the risk to you or others.

There may be some circumstances where we are legally obliged to share information. For example, under the UK Terrorism Act or Money Laundering Act, or if a court ordered this. In these case we will always satisfy ourselves that we have lawful and legal basis on which to share the information and document our decision making. 

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2.5     How do we make sure your data is secure?  

 

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure we have put in place suitable physical (eg locked offices and cabinets), electronic (eg password protected encrypted hardware), and managerial procedures (eg DBS cleared staff) to safeguard and secure the information we collect. In addition, we require any third party we may use (eg accountants, website hosts) to be GDPR compliant.  

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2.6    What rights do you have in relation to your personal data?

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We are committed to protecting your right to privacy and you can expect certain things when we are holding and processing your data. These rights include:

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• The right to be given information about how we process your data and why

• The right to have a copy of the personal information we hold on you

• The right to  correct any inaccurate data hold on you, and to add to the information we hold about you if it is incomplete

• The right to be forgotten and have your personal data destroyed (in certain circumstances) 

• The right to request us to restrict the processing of your personal data ((in certain circumstances)

• The right to ask us to transfer your personal data (only applies to data you have given to us) 

• The right to object to us processing your data

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You can see a lot more information on these rights on the UK Information Commissioner’s Office website: 
ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/

 

3) Visitors to our website 

 

You cannot contact us through our website via a contact form therefore our website does not process or hold any personally identifiable information about you. 

When someone visits our website we use a third party service, Google Analytics, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is processed in a way which does not identify anyone.

We use cookies on our website. Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer when you visit websites. They are widely used across the Internet in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as provide performance information to the owner of the site.

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Our website is built using the Wix platform. Click here to find out more about the specific cookies Wix places on our website.

 

The Forensic Psychologist Service will not use cookies to collect personally identifiable information about you. However, if you wish to restrict or block the cookies which are set by our websites, or indeed any other website, you can do this through your browser settings. The help function within your browser should tell you how.

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You may wish to visit www.allaboutcookies.org which contains comprehensive information on how to do this on a wide variety of browsers.

 

You will also find details on how to delete cookies from your computer as well as more general information about cookies.

 

For information on how to do this on the browser of your mobile phone you will need to refer to your handset manual. Please be aware that restricting cookies may impact on the functionality of our (and other) websites. 

 

How to Complain 

 

If you have any concerns with regards to the use of your personal data, please contact Dr Louise Bowers or Emma Stevenson in the first instance.

 

If you are not satisfied with the response you have received, or are concerned about how The Forensic Psychologist Service has processed your personal data, you can complain to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO).

You can submit your concern via their website at www.ico.org.uk, or by telephone on 0303 123 1113.

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Changes to this Policy 

 

If we change the way we process your personal data, we will update this policy.
If we make significant changes, we will contact you as soon as possible to let you know.