Under data protection law, you have rights. The rights available to you depend on our reason for processing your information.
Right to be informed
You have the right to be informed about the collection and use of your personal data in most circumstances. This information can usually be found in our privacy notices and elsewhere on our websites.
Right of access
You have a right to request a copy of personal information we hold about you, by making a subject access request.
You can find out more about the process of requesting information on our dedicated website page.
We will not provide you with a copy of your personal information if we already make it available under a legal obligation. For example birth, death and marriage certificates can be ordered as official extracts.
Right to rectification
You have the right to ask us to update our records if you believe that the information we hold is inaccurate or incomplete. For some information we hold exemptions apply to the rights to rectification.
Right to erasure
You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information. For some information we hold exemptions apply to rights to erasure.
Right to restriction of processing
You have the right to ask that we stop or restrict the processing of your information in certain circumstances.
You can ask for content to be taken down from our websites or for a record to be withdrawn from public access. You will need to send us details and explain why you think it should be taken down or withdrawn.
When a valid request is received, the content or record will usually be temporarily taken down from public view or access pending the review process. For more information please read our Reclosure and Takedown Policy.
Right to object to processing
You have the right to object to the processing of your personal information if the process forms part of our public tasks.
Right to data portability
You have the right to ask that we transfer the information you gave us from one organisation to another, or give it to you. This right only applies to information you have given us and we are processing information based on your consent or under contract, or are in talks about entering into a contract and the processing is automated.
If you want to find out more about how to exercise these rights please contact our Data Protection Officer.
Disclosure of personal information
We will not disclose personal information you provide to us without consent in most cases, but as highlighted above, we might need to do so when we investigate a complaint, or want to obtain a reference or a ‘disclosure’. We will inform you of this beforehand unless the disclosure is required by law, to prevent and detect crime or to produce anonymised statistics.
We may share information we collect for registration purposes to support the administration of vital public services. We may also share information we collect for registration and statistical purposes to enable research that delivers a clear public benefit, subject to appropriate safeguards.
Complaints or queries about our use of personal information
NRS takes any complaints we receive about how we collect and use personal information very seriously, as we try to meet the highest standards. If you think that we collect or use information unfairly, misleadingly or inappropriately, please contact us and bring this to our attention. We also welcome any thoughts and suggestions for improving our procedures.
You can make a complaint or contact us about other concerns using the Data Protection Officer’s contact details provided above.
When you make a complaint we will take appropriate steps to investigate and respond to your complaint and let you know the outcome without undue delay.
You also have the right to report your concerns to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO recommend you contact us first, before you bring your complaint to them. For more information visit the ICO website.
