This notice explains how Portsmouth City Council collects, uses and protects information relating to death records.
For general information about how Portsmouth City Council processes personal information for public health purposes, please see the Public Health Privacy Notice.
Who we are
Portsmouth City Council Public Health is part of Portsmouth City Council, which is the data controller for the personal information described in this notice.
Contact details
Public Health Intelligence Team
Public Health Portsmouth
Portsmouth City Council
Floor 2, Core 2
Civic Offices
Guildhall Square
Portsmouth
PO1 2AL
Email: publichealth@portsmouthcc.gov.uk
Telephone: 023 9268 8217
What information we collect
Portsmouth City Council has a Data Sharing Agreement with NHS England for the supply of deaths data in accordance with section 261(5)(d) of the Health and Social Care Act 2012.
The deaths dataset contains personal information that could potentially identify an individual.
Information held within the dataset may include:
- Address of the deceased
- Postcode of the deceased's usual residence
- Place of death
- NHS number
- Date of birth
- Date of death
- GP practice
- Name of the coroner
- Name of the certifier
- Cause of death
- Occupation
Further information about this dataset is available from the NHS England Civil Registration of Deaths Dataset.
The data is processed by Portsmouth City Council in accordance with current data protection legislation.
Where we get your information from
Death records are supplied to Portsmouth City Council by NHS England under a Data Sharing Agreement and in accordance with section 261(5)(d) of the Health and Social Care Act 2012.
Why we use your information
Deaths data is of significant value to health and social care services and helps us understand the health needs of Portsmouth residents.
We use this information to:
- Monitor mortality rates, life expectancy and premature deaths.
- Identify patterns and trends in causes of death.
- Understand differences between geographical areas and population groups.
- Plan and commission health, social care and public health services.
- Identify and reduce health inequalities.
- Support suicide prevention and accident prevention initiatives.
- Identify local risk factors and trends affecting public health.
Typical uses of deaths data include informing:
- Joint Strategic Needs Assessments (JSNAs)
- Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies
- The Director of Public Health Annual Report
- Reports commissioned by the Health and Wellbeing Board
- Public health and wider local authority commissioning strategies and plans
- Public health advice to NHS commissioners
- Local health profiles
- Health impact assessments
- Suicide audits
- End of life care projects
- Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) Screening Programme
- Responses to requests for health and wellbeing information and intelligence
Statistical outputs may include:
- Monitoring seasonal trends in death rates, such as excess winter deaths
- Community health profiles
- Monitoring preventable causes of death, including heart disease, cancer and respiratory disease
- Monitoring deaths relating to vaccine-preventable diseases
- Monitoring drug and alcohol-related deaths
- Suicide audits
- Monitoring child deaths
How we use personal information
Most analysis is carried out using aggregated or anonymised information.
However, some public health functions require the use of personal information, including:
- Understanding the relationship between place of residence and place of death, particularly for suicide prevention work.
- Monitoring seasonal trends in death rates using dates of birth and death.
- Supporting safeguarding investigations relating to child deaths where use of a child's NHS number may be necessary.
Where personal information is used, we minimise the amount of identifiable information wherever possible.
For example, we may:
- Replace dates of birth with age in years.
- Replace addresses and postcodes with larger geographical areas such as electoral wards.
No personal information is published.
To protect confidentiality, numbers and rates based on counts fewer than five are suppressed in published reports. All published outputs comply with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Disclosure Control Guidance for Birth and Death Statistics.
Our lawful basis for processing
UK GDPR Article 6
The lawful basis for processing personal data is:
Article 6(1)(e) UK GDPR – Public Task
Processing is necessary for Portsmouth City Council to perform its official functions and public tasks.
UK GDPR Article 9
The condition for processing special category personal data is:
Article 9(2)(h) UK GDPR – Health and Social Care
Processing is necessary for preventive medicine, medical diagnosis, health or social care services, treatment, and the management of health and social care systems and services.
Automated decision-making and profiling
Portsmouth City Council does not use automated decision-making or profiling in relation to the processing described in this privacy notice.
Who we share your information with
Most information produced from death records is published as anonymous statistical information through reports, publications and papers presented to the Health and Wellbeing Board and partner organisations.
We never publish information that could directly identify an individual.
Personal information will only be shared where:
- There is a clear legal basis for sharing the information.
- Sharing is necessary to protect a person from significant harm.
- Sharing is necessary for the prevention or detection of crime.
- Sharing is required to fulfil statutory duties.
How we keep your information secure
Portsmouth City Council processes personal information in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Death records are stored within secure systems and are only accessible to authorised members of the Public Health Intelligence Team who have been approved to access the data by NHS England.
Staff with access to the information are trained in:
- Data protection
- Information governance
- Confidentiality requirements
We have appropriate technical and organisational measures in place to protect information and ensure it is retained only for as long as necessary and in accordance with:
- Legal requirements; and
- The data sharing agreement between NHS England and Portsmouth City Council.
How long we keep your information
Information is retained only for as long as necessary and in accordance with legal requirements and the NHS England data sharing agreement.
Your data protection rights
Under UK data protection law, you have rights which may include:
- Access to your personal information
- Correction of inaccurate information
- Restriction of processing in certain circumstances
- Objection to processing in certain circumstances
You may also be able to opt out of Portsmouth City Council Public Health receiving or holding personally identifiable information, depending on the specific programme or dataset involved.
Please note that there may be circumstances where information must continue to be processed to fulfil a public task, legal obligation, safeguarding duty or criminal investigation requirement.
You may also request that Portsmouth City Council stops processing your personal data in certain circumstances. However, if approved, this may affect our ability to deliver services or fulfil our statutory responsibilities.
For information about your rights or opting out, contact:
Email: publichealth@portsmouthcc.gov.uk
Complaints and queries
If you would like further information about how death records are processed, please contact:
Public Health Intelligence Team
Public Health Portsmouth
Portsmouth City Council
Floor 2, Core 2
Civic Offices
Guildhall Square
Portsmouth
PO1 2AL
Email: publichealth@portsmouthcc.gov.uk
Telephone: 023 9268 8217
If you are unhappy with how your information has been used, you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).
Information Commissioner's Office
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Further information can be found on the Information Commissioner's Office website.
Changes to this privacy notice
We keep this privacy notice under regular review.
Last updated: 5 June 2026