TO ALL BRANCHES WITH MEMBERS WORKING IN THE BT GROUP

Dear Colleague,

BT’s EMPLOYEE PRIVACY POLICY

As branches and members will be aware, personal details of employees that are stored within an EU member state are subject to certain protections.  This is linked to the general consensus that has emerged through the European Union about Data Protection.

However, the latest edition of BT’s Employee Privacy Policy contains a reference to the storage of some personal private data held by BT’s service providers being off-shored outside of the EU.

The policy is detailed in the link cited in People News, namely: 

http://ccs.intra.bt.com/secretary/governance/datap/employee/employee.htm or Click here for the downloaded version

It is well worth reading the revised policy.  It details clearly what data is collected, and for what purpose, how it is collected, sorted, accessed, amended and protected. It was sent through to the CWU immediately prior to its publication on the company’s Intranet on 28^th June 2005.

Apart from concerns about the short time-delay between us receiving this document and its publication, the Executive is well aware of the concerns that exist about data storage and has noted the assurances given by the company especially given the concern that has been generated by the problems encountered by other (i.e.: not BT) UK firms who have their employees’ data stored remotely.

The Executive is therefore pleased to note that if, in spite of the reassurances offered by the policy and the associated “Question and Answer” section, individuals are concerned, it is possible to opt-out of these arrangements.

The union will be prompt in taking up the company’s invitation for us to seek further clarity on this matter. In the meantime, Branches are asked to note this information in dealing with any questions from members 

Any queries on this LTB should be directed to my office at CWU Headquarters.

Yours sincerely,

Simon Sapper

Assistant Secretary