Privacy for our AI Chatbot and Webchat

This privacy notice explains how Buckinghamshire Council (the data controller) will use information collected during AI chatbot and webchat interactions and conversations.

We can hold the following information on you:

• your name
• your contact details, including phone number and email address
• reason for contact
• any information you provide during the chatbot or webchat interaction. This would normally be a summary but where appropriate a full copy of the chat conversation may be kept
• a copy of the web chat transcript
• AI-determined analysis of the webchat conversation (positive, neutral or negative), which is stored against the chat interaction

We need your information to:

• provide you with a service
• investigate complaints
• consider and answer your enquiries
• for training, audit, and quality assurance purposes

We will also use your information to keep a record of our contact with you.

The lawful basis for processing the personal information under the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR is:

• Article 6(1)(a) Your Consent - You’re able to remove or withdraw your consent at any time. You can do this by contacting us at [email protected]
• Article 6(1)(b) We have a Contractual obligation to provide you with the online services you request
• Article 6(1)(c) We have a Legal Obligation
• Article 6(1)(e) We need it to perform a Public Task to deliver our online services and improve our customer experience

We may need to use your personal information so we can contact you, carry out a request, or provide a service. If appropriate, we may share your information with:

• relevant service within the Council
• partners or contractors of the council who deliver services on our behalf.
• other bodies, such as the police, where it is necessary to comply with a legal obligation.
• third parties (data processors) contracted by Buckinghamshire Council to work on behalf of the Council to support online services - such third parties include:
  • our customer relationship management tools provider
  • our AI chatbot and webchat provider
  • other bodies in connection with the prevention of crime, criminal or legal investigations or proceedings including fraud (and the National Fraud Initiative) or regulatory functions (such as the Local Government Ombudsman)
• other relevant services within the council

We will securely hold your information and only keep it for as long as is necessary. Web Chat conversations are automatically deleted after 2 years. If the web chat conversation is available, you can request a copy by contacting us. Where information is no longer needed it will be confidentially disposed of.

The Council does transfer personal data that is processed for the purposes of this Privacy Notice to countries outside of the territorial scope of UK data protection laws, including EEA countries.

Personal data may be contained within the data uploaded to our AI tools. We are the data controller of your personal data when it is used, and the supplier/contractor is a data processor. We have a signed agreement in place with each supplier/contractor to ensure that your personal data is protected. Users of our AI tools know to process personal data in accordance with the GDPR and our various data protection policies.

None of your personal data is used solely by the AI technology provider to improve their AI products and all data is stored and processed in either the UK or EU.

We do not carry out any automated decision making in relation to this information.

It is important to note that Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools are not employed in the decision-making process. All decision making is made by Council officers, ensuring that human judgement remains central to our operations.

The Council remains open to exploring and integrating additional AI tools in the future where there is a clear and compelling rationale for their use. We are committed to leveraging technology in ways that enhance our services and better serve the community.

You have legal rights over your information. For details of those rights, see our corporate Privacy Policy. Your rights will differ depending on our lawful basis for processing your personal information.

Our Data Protection Officer can be contacted at Buckinghamshire Council, The Gateway, Gatehouse Road, Aylesbury, HP19 8FF, by email at [email protected] or by phone at 0300 131 6000.

If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, you can make a complaint to the Data Protection Officer. You can also then complain to the ICO if you remain unhappy with how we have used your personal information.

Date of publication/last update: March 2026