Overview
We have a legal duty to protect the privacy of all personal and business data obtained from you while you are using this website. This privacy policy explains what information we may collect from you and the purposes for which it will be used. By using this website you give your agreement to the data practices described in this policy.
This website only collects personal and business data from you with your permission, for example if you register or fill in a form. No personal or business data is collected from you without you knowing about it.
Some web usage and technical information is collected by this website to help us improve our service to you, but this does not contain any personal data.
Changes to this policy
We may make changes to this privacy policy at any time. Changes will be posted here and are effective immediately. Regularly reviewing this page ensures that you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we will share it with other parties.
- What information do we collect and how do we use it?
Depending on which services you use on this website, you may be asked to provide information, or we may collect information from you as explained below.
1.1 Information that you provide to us
We collect and process data that you provide for specific purposes. You will be asked to provide information about yourself when you use certain site facilities, in order to complete your request or transaction. This may include personal information such as your name, email addresses, mailing address and telephone number. We use this data to provide you with the information, products or services that you request from us and to communicate with you. We may keep a record of any contacts you have with us. We may use the information that you provide for record keeping, statistical, or research purposes.
We only retain this information where required to do so by law – for the length of time needed to provide the service or information you have requested (including any retention period specified by law or by government policy), or for the length of time that you choose to store information or permit us to contact you if you have registered with our website.
We may use your details to offer personalised or local services, to notify you of changes to our service, to ask your opinions and to help us to improve our services.
In order to provide the information, products or services that you have requested we will share your data as required with other organisations – for example with a publications distribution organisation if you order a publication.
- Website usage information
As well as the information that you provide to us as set out above, we receive and store a range of website usage information whenever you use this website. We use this to:
- assess the effectiveness of marketing campaigns
- develop and deliver services and information that better meet your needs
Web usage information is collected by our web server and from other sources including page tagging techniques using JavaScript and cookies. We use IP addresses and cookies to analyse website usage trends, understand user journeys and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. IP addresses and our cookies are not linked to personally identifiable information.
The type of website usage information that we collect during your visits to our site includes, for example, the date and time, pages viewed or searched for, publications ordered, guides printed, tools used, subscriptions and referrals made, some truncated postcode or telephone area code information entered on forms (which is not traceable back to you) and other information relating to your usage of our website.
We may also use web usage information to create statistical data regarding the use of our website and we may then use or disclose that statistical data to others for marketing and strategic development purposes, however, no individual identities will or can be identified in such statistical data.
2.1 Cookies
Cookies are small pieces of data given to your browser by a website which may be stored as text files in the cookie directory of your computer. Cookies are not programs and cannot collect information from your computer. They do not damage your computer and are defined as “a piece of text stored on a user’s computer by their web browser. A cookie can be used for authentication, storing site preferences, shopping cart contents, the identifier for a server-based session, or anything else that can be accomplished through storing text data” (source: Wikipedia, 2011).
Each website may send cookie data to your browser which may save it if your browser’s preferences allow it to do so. To protect your privacy your browser only returns a cookie to the website that sent you the cookie and does not send it to any other website. A website cannot access your cookie directory or information on your computer, instead relevant cookies are included by your browser within each request you make to the website. A website can only obtain cookie data that your browser sends to it.
You do not have to accept cookies and you can change the settings within your browser to accept all cookies, reject all cookies, reject cookies from certain websites, notify you if a site is requesting to set a cookie, and set various other options.
Switching off cookies will still allow you to view the majority of content on our site, however, it will prevent you accessing information. It may restrict your use of our interactive tools and of some services available through linked sites.
2.1.1 Further information about cookies
For further information about cookies, please refer to:
- your browser’s Help function
- your browser provider’s website
- Information sharing and disclosure
We will only disclose your information to others where there is a lawful basis to do so. We will not disclose your information except where:
- this is necessary to provide or complete a relevant service to you (see examples at section 2 above)
- this is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy policy
- this is required by applicable laws or court orders (for example to prevent or detect crime)
- you give us permission to do so
We will not sell, rent or disclose your information to any third parties other than those set out in this privacy policy without your consent. We do not transfer your personal information outside of the European Economic Area.
- Third party content and linking to other websites
This website contains links to many other websites. Anonymous visit or session information may be passed to other websites for the web usage information purposes described above. None of this information can be related to an individual user of the website. The operators of other sites may collect information from you, which will be used by them in accordance with their own terms and conditions, and privacy policies.
This privacy policy applies only to our website. We are not responsible for privacy practices within any other websites. You should always be aware of this when you leave this website and we encourage you to read the privacy statement on any other website that you visit.
We embed external content from third-party websites such as YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn including cookies. This content is not published on our website. It is delivered using devices and services from third party sites that can be inserted into our site such as media players, RSS feeds and widgets. These websites may use cookies. Their content is subject to the privacy policy of the relevant third-party provider and not ours.
See for example:
http://www.youtube.com/t/privacy
http://twitter.com/privacy
- Your access to your information
You have a right to request a copy of any personal information that we hold about you.
You will be asked for appropriate identification when you request copies of personal information.