Internet Privacy Policy
St. Helens Community, Education and Leisure Services Department (referred to as the Department) respects and protects your privacy when you use the websites operated and owned by the Department. The paragraphs below tell you how information is gathered and shared for the websites operated and owned by the Department.
Information You Provide
There are a few activities on our sites where the collection of personally identifiable information is necessary. Where you provide personal information (e.g. name, address, telephone number etc.) to the Department via its websites for whatever purpose (e.g. registration, survey, feedback), it will be made clear to you what the information collected will be used for and who it will be provided to. The Council will only use the information collected for the stated purpose.
Specific personal information will be released where the Department is
required to do so by law, e.g. court order.
All data received by the Department will be protected, whether in a manual
or electronic form in line with the principles of the Data Protection
Act 1998 and British Standard 7799.
When the data is no longer required or fit for purpose, it will be destroyed or deleted from system areas. Access to data supplied will only be used by relevant council staff; who will ensure that it can only be viewed by those authorized to do so.
Information Collected from You with Technology
Some information is collected about you using technology, so it may not be readily apparent to you that it is being collected. For instance, when you come to the Department sites your Internet Protocol (IP) address is collected so that we know where to send information you are requesting. An IP address is often associated with the place from which you enter the Internet like your Internet Service Provider (ISP) or your company.
This information is not personally identifiable. The Department uses this information to monitor the number of visitors to the sites and which pages they spend most time looking at. This helps the Council to plan the site and make it more interesting and useful in the future.
What are Cookies and how does the Department use them?
Cookies are pieces of information that a Web site sends to your computer while you are viewing the Web site. The information is stored as a text file on your computer. These pieces of information allow the Web site to remember important information that will make your use of that site more useful. You can disable cookies by changing your browser settings.
The Department does not use 'cookies' for collecting personal information from the web site. We will always respect your privacy and any personal communication between you and ourselves. We will always comply with any data protection legislation currently in force.
Scope of this Privacy Policy
This privacy policy only covers the websites belonging to and operated by St Helens Council and St. Helens Community, Education and Leisure Services Department. Links within these sites to other websites are not covered by this policy.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
St. Helens Community, Education and Leisure Services Department may amend this policy from time to time. If substantial changes are made to the way in which the Council collects and uses your personal information a notice will be displayed on the web sites.