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Privacy policy

Invest Plymouth (or www.investplymouth.co.uk) is provided by Plymouth Council.

Plymouth City Council is registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioner's Office (registration number: Z7262171). A data controller determines how and why personal data is processed.

If you follow a link to a service provided by another agency or local authority, that organisation will:

  • be the data controller
  • be responsible for processing any data you share with them
  • publish and manage their own privacy notice with details of how to contact them

What data we collect

The personal data we collect from you includes:

  • questions, queries or feedback you leave, including your email address if you contact Invest Plymouth
  • your postcode and address if you use an Invest Plymouth service that includes a postcode or address lookup function
  • your email address and subscription preferences when you sign up to our email alerts
  • how you use our emails - for example whether you open them and which links you click on
  • your Internet Protocol (IP) address, and details of which version of web browser you used
  • information on how you use the site, using cookies and page tagging techniques

Where you provide your consent, we use Google Analytics and Matamo cookies to collect information about how you use the site. This includes IP addresses.

Analytics processes information about:

  • the pages you visit on Invest Plymouth
  • how long you spend on each Invest Plymouth page
  • how you got to the site
  • what you click on while you’re visiting the site

We make sure you cannot be directly identified by analytics data. We do this by using IP address anonymisation and by removing any other personal data from the titles or URLs of the pages you visit.

We will not combine analytics information with other data sets in a way that would directly identify who you are.

Why we need your data

We collect your personal data in order to:

  • gather feedback to improve our services
  • respond to any feedback you send us, if you’ve asked us to
  • send email alerts to users who request them
  • allow you to access services and make transactions
  • provide you with information about local services
  • monitor use of the site to identify security threats
  • monitor the performance of the site to identify inefficiencies and JavaScript errors

We use the information we collect through Google Analytics and Matamo to see how you use Invest Plymouth and to see how well the site performs on your device.

We do this to help:

  • make sure Invest Plymouth is meeting the needs of its users
  • make improvements, for example improving site search
  • make performance improvements, for example improving page load time and data usage

The legal basis for processing personal data in relation to site security is our legitimate interests, and the legitimate interests of our users, in ensuring the security and integrity of Invest Plymouth.

The legal basis for processing data collected with Google Analytics and Matamo on Invest Plymouth is your consent.

The legal basis for processing all other personal data is that it’s necessary:

  • to perform a task in the public interest
  • in the exercise of our functions as a government service

What we do with your data

The data we collect may be shared with other government departments, agencies and public bodies. It may also be shared with our technology suppliers, for example our hosting provider.

We will share your data if we are required to do so by law - for example, by court order, or to prevent fraud or other crime.

The data we collect with Google Analytics cookies is transferred and stored with Google where we analyse it with Google Analytics software (Universal Analytics). We do not allow Google to use or share this data for their own purposes.

We will not:

  • sell or rent your data to third parties
  • share your data with third parties for marketing purposes

How long we keep your data

We will only retain your personal data for as long as it is needed for the purposes set out in this document or for as long as the law requires us to.

Where your data is processed and stored

We design, build and run our systems to make sure that your data is as safe as possible at all stages, both while it’s processed and when it’s stored.

All personal data is stored in the European Economic Area (EEA).

How we protect your data and keep it secure

We are committed to doing all that we can to keep your data secure. We have set up systems and processes to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure of your data - for example, we protect your data using varying levels of encryption.

We also make sure that any third parties that we deal with keep all personal data they process on our behalf secure.

Your rights

You have the right to request:

  • information about how your personal data is processed
  • a copy of that personal data
  • that anything inaccurate in your personal data is corrected immediately

You can also:

  • raise an objection about how your personal data is processed
  • request that your personal data is erased if there is no longer a justification for it
  • ask that the processing of your personal data is restricted in certain circumstances

If you have any of these requests, get in contact with our Data Protection Officer.

Invest Plymouth contains links to other websites. This privacy notice only applies to Invest Plymouth, and does not cover other sites that we link to. These sites will have their own terms and conditions and privacy policies.

If you go to another website from this one, read the privacy policy on that website to find out what it does with your information.

If you come to Invest Plymouth from another website, we may receive personal information from the other website. You should read the privacy policy of the website you came from to find out more about this.

Cookies

A cookie is a way for your web browser to hold a small amount of information, either in memory or on your hard disk, for use during your website visit. They provide a better browsing experience by offering the ability to remember user settings or preferences when visiting a site. Cookies are not viruses: they cannot damage your computer, find out information about you or read any personal material kept on your hard drive.

Like most other websites, Invest Plymouth makes use of cookies. They are only used where they are genuinely necessary, offer a significantly better user experience, or help us to improve our website. Some cookies are set when you first visit any page on the site, others are set only when you visit a specific part of it.

External cookies

Many sites we refer you to will immediately set session cookies. We cannot audit the use of cookies by these external sites so you should be aware of their use and be prepared to manage them if you follow links to other sites from this website.

Preventing cookies from being set

Most web browsers will allow you to prevent cookies being set on your device, but doing this may impact your experience using the site. Consult the Help section of your browser to find out how to change the cookie settings.

The website All About Cookies has more information about cookies, including how to control and delete them.

Contact us or make a complaint

Contact the Data Protection Officer if you:

  • have a question about anything in this privacy notice
  • think that your personal data has been misused or mishandled

Data Protection Officer
dataprotectionofficer@plymouth.gov.uk

You can also contact the Information Commissioner's Office

The Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow, Cheshire
08456 30 60 60 

Changes to this policy

We may change this privacy policy. Any changes to this privacy policy will apply to you and your data immediately.

If these changes affect how your personal data is processed, Invest Plymouth will take reasonable steps to let you know.

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