Privacy and cookies policy

This Website is operated by Newcastle City Council.

We take your privacy very seriously. This policy (together with our Terms and Conditions contains important information on:

  • the personal information We collect about you
  • what We do with your information, and
  • who your information might be shared with.

Please read the following carefully to understand our values and practices regarding your personal data and how We treat it.

By visiting www.InformationNOW.org.uk (the ‘Website’) you are accepting and consenting to the practices described in this policy.


Who We are

Newcastle City Council (‘We’ or ‘Us’) are a ‘data controller’ for the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (the Act). This means We are responsible for, and control the processing of, your personal information. The legal basis for processing your personal data is public task. Read more about public task on the Information Commissioner’s Office website


What information We collect?

Personal information provided by you

We collect personal information about you (such as your name, email, age range and if you are an organisation, your address) when you register with Us. We may also collect data (cookies) about the different pages that you visit on the Website.

When collecting any other personal information we will ask for your permission (consent) to collect this data. You can ask for your personal information to be deleted at any time.


Pop up surveys

From time to time we run short surveys using a pop up window on the site. This may be to gather your feedback to help improve the website, to offer you an additional service or information.

As well as asking for your personal information listed above, we may ask for your:

  • postcode to help Us identify Newcastle residents
  • telephone number, if we need to contact you about your feedback or to help refer you to another service
  • comments, where you can tell us more

Personal information about other individuals

If you give Us information on behalf of someone else, you confirm that the other person has appointed you to act on his/her behalf and has agreed that you can:

  • give consent on his/her behalf to the processing of his/her personal data and
  • receive on his/her behalf any data protection notices.

Monitoring and recording communications

We may monitor and record email communications with you for training purposes and so We can provide you with the best quality of service.


Cookies and how you use our website

Use of cookies

To make our website easier to use, we sometimes place small text files on your device (for example your iPad or laptop) called cookies. Most big websites do this too.

They improve things by:

  • remembering if you have given us consent to store other cookies on your browser
  • remembering the things you have chosen while on our website, so you don’t have to keep re-entering them whenever you visit a new page
  • remembering data you have given (for example, your address) so you don’t need to keep entering it
  • measuring how you use the website so we can make sure it meets your needs

By using our website, you agree that we can place these types of cookies on your device.

The first time you use our website you are given a choice to accept the essential cookies or reject the cookies on your device. This message appears in a pop up at the bottom of the screen. You can choose which cookies you allow on your device. You can change your mind at any time.

We do not use cookies on this website that collect information about what other websites you visit (often referred to as privacy intrusive cookies).

Our cookies are here to make the site work better for you. You can manage and/or delete these files as you wish.

Our Website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our Website. This helps Us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our Website and also allows Us to improve our Website.

Some of the cookies We use are essential for parts of this Website to work and have already been set. These go beyond simply clicking on links and can be used when you log in, submit a form or interact with the Website.

We also use some non essential cookies to track how users navigate around the Website, which pages they visit and for how long. We do not collect any personal information. This information helps Us to improve your experience of the Website.

For example, We may monitor how many times you visit the Website, which pages you go to, traffic data, location data and the originating domain name of a user’s internet service provider. This information helps Us to build a profile of our users. Some of this data will be aggregated or statistical, which means that We will not be able to identify you individually.

To learn more about cookies and how to manage them, visit aboutcookies.org

We use Google Analytics to collect information about how you use the Website (e.g. what pages you visit and how long you spend on the Website).


How will We use the information about you?

We use information held about you to:

  • identify you and manage any accounts you hold with Us
  • provide you with our weekly newsletter and updates on the Website that may be of particular interest to you
  • if you agree, let you know about other products or services that may be of interest to you – see ‘Marketing’ section below
  • customise our Website and its content to your particular preferences
  • notify you of any changes to our Website or to our services that may affect you
  • improve our services
  • use cookies to store information on your computer to give you a better Website experience
  • track how you use our Website using Google Analytics to help us to improve
  • offer you another service or signpost you to other information on our website that you may find useful

How we use the information about you from a Pop up survey

The personal information you submit in a Pop up survey on the site can be used to:

  • get your feedback on the site
  • offer additional services (make a referral to a partner organisation)
  • signpost you to other useful information or services

The pop up survey is a temporary feature on the website. Your personal information will be deleted from the site once the pop up ends.


How you use this website (Google Analytics)

We use Google Analytics to collect information about how people use this site. We do this to make sure it is meeting peoples’ needs and to understand how we can make the website work better.

Google Analytics stores information about what pages on this site you visit, how long you are on the site, how you got here and what you click on while you are here.

We do not collect or store any other personal information (for example, your name or address) so this data cannot be used to identify who you are however the information generated by the cookie about your use of the website, including your IP address, may be transmitted to and stored by Google.

We also collect data on the number of times a word is searched for and the number of failed searches. We use this information to improve access to the site and identify gaps in the content and see if it is something we should add to the site.

Unless the law allows us to, we do not:

  • share any of the data we collect about you with others, or
  • use this data to identify individuals

Other people’s cookies

We use videos from YouTube and Vimeo. We may signpost you to feeds from other websites such as Facebook and Twitter. These websites place cookies on your device when watching or viewing these pages.

Below are links to their cookie policies:


Turning off cookies

You can stop cookies being downloaded on to your computer or other device by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser. If you do this, you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website.

There is more information about how to delete or stop using cookies on AboutCookies.org. You can also opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics.

Further guidance on the use of personal information can be found at ico.org.uk.


Marketing

We would like to send you our weekly newsletter and updates about services and products on the Website that may be of interest to you.

We will only send you marketing messages when you subscribe to our newsletter or upon registering with the website.

If you have consented to receive such marketing from Us, you can opt out at any time. See ‘What rights do you have?’ below for further information.


Who your information might be shared with

You agree that We have the right to share your personal information with:

  • MailChimp, or another email marketing platform but you should check the privacy policy on their website to see how they will use your personal information
  • Google Analytics
  • commissioned services (organisations contracted by Newcastle City Council to provide help and support to people in Newcastle), when you have given us permission to make a referral on your behalf
  • law enforcement agencies in connection with any investigation to help prevent unlawful activity

Our site may, from time to time, contain links to and from the websites of our partner networks, advertisers and affiliates. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that We do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these websites.


Keeping your data secure

We will use technical and organisational measures to safeguard your personal data, for example:

  • access to your account is controlled by a password and user name that are unique to you
  • We store your personal data on secure servers
  • personal information that We send to any associated third party (for example MailChimp) will be encrypted.

While We will use all reasonable efforts to safeguard your personal data, you acknowledge that the use of the internet is not entirely secure and for this reason We cannot guarantee the security or integrity of any personal data that are transferred from you or to you via the internet.

You are responsible for keeping your password safe and so We ask you not to share this with anyone.

If you have any particular concerns about your information, please contact Us (see ‘How can you contact Us?’ below).


What can I do to keep my information safe?

If you want detailed information from Get Safe Online on how to protect your information and your computers and devices against fraud, identity theft, viruses and many other online problems, please visit www.getsafeonline.org. Get Safe Online is supported by HM Government and leading businesses.

Please do not use the ‘Comment on this page’ option to send us other personal information, such as your date of birth, full address, passport details or benefits information. This information will be removed from our system.


What rights do you have?


Right to request a copy of your information

The Act gives you the right to access information held about you. This is known as a “Subject Access Request”.  You can contact Us by sending an email to [email protected] (see How can you contact Us? below).


Right to delete your personal information

You can ask us to delete your personal information at any time. Contact Us by sending an email to [email protected] (see How can you contact Us? below).

You can unsubscribe from InfoNOW News at anytime. Either click the ‘unsubscribe’ link which is at the bottom of every InfoNOW News email or email [email protected]

If you want to re-subscribe to InfoNOW News, you need to subscribe online.


Right to correct any mistakes in your information

You can ask Us to correct any mistakes in the information We hold about you free of charge. If you would like to do this, please:

  • email Us (see ‘How can you contact Us?’ below) and
  • let Us know the information that is incorrect and what it should be replaced with

Right to ask us to stop contacting you with direct marketing

You can ask Us to stop contacting you for direct marketing purposes. If you would like to do this, please:

  • email Us (see ‘How can you contact Us?’ below). You can also click on the ‘unsubscribe’ button at the bottom of the email newsletter. It may take up to 30 days for this to take place
  • let Us know what method of contact you are not happy with.

How to contact Us

Please contact Us if you have any questions about this privacy policy or the information We hold about you.

If you wish to contact Us, please send an email to [email protected]


Changes to the privacy policy

We may change this privacy policy from time to time. You should check this policy frequently to see any updates or changes to our privacy policy.


Where can I get advice?

If you have any questions about how your personal information is handled by Newcastle City Council please contact our Data Protection Officer at [email protected] or by calling 0191 211 6500.

Last updated: April 3, 2023