Data Protection

This policy document has been produced by the CSF Leak Association, a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation and registered charity (no. SC046319). This is Version 1.0 and it was adopted by the Board on 29 August 2016.

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. The CSF Leak Association needs to collect and use certain types of information about the Data Subjects who come into contact with it in order to carry on our work. This personal information must be collected and dealt with appropriately - whether on paper, in a computer, or recorded on other material - and there are safeguards to ensure this under the Data Protection Act 1998.

2. DEFINITIONS USED IN THIS POLICY

2.1. The following definitions are used in this policy.

a) Data Controller - The person who (either alone or with others) decides what personal information the CSF Leak Association will hold and how it will be held or used.

b) Data Protection Act 1998 - The UK legislation that provides a framework for responsible behaviour by those using personal information.

c) Data Protection Officer - The person(s) responsible for ensuring that it follows its data protection policy and complies with the Data Protection Act 1998

d) Data Subject/Service User - The individual whose personal information is being held or processed by the CSF Leak Association (for example: a client, an employee, a supporter)

e) 'Explicit' consent - is a freely given, specific and informed agreement by a Data Subject see d) to the processing see g) of personal information see i) about her/him. Explicit consent is needed for processing sensitive data see j).

f) Notification - Notifying the Information Commissioner see g) about the data processing activities of the CSF Leak Association, as certain activities may be exempt from notification.

g) Information Commissioner - The UK Information Commissioner responsible for implementing and overseeing the Data Protection Act 1998.

h) Processing - means collecting, amending, handling, storing or disclosing personal information

i) Personal Information - Information about living individuals that enables them to be identified - e.g. name and address. It does not apply to information about organisations, companies and agencies but applies to named persons, such as individual volunteers or employees within the CSF Leak Association.

j) Sensitive data - means data about:

• Racial or ethnic origin
• Political opinions
• Religious or similar beliefs
• Trade union membership
• Physical or mental health
• Sexual life
• Criminal record
• Criminal proceedings relating to a data subject's offences

3. DATA CONTROLLER

3.1. The CSF Leak Association, a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation, is the Data Controller under the Act, which means that it determines what purposes personal information held will be used for. It is also responsible for notifying the Information Commissioner of the data it holds or is likely to hold, and the general purposes that this data will be used for.

4. DISCLOSURE

4.1. The CSF Leak Association may share data with other agencies such as the local authority, funding bodies and other voluntary agencies.

4.2. The Data Subject will be made aware in most circumstances how and with whom their information will be shared. There are circumstances where the law allows the CSF Leak Association to disclose data (including sensitive data) without the data subject's consent.

4.3. These are:

• Carrying out a legal duty or as authorised by the Secretary of State, Scottish Ministers, Northern Ireland Ministers or Welsh Ministers
• Protecting vital interests of a Data Subject or other person
• The Data Subject has already made the information public
• Conducting any legal proceedings, obtaining legal advice or defending any legal rights
• Monitoring for equal opportunities purposes - i.e. race, disability or religion
• Providing a confidential service where the Data Subject's consent cannot be obtained or where it is reasonable to proceed without consent: e.g. where we would wish to avoid forcing stressed or ill Data Subjects to provide consent signatures.

4.4. The CSF Leak Association regards the lawful and correct treatment of personal information as very important to successful working, and to maintaining the confidence of those with whom we deal.

4.5. The CSF Leak Association intends to ensure that personal information is treated lawfully and correctly.

4.6. To this end, the CSF Leak Association will adhere to the Principles of Data Protection, as detailed in the Data Protection Act 1998.

4.7. Specifically, the Principles require that personal information:

• Shall be processed fairly and lawfully and, in particular, shall not be processed unless specific conditions are met,
• Shall be obtained only for one or more of the purposes specified in the Act, and shall not be processed in any manner incompatible with that purpose or those purposes,
• Shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to those purpose(s)
• Shall be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date,
• Shall not be kept for longer than is necessary
• Shall be processed in accordance with the rights of data subjects under the Act,
• Shall be kept secure by the Data Controller who takes appropriate technical and other measures to prevent unauthorised or unlawful processing or accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal information,
• Shall not be transferred to a country or territory outside the European Economic Area unless that country or territory ensures an adequate level of protection for the rights and freedoms of data subjects in relation to the processing of personal information.

4.8. The CSF Leak Association will, through appropriate management, strict application of criteria and controls:

• Observe fully conditions regarding the fair collection and use of information,
• Meet its legal obligations to specify the purposes for which information is used,
• Collect and process appropriate information, and only to the extent that it is needed to fulfil its operational needs or to comply with any legal requirements,
• Ensure the quality of information used,
• Ensure that the rights of people about whom information is held, can be fully exercised under the Act. These include:
  • The right to be informed that processing is being undertaken,
  • The right of access to one's personal information
    
  • The right to prevent processing in certain circumstances and
    
  • The right to correct, rectify, block or erase information which is regarded as wrong information),
    
• Take appropriate technical and organisational security measures to safeguard personal information,
• Ensure that personal information is not transferred abroad without suitable safeguards,
• Treat people justly and fairly whatever their age, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation or ethnicity when dealing with requests for information,
• Set out clear procedures for responding to requests for information.

5. DATA COLLECTION

5.1. Informed consent. Informed consent is when:

• A Data Subject clearly understands why their information is needed, who it will be shared with, the possible consequences of them agreeing or refusing the proposed use of the data
• and then gives their consent.

5.2. The CSF Leak Association will ensure that data is collected within the boundaries defined in this policy. This applies to data that is collected in person, or by completing a form.

5.3. When collecting data, the CSF Leak Association will ensure that the Data Subject:

• Clearly understands why the information is needed
• Understands what it will be used for and what the consequences are should the Data Subject decide not to give consent to processing
• As far as reasonably possible, grants explicit consent, either written or verbal for data to be processed
• Is, as far as reasonably practicable, competent enough to give consent and has given so freely without any duress
• Has received sufficient information on why their data is needed and how it will be used

6. DATA STORAGE

6.1. Information and records relating to service users will be stored securely and will only be accessible to authorised staff and volunteers.

6.2. Information will be stored for only as long as it is needed or required statute and will be disposed of appropriately.

6.3. It is the CSF Leak Association's responsibility to ensure all personal and company data is non-recoverable from any computer system previously used within the organisation, which has been passed on/sold to a third party.

7. WEBSITE PRIVACY AND COOKIE POLICY

What are Cookies?

7.1. As is common practice with almost all professional websites, the CSF Leak Association website uses cookies. Cookies are tiny files that are downloaded to users’ computers to improve their experience and add functionality to a website. This policy describes what information our cookies gather, how we use it and why we sometimes need to store these cookies. We will also share how users can prevent these cookies from being stored, however this may downgrade or ‘break’ certain elements of the sites functionality. For more general information on cookies see the Wikipedia article on HTTP Cookies.

7.2. The CSF Leak Association use cookies for a variety of reasons detailed below. Unfortunately, in most cases there are no industry standard options for disabling cookies without completely disabling the functionality and features they add to this site. It is recommended that users leave on all cookies if they are not sure whether they need them or not in case they are used to provide a service that users use.

Disabling Cookies

7.3. Users can prevent the setting of cookies by adjusting the settings on their browser (see your browser Help for how to do this). Be aware that disabling cookies will affect the functionality of this and many other websites. Disabling cookies will usually result in also disabling certain functionality and features of our site. Therefore it is recommended that cookies are not disabled.

7.4. If users create an account with us then we will use cookies for the management of the signup process and general administration. These cookies will usually be deleted when users log out however in some cases they may remain afterwards to remember users site preferences when logged out.

The Cookies We Set

7.5. We use cookies when users are logged in so that we can remember this fact. This prevents users from having to log in every single time they visit a new page. These cookies are typically removed or cleared when users log out to ensure that users can only access restricted features and areas when logged in.

7.6. Our site may offer newsletter or email subscription services and cookies may be used to remember if users are already registered and whether to show certain notifications which might only be valid to subscribed/unsubscribed users.

7.7. From time to time we offer user surveys and questionnaires to provide users with interesting insights, helpful tools, or to understand our user base more accurately. These surveys may use cookies to remember who has already taken part in a survey or to provide users with accurate results after you change pages.

7.8. When users submit data to the CSF Leak Association through a form such as those found on contact pages, comment forms or website payments cookies may be set to remember user details for future correspondence and to save users filling out all of the form fields next time around.

7.9. In order to provide users with a great experience on this site we provide the functionality to set user preferences for how this site runs when users use it. In order to remember users preferences we need to set cookies so that this information can be called whenever users interact with a page is affected by users preferences.

Third-Party Cookies

7.10. In some special cases we also use cookies provided by trusted third-parties. The following section details which third party cookies users might encounter through this site.

7.11. This site uses Google Analytics which is one of the most widespread and trusted analytics solution on the web for helping us to understand how users use the site and ways that we can improve users experience. These cookies may track things such as how long users spend on the site and the pages that users visit so we can continue to produce engaging content. For more information on Google Analytics cookies, see the official Google Analytics page.

7.12. Third-party analytics are used to track and measure usage of this site so that we can continue to produce engaging content. Cookies in relation to these analytics may track things such as how long users spend on the site or pages users visit which helps us to understand how we can improve the site for users. Search words used to find the website may also be tracked.

7.13. From time to time we test new features and make subtle changes to the way that the site is delivered. When we are still testing new features these cookies may be used to ensure that users receive a consistent experience whilst on the site whilst ensuring we understand which optimisations our users appreciate the most.

7.14. We also use social media buttons and/or plugins on this site that allow users to connect with users social network in various ways. For these to work the following social media sites including; Twitter, Facebook, Google+, will set cookies through our site which may be used to enhance users profile on their site or contribute to the data they hold for various purposes outlined in their respective privacy policies.

8. DATA ACCESS AND ACCURACY

8.1. All Data Subjects have the right to access the information the CSF Leak Association holds about them. The CSF Leak Association will also take reasonable steps ensure that this information is kept up to date by asking data subjects whether there have been any changes. An example of when this may take place would be reapplication for membership.

8.2. In addition, the CSF Leak Association will ensure that:

• It has a Data Protection Officer with specific responsibility for ensuring compliance with Data Protection,
• Everyone processing personal information understands that they are contractually responsible for following good data protection practice,
• Everyone processing personal information is appropriately trained to do so,
• Everyone processing personal information is appropriately supervised,
• Anybody wanting to make enquiries about handling personal information knows what to do,
• It deals promptly and courteously with any enquiries about handling personal information,
• It describes clearly how it handles personal information,
• It will regularly review and audit the ways it hold, manage and use personal information
• It regularly assesses and evaluates its methods and performance in relation to handling personal information

8.3. All trustees, staff and volunteers are aware that a breach of the rules and procedures identified in this policy may lead to disciplinary action being taken against them.

8.4. This policy will be reviewed and updated as necessary to reflect best practice in data management, security and control and to ensure compliance with any changes or amendments made to the Data Protection Act 1998.

8.5. In case of any queries or questions in relation to this policy please contact the CSF Leak Association Data Protection Officer at: dataprotection@csfleak.info