Privacy and cookies policy

Privacy and cookies policy

This page explains how Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) and re:heat (who are contracted by FCS to run the usewoodfuel website) use any information you give to us through our website, and the ways in which we protect your privacy.

Personal Information Charter

This charter sets out our standards for requesting or storing your personal information.

It also covers what we ask from you to help us keep your information up to date.

When we ask you for personal information, we promise to:

  • make sure you know why we need it
  • only ask for what we need, and not to collect too much or irrelevant information
  • protect it and make sure nobody has access to it who shouldn’t
  • only share it with other organisations when the law allows
  • make sure we don’t keep it longer than necessary
  • ensure it is not made available for commercial use without your permission.

In return, we ask you to:

  • give us accurate information
  • tell us as soon as possible if there are any changes, such as a new email address

This helps us to keep your information reliable and up to date.

If you want to find out more about any of the following then please get in touch using the contact details below:

  • how to find out what information we hold about you and how to ask us to correct any mistakes
  • agreements we have with other organisations for sharing information
  • circumstances where we can pass on your personal information without telling you, for example, to prevent and detect crime or to produce anonymised statistics
  • our instructions to staff on how to collect, use and delete your personal information
  • how we check the information we hold is accurate and up to date
  • how to make a complaint

In the first instance please contact:

Re:heat,

Unit 1, Linnet Court,

Cawledge Business Park,

Alnwick,

NE66 2GD

Email[email protected]

 

If they are unable to help or you are unsatisfied with their response to your enquiry then please contact:

Jason Hubert, Forestry Commission Scotland,

Silvan House,

Edinburgh,

EH12 7AT

Email: [email protected]

For independent advice about data protection, privacy and data-sharing issues, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The Data Protection Act

Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) and re:heat are both data controllers under the Data Protection Act and collect and store the personal data that you provide us with. We have a legal duty to protect any information we collect from you and we safeguard your data, and keep strict security standards to prevent any unauthorised access to it.

Other than the data-sharing that takes place between FCS and re:heat, we do not pass on your details to any third parties or other government departments, unless you give us permission to do so.

Disclosing your information:

We may pass on your personal information if we have a legal obligation to do so, or if we have to enforce or apply FCS’s terms of use and other agreements. This includes exchanging information with other government departments for legal reasons.

What information do we collect?

We collect different kinds of information from visitors to our website:

  • Enquiries
  • Sign-ups to the usewoodfuel e-newsletter
  • Cookies
  • Google Analytics
  • Log files

Enquiries

You can send us your enquiries via the usewoodfuel website ‘Enquiries’ form.

FCS and re:heat will not pass on any of your personal information when dealing with your enquiry or afterwards, unless you give us permission to do so. We will not use any information you supply for any other purpose without first seeking your permission.

Where your details are held in our tracking system these are deleted after we have dealt with your enquiry.

Sign-ups to the Usewoodfuel e-newsletter

If you sign-up to receive the usewoodfuel e-newsletter we need to record your personal contact details to be able to send you the e-newsletter. Beyond the sharing of your data that will take place between re:heat and FCS, we will not pass on any of your personal information to any other party, unless you have given us permission to do so. We will not use any information you supply for any other purpose without your permission. We will retain your details for as long as we need to in order to provide you with e-newsletters.   You can check the details that we hold for you, ask us to update these details, or tell us to remove your name from the mailing list by contacting us at [email protected].

Cookies

This website places small files known as ‘cookies’ on your computer or device to collect information about how you browse the site. We use this information to improve the website and make it easier for you to use. Cookies cannot be used to identify you personally.

We use cookies to:

  • enable the website to recognise your device so you don’t have to give the same information several times during one task.
  • measure how many people are using the website so we can ensure optimum delivery.
  • measure how people are using the website so we can make it easier to use.

Learn more about cookies:

Find out more about what they are and how to manage them – visit the Government’s cookies pages on gov.uk.

If you’d like to learn how to remove cookies set on your device, visit ‘Our use of cookies‘ which contains comprehensive information on how to do this on a wide variety of browsers. You will also find details on how to delete cookies from your machine as well as more general information about cookies.

Please be aware that restricting cookies may impact on the functionality of our website.

Google analytics

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses cookies to track site usage. The information obtained by Google about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for FCS and re:heat and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google.

By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above.

You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website.  We are committed to following the ICO privacy and electronic communication regulations.

For further details on the cookies set by Google Analytics, please refer to the   Google Code website.

Log files

Log files allow us to record how users browse the site which we use to make improvements to the site and the information on it. Log files do not contain any personal information about you or information about which other sites you have visited.

Following a link to another website

When using this site you may follow links to websites managed by a range of other government departments, companies or other third party organisations. 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.

We do not pass on any personal information you have given us to any other site.

Access to your information and your rights

You can find out what information we hold about you, ask us not to use any of the information we collect or change your registration information by contacting us. If you wish to see our records of any correspondence you have sent to us, or if you have a query or complaint about this privacy policy or about the site, you can contact us:

[email protected]

Unit 1, Linnet Court, Cawledge Business Park, Alnwick. NE66 2GD

Where your data is stored

Re:heat: We store your data  on our secure systems  in the UK.

Forestry Commission Scotland: We store your data on our secure servers in the UK.

By submitting your personal data on the website, you agree to the above methods of data storage.

Keeping your data secure

Transmitting information over the internet is generally not completely secure, and we can’t guarantee the security of your data.

Any data you transmit is at your own risk.

We have procedures and security features in place to try and keep your data secure once we receive it.

Neither Forestry Commission Scotland nor re:heat will share your information with any other organisations for marketing, market research or commercial purposes, and we don’t pass on your details to other websites.

Changes to this privacy policy

If this privacy policy changes in any way, we will place an updated version on this page. This page version was created on 09/08/2017.

Regularly reviewing this page ensures 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.