Contents

Overview

Vision North Somerset is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

This policy sets out the basis on which any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us. Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it.

By providing us with your data by any means or by visiting our website, you are accepting and consenting to the practices described in this policy.

The parents or guardians of children under the age of 13 should explain the Policy to them. We expect the Policy to be understood by those over the age of 13 but they may contact the Data Controller for further information or support if necessary.

For the purpose of the Data Protection Act 1998 (the Act), the data controller is Vision North Somerset whose registered office is 3 Neva Road, Weston Super Mare, BS23 1YD.

VNS is a data processor on behalf of North Somerset Council, the data controller, re statutory services. VNS is both Data Controller and Processor re charity activity.

VNS is committed to safeguarding your personal data and is legally obliged to use your personal data in line with all laws concerning the protection of personal data, including the Act.

Information we may collect from you

Vision North Somerset will retain personal data under the Legitimate Interests clause of the General Data Protection Regulations. A Legitimate Interests Assessment, setting out the reasons for the retention of data, has been completed and is available on request.

We may collect and process the following information about you:

Information you give us

You may give us information about yourself, including personal data, by communicating with us by letter, phone, email or otherwise.

This includes information you provide when you request information from us, apply for our services, sign up to our newsletter, make a donation, inform us that you are considering or intend to leave a legacy, apply for employment with us, apply to volunteer with us, complete a survey for research purposes, place an order with us, participate in any social media functions and if you report a problem with our website.

The information you give us may include your name, address, e-mail address, phone number, details of any sensory impairment you may have, health issues, financial and/or credit card information.

Information we collect about you when you use our website

With regard to each of your visits to our website we may automatically collect the following information:

Technical information, including the internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your device to the internet, your login information, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform; and information about your visit, including the full uniform resource locators (URL) clickstream to, through and from our website (including date and time); information you viewed or searched for; page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), and methods used to browse away from the page and any phone number used to call us.

This information is statistical data and does not identify any individual, however it may do so if we combine it with other data you provide to us about you or that we may receive from third parties.

Information we receive from other sources in relation to our website

We may receive information about you from other sources, including Google Analytics. We also work with third parties (including, for example, sub-contractors in technical and delivery services, search information providers or profiling agencies) and may receive information about you from them.

Cookies

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. For detailed information on the cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them see our Cookie Policy.

How we use your information

We use information held about you in the following ways:

Information you give to us

We will use this information:

  • to carry out our obligations arising from your use of our services or any other contracts entered into between you and us and to provide you with any information and services that you request from us
  • to deal with your enquires and provide you with any support or information you have requested from us
  • to provide reservation or booking services
  • to provide you with information about sensory impairment conditions and our services if you have agreed to receive this information
  • to communicate with you using the articles for the blind free postal service if you are eligible for it and have given us permission to use this – you may ask us to stop using this service at any time
  • to inform you about medical research that we think may interest you or that you may wish to participate in
  • to provide you with information about our aims and ideals, fundraising opportunities and volunteering opportunities if you have agreed to receive this information
  • to send you an acknowledgement if you make a donation
  • to conduct market research
  • to notify you about changes to our services and/or our website
  • to comply with our legal and regulatory requirements
  • to ensure that content from our website is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer

Information we collect about you in relation to our website

We will use this information:

  • to administer our website and for internal operations, including contact management, troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes
  • to improve our website to ensure that content is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer
  • to allow you to participate in any interactive features of our website, if you choose to do so
  • as part of our efforts to keep our website safe and secure
  • to measure or understand the effectiveness of our website and which sensory impairment conditions and/or services you may be interested in
  • to make suggestions and recommendations to you and other users of our website about services or resources that may interest you or them

Information we receive from other sources in relation to our website

We may combine this information with information you give to us and information we collect about you. We may use this information and the combined information for the purposes set out above (depending on the types of information we receive).

We will retain the information we hold about you for as long as is reasonably necessary for the purposes listed above.

Disclosure of your personal data

We will never sell, distribute or lease your personal data unless we have your permission or are required by law to do so.

We may share your personal data with such of our employees and volunteers who need to know it to fulfil our obligations to you.

We may also share your personal data with third parties including:

  • North Somerset Council – for the data which we collect on their behalf and which we are required to provide to them under the terms of our contract with them whereby we provide services on their behalf
  • health and social care professionals, but only with your permission, unless there is a safeguarding or legal requirement
  • organisations carrying out medical research where you have explicitly consented to this
  • our suppliers and sub-contractors (including IT support, pay roll, pension providers, storage and printing services) for the performance of any contract we enter into with you
  • analytics and search engine providers that assist us in the improvement and optimisation of our website
  • in the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we may disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets
  • if we or substantially all of our assets are acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by us about our service users, employees and volunteers will be one of the transferred assets
  • if we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce any contract with you or to protect the rights, property, or safety of us, our service users, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction

Vision North Somerset has procedures in place to detect, report and investigate any personal data breach.

Data protection and privacy impacts assessments are noted on our risk register and reviewed regularly.

Where we store your personal data

We store the data that we collect from you on our database and cloud storage facilities. Your data may however be transferred to, and stored at or processed by staff operating outside the EEA if we share your data with third parties as set out above. By submitting your data, you agree to this transfer, storing or processing. We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this privacy policy.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our website; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your data, we will use appropriate, technical and organised measures, procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access to it.

Your rights

You have the right to ask us not to process your data for marketing purposes; this includes receiving newsletters and communications from us relating to our aims and ideals, the services we provide to you and our fundraising. We will usually inform you, before collecting your data, if we intend to use your data for such purposes.

You can exercise your right to prevent such processing by stating so on the forms we use to collect your data or by telling the person collecting your data if this is over the phone. You can also exercise the right at any time by contacting our database manager via email, or by writing to the Chief Executive at Vision North Somerset, 3 Neva Road, Weston Super Mare, BS23 1YD.

We will deal with all opt-out requests as soon as we reasonably can, but please note that you may receive communications that had already been sent at the time we received your request.

Our website may, from time to time, contain links to and from the websites of other third parties. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that those 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 data to these websites.

Access to information

The Act gives you the right to access information held about you. Your right of access can be exercised in accordance with the Act.

If you wish to exercise this right or you believe that any information we hold about you is incorrect or incomplete or you wish to update your address and other basic contact information you should contact our database manager via email, or write to the Chief Executive at Vision North Somerset, 3 Neva Road, Weston Super Mare, BS23 1YD.

Changes to our privacy policy

We may amend our privacy policy from time to time. Any changes we may make to our privacy policy in the future will be posted on our website and, where appropriate, notified to you by e-mail. Every time you wish to use our website, please check these terms to ensure you understand the terms which apply at that time. These terms were most recently updated in February 2018. Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to our privacy policy.

Questions, comments and requests regarding this privacy policy are welcomed via email or via post to the Chief Executive, Vision North Somerset, 3 Neva Road, Weston Super Mare, BS23 1YD.

Thank you for visiting our website.