This Privacy Policy sets out the data processing practices of Public Voice CIC (known here as ‘we’, ‘us’, Public Voice or Public Voice CIC). We retain and use personal data (information that relates to and identifies living people) to help us carry out our work.
About us
We will always make sure that your information is protected and treated securely. Any information that you give will be held in accordance with:
Data Protection Act 2018
As of 25 May 2018, new data protection legislation was introduced under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Bill.
We will always make sure that your personal data is protected and treated securely.
Any information that you give will be held in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Information we collect and store securely
We collect personal information from visitors to our website through the use of online forms and every time you email us your details. We also collect feedback and views from people about the public services they access, including health and care, and the neighbourhoods where they live. In addition, we receive information about our own staff and people who apply to work for Public Voice. We may collect name, email address, phone number, details of feedback or enquiry, demographic details, and further details about staff.
Security
We are strongly committed to data security, and we take reasonable and appropriate steps to protect your personal information from unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or corruption.
We have put in place physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information you provide to us. Only authorised employees will have access to your personal information.
Information about people who use our website
Please note that this statement does not cover links within our website to other external websites.
When you browse through the information on this website, it does not store or capture your personal information. We do log your IP address (as it is automatically recognised by the web server) but this is only so you can download this website onto your device rather than for any tracking purpose; it is not used for any other purpose.
We will only collect personal information provided by you, such as:
- Feedback from surveys and online forms
- Email addresses
- Your preferred means of communication, if not email
Cookies
Please be aware that some systems on our website require the use of cookies, but we will always state if this is the case. We will never collect and store information about you without your permission.
What are cookies?
Cookies are small text files which are transferred to your computer or mobile when you visit a website or app. We use them to help us understand how people are using our services, so we can make them better.
Please be aware that some systems on our website require the use of cookies, however where non-essential cookies are in use, we will only collect the information with your permission.
They improve your experience by:
- Remembering settings and information (like the names of health or social care services you’ve searched for), so you don’t have to keep re-entering them.
- Helping us understand how people are using our website, so we can make your experience even better
- Telling us if our emails have been read and if you find them useful
Types of cookies and how we use them
First party cookies
First party cookies are our own. We control them and use them to provide information about the way you use our website.
Has_js
Some parts of our website use javascript – a web language – to display content. If your web browser has javascript disabled, it helps us to know so that we can display the page to you in another way. This cookie allows our website to know if you have javascript enabled or not.
lang
This is set by the Twitter widget and simply stores a language code.
Third party cookies
Third party cookies are set by someone other than the owner of the Public Voice site. For example, when you share a link from our website onto your social media platform, the platform may set a cookie on your browser.
We have no control over third-party cookies, you can turn them off but not via Public Voice. You should check the other websites for more information about their cookies.
Functional, performance and advertising cookies
We also use functional, performance and advertising cookies to make your experience more enjoyable. If you don’t want to enable these cookies, you can select ‘decline’ in the cookies banner.
We will only use this cookie type if you have agreed. See below for examples of these cookies and how we use them.
Meta Pixel
This Cookie is placed by Meta. It enables us to measure and build audiences for advertising campaigns displayed on Facebook and Instagram. In particular, it helps us to see how our users move between devices when accessing our website, Facebook and Instagram. This is to ensure that any advertising we create is seen by people who most likely to be interested in such advertising by analysing which content a user has viewed and interacted with on our website. For further information about the Meta Pixel please see: About Meta Pixel.
Hotjar
We use Hotjar to better understand our users’ needs and to optimise this service and experience (e.g. how much time they spend on which pages, which links they choose to click, what users do and don’t like.) This enables us to build and maintain our service with user feedback.
Hotjar uses cookies and other technologies to collect data on our users’ behaviour and their devices. This includes a device’s IP address (processed during your session and stored in a de-identified form), device screen size, device type (unique device identifiers), browser information, geographic location (country only), and the preferred language used to display our website. Hotjar stores this information on our behalf in a pseudonymised user profile. Hotjar is contractually forbidden to sell any of the data collected on our behalf.
You can find out more through Hotjar.
How long do cookies last?
Some are erased when you close your website browser. Others stay longer and are saved onto your device when you come back. Some can be deleted by deleting your browser history.
Managing the cookies on your computer
You can restrict or block cookies set by our website and others by changing the settings in your browser. However, doing this may impact the way our website works for you in the future.
Visit the About Cookies website to find out more about restricting or blocking cookies in different browsers.
You can also learn more about cookies on the DirectGov website.
Measuring website usage through Google analytics
We use Google Analytics to view statistics on the way you use our website.
We can check:
- how many people have visited our website and what content they look at.
- how many times documents have been downloaded.
- what people are looking for on our website. We use the following third-party cookies set by Google Analytics.
For more information, please read Google’s Privacy Policy at www.google.com/policies/privacy/
How we will use your personal information
Personal information about you can be used for the following purposes:
- In our day-to-day work (read more about what we do)
- To send you information where you have requested it
- To send you a newsletter
- To respond to any queries you may have
- To improve the quality and safety of public services
- To help you shape your neighbourhood and keep you up to date with local developments
This may include any personal information that you choose to share with us, but we will treat this as confidential and protect it accordingly.
We will never include your personal information in survey reports.
Signing up to our newsletter
We use MailChimp, a third-party supplier to provide our newsletter service. By subscribing to this service you will be agreeing to them handling your data.
MailChimp handles the data purely to provide this service on our behalf. This supplier follows the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998 in how they obtain, handle and process your information and will not make your data available to anyone.
Intuit MailChimp’s Privacy Policy
Information about people who share their experiences with us by other means
There are a number of ways that we collect feedback from people. Our staff will visit different settings as part of their role to evaluate how services are being delivered, to offer information and guidance, and to collect views on regeneration and development. We also receive phone calls and requests for information directly from members of the public.
Where personally identifiable information is collected we will ensure that we have your consent to keep it and we will be clear on how we intend to use your information. We will aim to anonymise information where we can but there may be instances where this is not possible in order to make change happen on your behalf.
There may be exceptional circumstances where we can and will keep the data without consent, but we must have a lawful basis for doing so, such as for safeguarding purposes.
We ensure that where consent is required it will be freely given, used only for agreed specific and unambiguous purposes and that you are well informed about how the information will be kept. This includes where it will be stored, details on security and for how long it will be kept. We will comply with current data protection legislation at all times.
Personal information may be collected with your consent through:
- Healthwatch Haringey and Healthwatch Croydon’s signposting and information service
- Haringey Advice Partnership’s information and guidance sessions
- Feedback received by phone, outreach work or through surveys
- Meetings in the area where you live
- A visit to your home if we are asked to collect your views
- Healthwatch Haringey and Health Watch Croydon’s Enter and View activity
- Our Independent Tenant and Leaseholder Advisory services
- Personal data received from other sources
On occasion we will receive information from the families, friends and carers of people who access health and care services. We use this data to inform providers and commissioners to help them deliver services that work for you.
Where it is practically possible, we will make sure that we have your consent to use information that is about you. We will only process your personal data where there is a lawful basis to do so under current data protection legislation.
Publishing information
In most circumstances we anonymise our data to ensure that a person cannot be identified unless this has been otherwise agreed and consent has been given.
Sharing your data with Healthwatch England
Through Healthwatch Haringey and Healthwatch Croydon, services which we manage and run, we are required to share information relating to health and care services with Healthwatch England to ensure that your views are considered at a national level. This enables them to analyse service provision across the country and supply the Department of Health and national commissioners with the information you provide.
Find out more about Healthwatch England’s purpose and what they do.
The information we provide to Healthwatch England contains no personally identifiable data. Any information that is used for national publications is anonymised and will only be used with the consent of a local Healthwatch.
Information about our own staff and people applying to work with us
We need to process personal data about our own staff (and people applying to work for us) so that we can carry out our role and meet our legal and contractual responsibilities as an employer.
The personal data that we process includes information about racial or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender and sexuality. We use this information to check we are promoting and ensuring diversity in our workforce and to make sure we are complying with equalities legislation.
Our employees decide whether or not to share this monitoring data with us and can choose to withdraw their consent for this at any time. Employees who wish to withdraw their consent for us to process this data can let us know.
Other personal data that we are required to process includes information on qualifications and experience, pay and performance, contact details and bank details.
We check that people who work for us are fit and suitable for their roles. This may include asking people to undertake Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks.
People joining Public Voice will be asked to identify any services with which they have close links (for example, because they have previously worked there or because the service is run by a close relative) or any other issues which could cause a perceived conflict of interest. This information is requested in all staff contracts.
We have a legal obligation to comply with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and this may include the requirement to disclose some information about our employees – especially those in senior or public facing roles. We also publish some information about our staff, including the names and work contact details of people in some roles.
How we share information with other organisations
We only share personal information with other organisations where it is lawful to do so and in accordance with our Information Governance Policy. Information is shared in order to pass on your experiences and views to help improve public services and/or to let your housing provider know what you think of potential regeneration or development. We work with housing providers, London Councils, Healthwatch England, Care Quality Commission (CQC), Citizens Advice and the NHS to make this happen. We can also engage external suppliers to process personal information on our behalf.
We will only disclose your personal information where we have your consent to do so, or where there is another very good reason to make the disclosure – for example, we may disclose information to CQC or a London Council where we think it is necessary to do so in order to protect a vulnerable person from abuse or harm. Any such disclosure will be made in accordance with the requirements of the current data protection legislation.
Wherever possible, we will ensure that any information that we share or disclose is anonymised, so as to ensure that you cannot be identified from it.
We sometimes use other organisations to process personal data on our behalf. Where we do this, those companies are required to follow the same rules and information security requirements as us, outlined in a Data Processing Contract. They are not permitted to use reuse the data for other purposes.
Your right to access information about you
If you think we may hold personal data relating to you and want to see it, please contact us: hello@publicvoice.uk
Or write to us:
Freepost RTXY-BSRB-RCSS
Public Voice CIC
Tottenham Town Hall
Town Hall Approach Road
London
N15 4RX
Correcting or deleting your personal data
If you know that we are holding your personal data and believe that it may be wrong, or if you want it to be deleted or for us to stop using it, you have a right to request that it can be deleted or amended.
Please make your objection in writing to hello@publicvoice.uk
Or send it by post to:
Freepost RTXY-BSRB-RCSS
Public Voice CIC
Tottenham Town Hall
Town Hall Approach Road
London
N15 4RX