Privacy and Cookies Policy

Privacy Policy

In this Privacy Policy (the Policy) when we refer to UKGI or “we”/“us”/“our” we mean UK Government Investments Limited. We will follow all applicable UK data protection laws in how we treat your personal information.

This Policy describes:

  • What information we collect;
  • How we use the information we collect;
  • Legal basis for using your personal information;
  • Keeping your information secure;
  • How long we keep your data;
  • Disclosing your information;
  • Your choices and rights;
  • Linking;
  • Changes to this policy; and
  • How to contact us and other important information

We collect certain information or data about out you when you use UKGI.ORG.UK.

What information we collect

We collect certain information or data about out you when you use UKGI.ORG.UK.

“Personal information” is any information we have in our possession or control that can be used to identify you or that we can link to you.

We collect and process the following personal information:

  • information you provide to us: when you contact us with questions, queries or feedback, the personal information you provide may include your full name, email address and content;
  • recruitment application: when you apply for a role with us you may provide us with various personal information, this is processed in line with our Recruitment Policy; and
  • cookies and site monitoring: when you access UKGI.ORG.UK, we may record your IP address, details of which version of web browser you used and information on how you use the site, using cookies and page tagging techniques.

For more information regarding how we collect and use information and data, see our Cookies Policy (below), where you can also find information on how to disable cookies by using appropriate features of your web browser software, if available.

How we use the information we collect

We may retain and process your personal information for the following reasons:

  • to keep a record of questions, queries or feedback received by us
  • where you have applied for a position with us, to review and process your job application (for more detail see here)
  • to comply with legal and regulatory obligations that we have to discharge
  • to record and monitor your use of our websites or our other online services for our business purposes which may include analysis of usage, measurement of site performance and generation of marketing reports
  • to look into any complaints or queries you may have, and
  • to prevent and respond to actual or potential fraud or illegal activities.

Legal basis for using your personal information

We rely on the following legal bases to process your personal information, namely:

  • Consent – we might (but usually do not) need your consent to use your personal information. If we do we will contact you to request this consent;
  • Compliance with law or regulation – we may need to use and/or share your personal information to comply with applicable law/regulation; and
  • Legitimate interest – we may use your personal information for our legitimate business interests, some of which are listed above under ‘How we use the information we collect’.

Keeping your information secure

Sending information over the internet generally cannot be considered to be completely secure, and we cannot guarantee the security of your data while it is in transit. We do, however, have procedures and security features in place to keep your information secure once we receive it.

We store your data on secure servers in the European Economic Area (EEA). We have strict control over how and why your data can be accessed and will ensure that, at all times, it is subject to appropriate security measures.

How long we keep your data

We will only retain your personal data for as long as:

  • it is needed for the purposes set out in this document; and
  • the law requires us to.

In general, this means that we will only hold your personal data for a maximum of 2 years, unless stated otherwise in our policies.

What we do with your data

The data we collect may be shared with supplier organisations, other government departments, agencies and public bodies.

We will not:

  • sell or rent your data to third parties;
  • share your data with third parties for marketing purposes; and
  • We will share your data if we are required to do so by law – for example, by court order, or to prevent fraud or other crime.

Your choices and rights

You have the right to request:

  • information about how your personal data is processed; and
  • a copy of that personal data; and
  • that anything inaccurate in your personal data is corrected immediately

You can also:

  • raise an objection about how your personal data is processed;
  • request that your personal data is erased if there is no longer a justification for holding it;
  • ask that the processing of your personal data is restricted in certain circumstances; and
  • If you have any of these requests, get in contact with us using the details below.

Linking

UKGI.ORG.UK contains links to other websites.

This privacy policy only applies to UKGI.ORG.UK and does not cover other government services, transactions and third party websites that we may link to. These services have their own terms and conditions and privacy policies.

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. If you come to UKGI.ORG.UK from another website, we may receive information from the other website. We do not use this data. You should read the privacy policy of the website you came from to find out more about this.

For more details on linking, please see our terms and conditions.

Changes to this policy

We may change this privacy policy by amending this page. Any changes to this privacy policy will apply to you and your data immediately.

If these changes materially affect how your personal data is processed, we will take reasonable steps to let you know.

How to contact us and other important information

If you would like further information on any part of this policy, including the exercise of any of the rights listed above, please contact us. You can do this by writing to us at:   [email protected]

Cookies Policy

Cookies are small text files that are automatically downloaded to your computer, phone or tablet’s hard disk by many websites that you visit. They are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, and collect information about how you browse the site, allowing web applications to respond to you as an individual and provide information to the owners of the site. Cookies ensure a consistent and efficient experience for visitors and help web applications to tailor operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

The use of cookies is now standard for most websites.

We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about web page traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for analysis purposes.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not.

You will normally see a message on the site before we store a cookie on your computer.

You do not have to accept cookies, but without accepting them you may experience reduced Site functionality. If you are uncomfortable with the use of cookies, you can manage and control them through your browser, including removing cookies by deleting them from your ‘browser history’ (cache) when you leave the site (see guidance below).

Find out more about how to manage cookies  ICO Website

Use of cookies by UKGI

We use Google Analytics to help us analyse the use of UKGI.ORG.UK.  We do this to help make sure the site is meeting the needs of its users and to help us make improvements. Google Analytics stores information about:

  • the pages you visit on GOV.UK;
  • how long you spend on each GOV.UK page;
  • how you got to the site; and
  • what you click on while you’re visiting the site

Google holds this information and provide us access to it.  Google’s privacy policy is available here 

The Google Analytics cookies utilised in respect of UKGI.ORG.UK are:

Cookie Name Purpose Duration
Bespoke CISCOOKIE_UKGI Used to record the cookie banner has been shown to the user
Google Analytics _ga This cookie is a first-party cookie and is typically written to the browser upon the first visit. It is used to distinguish users and count visitors by tracking if you have visited before. 2 years from set/update
Google Analytics _gid This cookie is a first-party cookie and is typically written to the browser upon the first visit. It is used to distinguish users and count visitors by tracking if you have visited before. 24 hours from set/update
Google Analytics _gat This cookie is typically written to the browser upon the first visit. It is used to throttle requests rate (manage the rate at which page view requests are made. 10 minutes from set/update

By clicking ‘OK’ on the banner displayed when you access UKGI.ORG.UK, you agree that we can place these cookies on your computer/device for the above purposes.

For logged in users of the WordPress admin system, we also use WordPress cookies.

How you can block or remove your cookies?

You have the ability to change the settings on your internet browser to accept all cookies, to notify you when a cookie is set, or to not receive cookies at any time. However, this may mean that some services on our sites cannot then be provided to you.

Find out more about how to manage cookies ICO Website