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National Strategies Privacy policy

1. Introduction

This website is owned and operated by the Department for Education (“DfE” or “we” or “us”).

We are committed to preserving the privacy of all our users. Please read the terms of our Privacy Policy below to understand how we use and protect the information that you provide to us. By using this site, you are agreeing to your personal information being handled in this way.

Please be aware that we make a number of other sites available to you and these may be governed by other privacy policies. You should therefore always check which privacy policy applies to each of our sites, before you use them.

If you have any queries regarding our privacy practices, please contact us at enquiries@nationalstrategies.co.uk.

2. The information we collect and how we use it

We only collect personally identifiable information from you if you register to use any of the interactive features that may be included on the site. In those circumstances we may collect any or all of the following:

Registration details

If you wish to use any of our interactive features on the site (e.g. joining a group or voting in our online surveys), you will be asked to register and provide your name, user name and e-mail address. We use this information to:

  • activate your registration and to recognise you as a registered user when you return to the site;
  • personalise the service we provide. So, for example, we use your screen name to identify you to other users on the site when you post any material;
  • communicate with you about your use of the site (for example to inform you when any changes have been made to our Terms of Use); and
  • provide guidance and assistance where appropriate, for example, if you have registered to participate in any of our online learning environments.

Joining a group

We collect any personal information that you choose to disclose in support of your application to join a private group. This information is used by the administrator of that group to decide whether or not to approve your application.

Send to a friend facility

If you chose to use this facility we collect your friend’s name and e-mail address.  We use this to e-mail your recommendation to your friend. Please ensure that you have your friend’s permission to disclose their e-mail address to us, before you use this facility.

Profile

You can choose to complete the profile facility on the site, including your interests. Your profile is not viewable by other users. By ticking your various ‘interests’ on the profile section, you are consenting to us sending you relevant communications and information on your selected interests.

Material that you post

We will also collect any personally identifiable information that you choose to include in any messages or other material that you post to the site (including comments, photos and videos). This information will also be viewable by other users.

Finally, we reserve the right to disclose personal information to protect our or any third party’s rights and property, if you breach any of our Terms, or to comply with any applicable law or valid legal process.

3. Information sharing and disclosure

We do not sell or rent your personal information. We may, however, give information about you to the following, but solely for the express purposes set out below:

Our employees and agents: for them to administer any accounts or services that we make available to you through the site.

Our community of users: as a registered user, you are publicly identified by your user name on our site. If you choose to use your real name as your user name, you have voluntarily disclosed that information to the site’s users. Similarly, any personal information you include in the material you post to the site is available to the site’s users.

Institutions: On occasion we may provide aggregate, non-identifiable information to educational institutions, education authorities or other government bodies for research purposes, for example the number of page downloads that our site has had.

Transfer: If ownership or operational control of all or part of this site is transferred, your information may be disclosed to a transferee, but we would require them to use that information in a way that is consistent with this Privacy Policy.

4. What other information do we collect?

While on the site, certain information is automatically logged about how you are using the site. This information may include the URL of the website which linked you to this site, your IP address, the pages you visit while on the site and the time you spend on the site. The IP address indicates the location of your computer on the internet.  IP addresses are not used to track your session and are not linked to anything personally identifiable. 

A feature known as a cookie is also used. A 'cookie' is a small data file which is allocated by our server to your PC. The cookie contains a random number which, unless deleted, allows your PC to be identified if you visit the site again using the same PC and browser. The cookies and other automatically tracked information are used:

  • to automatically access your previously stored account information;
  • to help us better understand how users use the site so that we can administer, support and improve the site and the features it offers;
  • to contact you for the purpose of confirming your registration details in the event that you forget your password.

Most browsers are set up to accept cookies, but you can configure your browser to refuse cookies or to notify you when you have received one. If you want to stop cookies being stored on your computer in future, please refer to your browser manufacturer's instructions by clicking "Help" in your browser menu. Further information on deleting or controlling cookies is available at www.AboutCookies.org. If you reject cookies though, the site will not recognise you and so you will not be able to upload content to the site.

5. Links

Our site contains links to third party websites that are not subject to this Privacy Policy. Read our [Terms of use] for further information on these links. We strongly recommend that you read the privacy policy of any such websites that you visit before providing them with your personal information.

6. Updating or requesting your personal information information

You can update any information contained in your profile by clicking on the edit button in the profile section. Where you make use of the interactive features on the site, (e.g. by positing comments) you generally cannot remove such communications/content.

If you wish to request a copy of the personal information that we hold about you, please contact us at enquiries@nationalstrategies.co.uk. We may charge the statutory allowable fee to supply this information.

7. Security

We are serious about guarding the security of your personal information and to that end we take appropriate organisational and technical security measures to keep your information secure. However, we cannot guarantee the security of the information that you disclose to us. You accept the inherent risks of providing information and dealing online and will not hold us responsible for any breach of security unless it is due to our negligence or wilful default.

8. Changes

From time to time we may make changes to this Privacy Policy to reflect any changes to our privacy practices in accordance with changes to legislation, best practice or site enhancements. We will let you know what these changes are by posting them to this page and, if you are a registered user, by e-mailing you. It is your responsibility as a user to make sure that you are aware of these changes. Changes will become effective as soon as they are posted.

Posted: September 2009