Thurrock Council (the Council) and third party suppliers to the Council are committed to protecting your privacy when using the Council's web site(s). This statement explains how thurrock.gov.uk, which is managed by the Thurrock Council Web Development Team, uses any information you give to us and the ways in which we protect your privacy. We ask you to read it carefully and also take a moment to read our web site terms and conditions. We may be required to change it from time to time so we also ask you to check it occassionally to make sure you are aware of the latest version.
This statement provides information by way of question and answer:
We treat any personal information (which means data from which you can be identified, including your name, address, e-mail address and the like) that you provide us, or that we obtain from you, in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act. Under this Act, we have a legal duty to protect any information we collect from you. We use leading technologies and encryption software to safeguard your data, and keep strict security standards to prevent any unauthorised access to it.
When we request information from you we will state what it is for and how long we are likely to retain it. The statement will appear near or next to that part of the web site, web page where the capture of data occurs, with the heading, "Data Protection", and a reference to this privacy statement.
Any amendments to this policy will continue to be in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998.
We collect the personal data that you volunteer on forms which you submit to us (including but not limited to registration, application, complaint, feedback, order, survey, and competition forms), and in e-mails which you send to us.
The personal data we collect will in some instances be specifically used to respond to an enquiry, application or complaint raised by yourself, and, in other instances (as described above) are used to allow us to develop our site in a way that will enhance the on-line experience of the greatest number of users.
We may also, from time to time, ask you for, or enable you to provide, additional information so that we can improve our service to you or make your visits to our site more rewarding. There will be no obligation on you to provide this information.
We do not sell, trade or rent your information to other parties unless we have first obtained your consent. If you do give us permission, we will only share information with organisations we have carefully selected and believe to be reputable. We may provide statistics about our customers; payments, use patterns and related site information, but we will not supply any personal information.
Your personal information will be used only for the purposes of communicating with you in relation to our services, for assessment and analysis to enable us to review, develop and improve the services we offer, or for any other purposes to which you have given your consent.
Any information obtained via this web site, or any other web site controlled by the Council, will be electronically held at Thurrock Council, Civic Offices, New Road, Grays, Essex, RM17 6SL, United Kingdom. The Council takes the normal precautions of backing up all data so that any loss may be restored with the least possible delay.
Yes, you can access the Thurrock Council web site home page and browse all other pages without disclosing any of your personal data. Where we provide material that is private to you then a registration process will be required before you may view your personal preferences.
We do maintain log files that allow us to record visitors' use of the site. We analyse log file information from all our visitors, which we use to make changes to the layout of the site and to the information in it, based on the way that visitors move around it.
Log files do not contain any personal information and they are not used to identify any individual patterns of use of the site.
Cookies are pieces of data that are often created when you visit a web site and are stored in the cookie directory of your computer either temporarily or permanently. Session cookies are created when you visit thurrock.gov.uk.
Our cookie stores a random number on your computer which may be used by us to help us store some of your preferences while you move around the site. This cookie expires when you leave the site. Since these cookies are temporary, it means that the site will not remember who users are when they visit again later to start a new session.
The cookies do not contain any personal information about you, and they cannot be used to identify an individual user.
You can set your browser not to accept cookies but if you do this you may not be able to view all of the information that would otherwise be available.
We do not disclose your personal data to any third parties without your permission except insofar as you have consented to such disclosure or we are required to do so by law for information such as a court order, witness summons, or complaint from governmental authorities.
You may request to have any personal data we hold about you updated.
You may request amendment of any personal data that we are holding about you which is factually inaccurate.
You may also request copies of data that we are holding about you. These are called Subject Access Requests. For more information on your rights of access to your personal data please view the Information Management web pages at: www.thurrock.gov.uk/foi
Upon receipt of a Subject Access Request, we will endeavour to complete it within 40 calendar days providing that we have proof of your identity and are in receipt of all relevant information which we may need in order to deal with the request. In certain cases, depending on the scope of your request, we may also need to charge you a fee of £10.00 in line with legislation. In these instances the 40-day timeframe will be calculated from the date we receive your payment. In sofar as the law permits, we reserve the right to withhold information where a relevant exemption applies. In this eventuality we will give you with the reasons for refusal.
To make any of the above requests, or if you have any questions, you may contact us by e-mail at information.matters@thurrock.gov.uk, or by writing to the Information Management Officer, Thurrock Council, Civic Offices, New Road, Grays, Essex, RM17 6SL.
All of our employees and data processors who have access to your personal data and/or are associated with the processing of that data are contractually obliged to respect the confidentiality of your personal data.
The Council takes appropriate steps to communicate its privacy policy and guidelines to all employees. Only authorised employees will have access to your personal information. While we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of the information you transmit to us. In this regard, we urge you to take every precaution to protect your personal data while you are on the Internet.
We encourage you to change your passwords often, using a combination of letters and numbers, and make sure that you are using a secure browser as you surf the Internet. However, (where applicable) you will be responsible for, and must take all due care to protect, any user ID or password that we have provided for your use on our web site(s).
We have put in place appropriate physical and electronic measures, security policies and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the personal data that we have under our control from unauthorised access, improper use, alteration, unlawful or accidental destruction or accidental loss.
To protect the integrity and security of your personal data we will take steps to verify your identity before granting access to your data or making corrections to it.
thurrock.gov.uk contains links to other web sites, including those of government departments, public authorities and of other organisations (both private and voluntary). This privacy statement applies only to our web site, so you should always be aware when you are moving to another site and read the privacy statement of that site which collects personal information.
We do not pass on any personal information you have given us to any other web site.
If you have any questions or concerns about our privacy statement and practices please use any of the methods listed below to contact the Web Editor:
