Data Protection and your privacy

Because online privacy and the protection of personal information are issues of increasing concern to Internet users, we make every effort to ensure that your use of our website is secure and non-intrusive. The following questions and answers should help you to understand what information we collect about you, how it is used and what steps we take to protect it.

1. What information do we collect?
We collect two kinds of information about our users:

a. non-personal information such as IP address (the location of the computer on the internet), pages accessed and files downloaded. This helps us to determine how many individuals use our site, how many people visit on a regular basis, which pages are most popular, and which pages are least popular. This information doesn't tell us anything about who you are or where you live; it simply allows us to monitor and improve our service.

b. personal information such as name, school, address, telephone number, e-mail address. We collect this information only in connection with specific activities, such as course requests, feedback, forums, etc.

2. What happens to personal information collected?
Personal information submitted through the forms on our site is transmitted to our database, where it is stored in accordance with the Data Protection Act and your wishes. It is then used to fulfil requests, such as sending information, answering requests or giving access to specific resources.

3. How is the information used?
As well as using personal information to fulfil requests, we also like to keep visitors informed about our activities. Although we don't sell or rent personal information, we do agree, from time to time, with other departments within Surrey County Council and Babcock plc, to share contact information.

4. On rare occasions your information may be passed to a third party.
This will only be done with reference to a specific activity (such as registering to be part of a project co-ordinated by a third party). If there is requirement to share your personal information to a third party, when submitting your personal information, you will be given the option not to allow your information to be passed to this third party. If you don't opt out at this point, but subsequently decide that you no longer wish to be contacted, you can let us know by contacting the Data Protection Officer whose details are available at the bottom of this page.

5. How secure is information submitted through the website?
While we can't provide a 100-per-cent guarantee that personal information submitted through our website cannot be lost or fall into the wrong hands, we make every effort to ensure that all stages of our data transfer and storage processes are as secure as possible.

6. Do the Babcock websites use cookies?
Cookies are small pieces of information stored on a user's computer that enable websites to recognise individual visitors (more accurately, individual computers). Cookies are used for a variety of purposes, such as providing your personalised pages. We also use them to work out how many people visit our site. Cookies cannot cause harm to your computer.

The Data Protection Act
Any personal information submitted via the Babcock websites are treated in accordance with The Data Protection Act (1998). Among other things, this means that you have the right to advise us at any time if you no longer wish to receive mailings from us or from organisations with whom we cooperate. It also gives you the right to request a copy of the personal information that we hold on you.
To find out more about your entitlements under this legislation, visit the Information Commissioner's website: www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk/ or read the Act online at: www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1998/19980029.htm.

Further information
If you have any other questions about how we deal with personal information, please contact:
Karen Newman
eBusiness Manager
e: karen.newman@babcock.co.uk