As a Forestry Commission hosted project the Project is bound by the Privacy Policy for Forestry Commission.

This page explains how the Project, through Forestry Commission, uses any information you give to us through our website, and the ways in which we protect your privacy.

The Data Protection Act

The Forestry Commission is a data controller under the Data Protection Act. Under the Act, we have a legal duty to protect any information we collect from you. We safeguard your data, and keep strict security standards to prevent any unauthorised access to it. We do not pass on your details to any third party or other government department (except to process on our behalf) unless you give us permission to do so.

What information do we collect?

We collect different kinds of information from visitors to our website:

• requests for information via our contact form
• and site usage information from log files.

Feedback

You can send us your feedback directly through the website or by , post or phone. If you use the website form you do not need to give any personal information unless you wish a response from us. We do not pass on any of your personal information outside our organisation when dealing with your enquiry. We will not use any information you supply for any other purpose without first seeking your permission.

Where your details are held in our tracking system these are archived after we have dealt with your enquiry and deleted after 12 months.

Calls to our helpdesk

The information you supply to us in telephone contacts may be logged within a database to help us respond to, and track, your request. We do not pass on any of your personal information outside our organisation when dealing with your enquiry, unless you have given us permission to do so. We will not use any information you supply for any other purpose without your permission.

Our system archives your messages after it has been dealt with, and deletes them after 12 months.

Requests for Information

We need to record your personal contact details to be able to respond to, and track the progress of, your request. If you use the Information Request function on the website the minimum personal information required from you is an e-mail address or telephone contact number. We do not pass on any of your personal information outside our organisation when dealing with your enquiry, unless you have given us permission to do so. We will not use any information you supply for any other purpose without your permission.

If your enquiry is logged our system archives your message after it has been dealt with, and deletes it after 12 months.

If you register an interest in receiving regular updates from the site your details will be kept indefinitely. You have the option to check the details supplied by you, to update these details, or to remove your name from any mailing lists by contacting us.

Consultation Responses

We may use our website to encourage input into the many consultation exercises that we carry out. On some occasions we will invite responses directly through the site. Where this happens we need to record your personal contact details to be able to validate responses and, where appropriate to respond to your input. We do not pass on any of your personal information outside our organisation unless you have given us permission to do so. We will not use any information you supply for any other purpose without your permission.

We will normally archive computer-held responses after six months and delete them after 12 months.

Cookies and Log Files

Cookies are pieces of data that can be automatically created on your computer when you visit a website. We do use cookies in some parts of this site but only to help you to use the site.  We do not collect any information about you using cookies.

Log files allow us to record visitors’ use of the site 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 about you or information about which other sites you have visited.

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses “cookies”, which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyze how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States . Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above.

Links to other sites

1sw.org.uk contains links to other websites, both those of government departments and of other organisations. This privacy policy applies only to our site, so you should always be aware when you are moving to another site and read the privacy statement of any site which collects personal information. We do not pass on any personal information you have given us to any other site.

Access to your information and contacting us

If you wish to see our records of any correspondence you have sent to us, or if you have a query or complaint about this privacy policy or about the site, you can contact us by e-mail, phone or post:

e-mail:

Phone:

Post:

West England Forest District

EX5 4QU
United Kingdom

If this privacy policy changes in any way, we will place an updated version on this page. Regularly reviewing this page ensures you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we will share it with other parties.