Customer Privacy
Overview
The Welsh Government is the data controller for any personal information that you provide either over the telephone, in person or when accessing website based services.
The Welsh Government has a legal duty to protect the privacy of all personal and business data provided by you or a representative of your business while accessing Welsh Government support services. This privacy policy explains what information we may collect from you and the purposes for which it will be used. By accessing Welsh Government business information support services you give your agreement to the data practices described in this policy.
The Welsh Government will only collect personal and business data from you with your permission, for example if you contact the Business Wales Helpline, access the Business Wales support network or register or fill in Welsh Government online forms. No personal or business data is collected from you without you knowing about it.
Changes to this policy
The Welsh Government may make changes to this privacy policy at any time. Changes will be posted here and are effective immediately. Regularly reviewing this page ensures that you are always aware of what information the Welsh Government collect, how it is used and under what circumstances, if any, information will be shared with other parties.
What information do we collect and how do we use it?
Depending on which information or support service you use, you may be asked to provide information, or we may collect information from you as explained below.
The Freedom of Information Act and your Information
We are subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the Environmental Information Regulations, 2004 (EIR). This means that any information we hold, including any information you provide to us, is potentially disclosable if caught by a FoI request. Should any information you provide to us be caught by a request, we will normally consult with you to seek your views on what harm, if any, would arise from the release of the information into the public domain.
Except as stated elsewhere in this Privacy Policy, we will not share the information you provide to us with any other third party unless:
- we are under a duty to disclose or share the information in order to comply with any legal obligation (i.e. FOIA);
- in order to enforce or apply our User Terms and any other relevant agreements;
- to protect the rights, property or safety of others;
- if we outsource or transfer the management and/or operation of all or part of this Website to a third party, to enable that third party to continue to provide you with access to the Website or any of the services provided by the Website.
Information that you provide to us
The Welsh Government will collect and process data that you provide for specific purposes. You will be asked to provide information about yourself when you use certain support services, in order to complete your request or transaction. This may include personal information such as your name, email addresses, mailing address and telephone number. We use this data to provide you with the information, products or services that you request from us. We may keep a record of any contacts you have with us. We may use the information that you provide for record keeping, statistical, or research or quality purposes.
We only retain this information where required to do so by law; for the length of time needed to provide the service or information you have requested (including any retention period specified by law or by Welsh Government policy).
We may use the information provided to offer you personalised or local services, to notify you of changes to our service, to ask your opinions and to help us to improve our services.
In order to provide the information, products or services that you have requested we will share your data as required with other organisations - for example with a publications distribution organisation if you order a publication, with a local business support organisation if you request local contact or support, or with the relevant government department, agency or authority to complete a request or transaction.
You have the right to ask for your information to be removed from our records, see any information the Welsh Government holds about you, and to correct inaccuracies.
We will not pass on your details for any other purpose unless we are required to do so by law.
www.business.wales.gov.uk privacy policy
We aim to make sure that we adhere to a sound privacy policy. We're only collecting information that will:
• help us make the site work better for you
• let us contact you if you've asked us to
• let us keep you informed of relevant updates and changes to business support if you subscribe to our newsletters
• let us give you accurate local information if you need it
• give us a sense of how people are using the site, so we can keep improving it.
The information we collect
We collect the following information from people visiting the website:
• the questions, queries and feedback people leave, including your email address if you send us email
• brief personal and business details (your name, business name, email address, region)
• visitors' IP addresses, and details of which browser they used
• information on how people use the site, using cookies and page tagging techniques
If you send us feedback, we will keep a record of your message.
More about cookies
www.business.wales.gov.uk uses small data files stored on your computer called 'cookies'. Most big websites do this. They help us improve the website experience for you. Find out what we use them for, and how to control their use on our cookies page
How we use your information
Any information we collect is used to:
• improve the content and design of the website
• contact you (with your permission) to respond to feedback
• contact you through our newsletters to send you information about possible support for your business, and associated news
We will not share your information with other organisations for marketing, market research or commercial purposes, and we don’t pass on your personal information to any other website.
Cookies used on this site
Universal Analytics
| Cookie name | Description |
|---|---|
| _ga | This helps us count how many people visit GOV.UK by tracking if you’ve visited before |
| _gat | Used to manage the rate at which page view requests are made |
Google Analytics
| Cookie name | Description |
|---|---|
| _utma | Like _ga, this lets us know if you’ve visited before, so we can count how many of our visitors are new to GOV.UK or to a certain page |
| _utmb | This works with _utmc to calculate the average length of time you spend on GOV.UK |
| _utmc | This works with _utmb to calculate when you close your browser |
| _utmz | This tells us how you reached GOV.UK (eg from another website or a search engine) |
Cookie control widget
| Cookie name | Description |
|---|---|
| business-wales_cookiecontrol | Stores your cookie control preference. This is always set. |
AddThis
| Cookie name | Description |
|---|---|
| __atuvc | Used by the AddThis social sharing buttons |
| __atuvs | Used by the AddThis social sharing buttons |
Drupal cookies
| Cookie name | Description |
|---|---|
| has_js | Drupal uses this cookie to indicate whether or not the visitors browser has JavaScript enabled. |
Drupal authenticated users
| Cookie name | Desciption |
|---|---|
| SESS* | Session cookie to store the authenticated user session |
| drupal |
Sets whether table items are draggable |
| drupal |
Stores the unitary authority set by the user in the 'My Business Wales' section |
| Drupal |
Stores the preference to collapse the admin menu display |