The Future Devon website is provided by Devon County Council
If you follow a link to a service provided by another agency or local authority, that organisation will:
- be the data controller
- be responsible for processing any data you share with them
- publish and manage their own privacy notice with details of how to contact them
Example;
If you visit Plymouth City Council’s website from a link on this website, they will become the responsible controller. Their own privacy notice will apply.
A data controller determines how and why personal data is processed.
What data we collect
The personal data we collect from you includes:
- questions, queries or feedback you leave, including your email address if you agree to being contacted
- your email address and subscription preferences when you sign up to our email alerts
- how you use our emails – for example whether you open them and which links you click on
- your Internet Protocol (IP) address, and details of which version of web browser you used
- information on how you use the site, using cookies and page tagging techniques
Where you provide your consent, we use Google Analytics cookies and Hotjar cookies to collect information about how you use Future Devon.
Google Analytics processes information about:
- the pages you visit on Future Devon
- how long you spend on each Future Devon page
- how you got to the site
- what you click on while you’re visiting the site
If you have a Google account and have turned on ‘ad personalisation’, anonymised data about your age, gender and interests may be included in aggregated reports we see in Google Analytics. This helps us understand the general types of people visiting Future Devon.
We make sure you cannot be directly identified from Google Analytics data. We do this by:
- taking all reasonable steps to remove or reduce personal information in analytics data, for example from page titles or URLs
- not storing or logging IP addresses in Google Analytics
- not combining analytics information with other data sets in a way that that would directly identify you
We will not combine analytics information with other data sets in a way that would directly identify who you are.
Hotjar software processes anonymised information about:
- how well the pages performed on your device
- performance bottlenecks your device experienced
- how you made your way through the site
- feedback you may have about the site
Tracking for marketing campaigns
Where you provide your consent, we may use cookies to track your activity from platforms such as Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn.
We also do this so we can show you relevant information that you might find useful or of interest, based on your profile on one of these platforms. This is called ‘Re-marketing’.
For example; we may share information about fostering a child if this is something you have shown an interest in before, or if you are in a group where there is under-representation for potential foster carers.
We will not share information about services that Devon County Council does not offer itself.
Why we need your data
We collect your personal data in order to:
- gather feedback to improve our services
- respond to any feedback you send us, if you’ve asked us to
- monitor use of the site to identify security threats
- monitor the performance of the site to identify inefficiencies and JavaScript errors
We use the information we collect through Google Analytics and HotJar to see how you use Future Devon and to see how well the site performs on your device.
We do this to help:
- make sure Future Devon is meeting the needs of its users
- make improvements
- make performance improvements, for example improving page load time and data usage
Our legal basis for processing your data
The legal basis for processing personal data in relation to site security is our legitimate interests, and the legitimate interests of our users, in ensuring the security and integrity of Future Devon.
The legal basis for processing data collected with Google Analytics, Hotjar and Re-marketing on Future Devon is your consent.
The legal basis for processing all other personal data is that it’s necessary:
- to perform a task in the public interest
- in the exercise of our functions as a government department
What we do with your data
The data we collect may be shared with other partner agencies and organisations. It may also be shared with our technology suppliers, for example our hosting provider.
We will share your data if we are required to do so by law – for example, by court order, or to prevent fraud or other crime.
The data we collect with Google Analytics cookies is transferred and stored with Google where we analyse it with Google Analytics software (GA4). We do not allow Google to use or share this data for their own purposes.
We will not:
- sell or rent your data to third parties
- share your data with third parties for marketing purposes
How long we keep your data
We will only retain your personal data for as long as it is needed for the purposes set out in this document or for as long as the law requires us to.
We will:
- keep your email data until you unsubscribe
- keep your feedback data for 2 years
- delete access log data which contain your IP address after 120 days
Children’s privacy protection
Our services are not designed for, or intentionally targeted at, children 13 years of age or younger. We do not intentionally collect or maintain data about anyone under the age of 13.
Where your data is processed and stored
We design, build and run our systems to make sure that your data is as safe as possible at all stages, both while it’s processed and when it’s stored.
All personal data is stored in the European Economic Area (EEA). Data collected by Google Analytics, Hotjar and Re-marketing may be transferred outside the EEA for processing.
Where data processing happens in the US, suppliers need to meet the certification standards set out in the UK-US data bridge agreement. This facilitates flows of personal data to certified US companies that have opted in to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.
How we protect your data and keep it secure
We are committed to doing all that we can to keep your data secure. We have set up systems and processes to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure of your data – for example, we protect your data using varying levels of encryption.
We also make sure that any third parties that we deal with keep all personal data they process on our behalf secure.
Your rights
You have the right to request:
- information about how your personal data is processed
- a copy of that personal data
- that anything inaccurate in your personal data is corrected immediately
You can also:
- raise an objection about how your personal data is processed
- request that your personal data is erased if there is no longer a justification for it
- ask that the processing of your personal data is restricted in certain circumstances
If you have any of these requests, get in contact with our Information Governance Team.
Contact us
For more information about how Devon County Council processes your personal data, or for details on how to access information from us, please email us or write to:
The Data Protection Officer
County Hall
Topsham Road
Exeter
EX2 4QD