Privacy and data protection

Under the Data Protection Act, the Council has a legal duty to protect any personal information we collect from you. We do not pass on your details to any third party or government department unless you give us permission to do so or the law requires/permits it.

Amber Valley Borough Council is committed to respecting your privacy. Once you choose to provide us with any information by which you can be identified, then you can be assured that it will only be used for stated purposes which will be made clear to you when you are asked to submit information.

The Council respects everyone's right to privacy and it is fully committed to the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998 (the Act). Specifically, the Principles require that personal data:

1. shall be fairly and lawfully processed
2. shall be processed for limited purposes
3. shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive
4. shall be accurate
5. shall not be kept for longer than is necessary
6. shall be processed in line with your rights
7. shall be secure
8. shall not be transferred to countries without adequate data-protection legislation.

Your Rights

The Data Protection Act 1998 gives individual's a number of rights, namely:-

• To find out what information is held about them.
• To be informed what information is held, what it is used for and to whom it may be disclosed.
• To be given a copy of the information.
• To be given an explanation of any codes used or the logic involved in any automatic decision making processes.
• To have inaccurate information corrected or destroyed.
• To prevent further use of personal information if it causes, or is likely to cause, substantial damage or distress.
• To seek compensation for any damage and distress caused by the use of inaccurate information.
• To prevent use of their personal data for direct marketing.

For further information visit the Data Protection page.

Cookies

We use simple text files called 'cookies' to collect statistics about the number of people using the website, but they don't tell us who you are. Cookies help us keep the site relevant and up-to-date.

What are Cookies?

There are two types of cookie:

'session cookies' last as long as your current visit to the site - or for up to a limited amount of time if you keep the site open without using it. They mean you don't have to keep re-submitting information as you move through the site or carry out transactions.

'persistent cookies' remember information from previous visits - for example names and details for online forms. They are used to collect anonymous statistics about how many people use the site, and to maintain any settings (such as accessibility) you have changed.

Cookies make the interaction between you and the website faster and easier. Without cookies the website thinks you are a new visitor every time you move to a new page.

How we use cookies to collect statistics

To improve our service we collect anonymous web statistics using a programme called Google Analytics. They store several cookies on users' computers or mobiles devices to tell us how many people have visited each web page, how they got there, and where they navigated to from there. The data collected is completely anonymous and does not store any personal details.

If you don't want your web visits to be tracked for statistical purposes like this, you can set your computer to accept all cookies, to notify you when a cookie is issued, or not to receive cookies at any time. The way in which you do this depends upon the web browser, which you use. Go to www.aboutcookies.org/ to find out.