Website of the UK government

The Data Protection Act

Under the Data Protection Act, we have a legal duty to protect any information we collect from you. We use leading technologies and encryption software to safeguard your data, and keep strict security standards to prevent any unauthorised access to it.

What information do we collect?

We collect two kinds of information from visitors to Directgov: feedback (through visitors emailing us), customer satisfaction surveys (via online pop-up surveys) and site usage information, using cookies and page tagging techniques including JavaScript.

Feedback

We welcome your feedback.

Should you send an email to us seeking advice or information that we are not in a position to give, we may forward your email on to a more appropriate department within the government for a response. If we do this we will send you an email informing you of our actions. 

Once we have replied to you, we keep a record of your message for a maximum of two months for reference and audit purposes, after which we will delete it.

Site usage information

Cookies

Cookies are pieces of data that are often created when you visit a website, and which are stored in the cookies directory of your computer. Cookies are created when you visit Directgov.

Our cookies store a random number on your computer to help us count the number of times users return to our site.

The cookies do not contain any personal information about you, and they cannot be used to identify an individual user.

You can set your browser not to accept cookies. If you do not know how to do this, contact us, giving details on the type of browser you are using, and we will do our best to help.

Page tagging

We use JavaScript to aggregate and analyse customer usage patterns on all websites that are part of the Directgov domain. This provides us with data on your usability and behaviour.  We use this information to make changes to the layout of the website and to the information in it. This does not collect any personal or identifiable information about users.

We sometimes tag pages on this website during promotion campaigns using pixel tags (which are sometimes called spotlight tags or web beacons). These tags enable us to find out which advertisements are successful in bringing users to our internet site(s). With this technology, the information that we collect and share is anonymous and not personally identifiable.

You can disable JavaScript on your computer. If you would like advice on how to disable JavaScript please contact us, giving details about the type of browser you use and we will do our best to help. Disabling JavaScript should not affect your ability to access Directgov’s internet site.

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What happens when I link to another site?

We do not pass on any personal information you have given us to any other site

Directgov contains links to other websites, both 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 other site(s) which collect personal information about you.

We do not pass on any personal information you have given us to any other site.

What happens when I access the Directgov site through another site?

Where you are directed to the Directgov site from another site (whether a third party site or a government site) we may receive personal information relating to you from the other site(s).  You should read the privacy policies applicable to such sites as these will govern the use of any personal information that you provide when accessing such sites and which is provided to Directgov. 

Access to your information and contacting Directgov

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 email.

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Changes to this privacy policy

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.