This Policy explains when and why we collect personal information about people who visit our websites, how we use it, the conditions under which we may disclose it to others and how we keep it secure.

We may change this Policy from time to time so please check this page occasionally to ensure that you’re happy with any changes. By using our website, you’re agreeing to be bound by this Policy.

Any questions regarding this Policy and our privacy practices should be sent by email to [email protected] or by writing to The Data Controller, SWLEP Unit 7 Greenways Business Park Chippenham SN15 1BN. Alternatively, you can telephone 01249 477287.

Who is the Swindon & Wiltshire LEP?

The Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership (SWLEP) is a non-statutory partnership between the public and private sectors, established to play a central role in determining local economic priorities and undertaking activities to drive economic growth and the creation of local jobs. The SWLEP is a partnership between Swindon Borough Council, Wiltshire Council, businesses in the area and the Military, with representatives from all these organisations on its Board. The SWLEP operates through its websites at swlep.co.uk and swgrowthhub.co.uk.

How do we collect information from you?

We obtain information about you when you use our websites at swlep.co.uk or swgrowthhub.co.uk, when you contact us about products and services or if you register to receive one of our newsletters.

What type of information is collected from you?

The personal information we collect might include your name, address, email address, business name, job title, IP address, and information regarding what pages are accessed and when.

How is your information used?

We may use your information to:

  • fulfil your request for information or services
  • carry out marketing activities for our services
  • conduct surveys & questionnaires
  • arrange Business to Business (B2B) meetings if appropriate
  • help improve our systems or services
  • inform you of improvements to our systems or services
  • identify and prevent fraud
  • enhance the security of our information systems
  • better understand how business users interact with the SWLEP
  • provide communications and content that we think will be relevant and interesting to you
  • determine the effectiveness of content, services, campaigns and advertising

We review our retention periods for personal information on a regular basis. We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary for the relevant activity, or as long as is set out in any relevant contract you hold with us.

Who has access to your information?

We will not sell or rent your information to third parties.

We will not share your information with third parties for marketing purposes.

Third Party Service Providers working on our behalf: We may pass your information to our third party service providers, agents subcontractors and other associated organisations for the purposes of completing tasks and providing services to you on our behalf (for example to send you mailings). However, when we use third party service providers, we disclose only the personal information that is necessary to deliver the service and we have a contract in place that requires them to keep your information secure and not to use it for their own direct marketing purposes. Please be reassured that we will not release your information to third parties beyond the SWLEP's network for them to use for their own direct marketing purposes, unless you have requested us to do so, or we are required to do so by law, for example, by a court order or for the purposes of prevention of fraud or other crime.

Third Party Service Providers we work in association with: We work closely with various third party service providers to bring you a range of services designed to meet the needs of the Swindon & Wiltshire business community. When you enquire about or receive one or more of these services, the relevant third party service provider will use your details to provide you with information and carry out their obligations arising from any contracts you have entered into with them. In some cases, they will be acting as a data controller of your information and therefore we advise you to read their Privacy Policy. These third party product providers will share your information with us which we will use in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

We may transfer your personal information to a third party if we’re under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation or to enforce or apply our terms of use or to protect the rights, property or safety of our customers. However, we will take steps with the aim of ensuring that your privacy rights continue to be protected.

Your choices

You have a choice about whether or not you wish to receive information from us. If you do not want to receive direct marketing communications from us about the services we offer for businesses or our programmes and projects, then you can select your choices by ticking the relevant boxes situated on the form on which we collect your information, or at our Preference Centre.

We will not contact you for marketing purposes by email, phone or text message if you have indicated that you do not wish to be contacted. You can change your marketing preferences at any time at our Preference Centre or by contacting us by email: [email protected] or telephone on 01249 477287.

How you can access and update your information

The accuracy of your information is important to us. We’re working on ways to make it easier for you to review and correct the information that we hold about you. In the meantime, if you change email address, or any of the other information we hold is inaccurate or out of date, please email us at: [email protected], or write to us at: The Data Controller, SWLEP Unit 7 Greenways Business Park Chippenham SN15 1BN.  Alternatively, you can telephone 01249 477287.

You have the right to ask for a copy of the information the SWLEP holds about you.

Security precautions in place to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of your information

When you give us personal information, we take steps to ensure that it’s treated securely. Any sensitive information is encrypted and protected with 256 Bit encryption through SSL. All pages on our websites are protected with this technology.

 

All information is transmitted securely over the internet but this can never be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk. Once we receive your information, we make our best effort to ensure its security on our systems. Where we have given (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access certain parts of our websites, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone.

Profiling

We may analyse your personal information to create a profile of your interests and preferences so that we can contact you with information relevant to you. We may make use of additional information about you when it is available from external sources to help us do this effectively. We may also use your personal information to detect and reduce fraud and credit risk.

Use of 'cookies'

Like many other websites, the SWLEP websites use cookies. 'Cookies' are small pieces of information sent by an organisation to your computer and stored on your hard drive to allow that website to recognise you when you visit. They collect statistical data about your browsing actions and patterns and do not identify you as an individual. For example, we use cookies to store your preferences. This helps us to improve our website and deliver a better more personalised service.

It is possible to switch off cookies by setting your browser preferences. Turning cookies of may result in a loss of functionality when using our website.

Links to other websites

Our websites may contain links to other websites run by other organisations. This privacy policy applies only to our websites‚ so we encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit. We cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other sites even if you access them using links from our websites.

In addition, if you linked to our websites from a third party site, we cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of the owners and operators of that third party site and recommend that you check the policy of that third party site.

Transferring your information outside of Europe

As part of the services offered to you through this website, the information which you provide to us may be transferred to countries outside the European Union (“EU”). By way of example, this may happen if any of our servers are from time to time located in a country outside of the EU. These countries may not have similar data protection laws to the UK. By submitting your personal data, you’re agreeing to this transfer, storing or processing. If we transfer your information outside of the EU in this way, we will take steps to ensure that appropriate security measures are taken with the aim of ensuring that your privacy rights continue to be protected as outlined in this Policy.

If you use our services while you are outside the EU, your information may be transferred outside the EU in order to provide you with those services.

Website recording

Our websites may also use the HotJar website recording service. HotJar is a product that has been developed by a third party. HotJar may record mouse clicks, mouse movements, page scrolling and any text keyed into website forms. The information collected does not include bank details or any sensitive personal data. Data collected by HotJar is for the SWLEP’s internal use only. The information collected is used to improve our website usability and is stored and used for aggregated and statistical reporting.

Website visitor behaviour tracking

Our websites may also use the Progress Digital Experience Cloud (DEC) website tracking service. The DEC is a product that has been developed by a third party. The DEC may record page visits, file downloads and visit frequency. The information collected does not include any sensitive personal data. Data collected by the DEC is for the SWLEP’s internal use only. The information collected is used to improve our website usability and relevance to our visitors and is stored and used for aggregated and statistical reporting.

Visitor information

Our websites may also use the HubSpot CRM service. HubSpot is a product that has been developed by a third party. HubSpot may record any text keyed into website forms. The information collected does not include bank details or any sensitive personal data. Data collected by HubSpot is for the SWLEP’s internal use only. The information collected is used to help us provide any requested services or information.

Review of this Policy

We keep this Policy under regular review. This Policy was last updated in December 2023.