Privacy

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.

We do not pass on your details to any third party or government department unless you give us permission to do so.

We collect two kinds of information from visitors to OGC: feedback (through visitors emailing us) and site usage information, from a cookie, log files and page tagging.

We welcome your feedback. If you send an email or letter to us asking for information, we may need to contact other government departments to find that information. If your question is technical, we may need to pass it to our technology suppliers.

We do not pass on any of your personal information when dealing with your enquiry, unless you have given us permission to do so. Once we have replied to you, we keep a record of your message for six months for reference and audit purposes, after which it is deleted.

Cookies
Cookies are pieces of data that are often created when you visit a website, and which are stored in the cookie directory of your computer. A cookie is created when you visit OGC. Our cookie stores a random number on your computer to help us count the number of times users return to our site. The cookie does not contain any personal information about you, and it 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.

Log files
Log files allow us to record visitors' use of the site. We use this information to make changes to the layout of the website and to the information in it. Log files do not contain any personal information and they are not used to identify any individual patterns of use of the site.

Page tagging
Sometimes we tag pages on the site when we are promoting OGC. These tags enable OGC to recognize a unique cookie on your browser, which in turn enables us to learn which advertisements bring users to OGC. The cookie was placed by us, or by another advertiser who works with OGC. With this technology, the information that we collect and share is anonymous and not personally identifiable. It does not contain your name, address, telephone number, or email address. 

What happens when I link to another site?
OGC 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 site which collects personal information.

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

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.

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.