Northern Ireland Assembly Commission Privacy Policy

(including information on our use of cookies)

The Northern Ireland Assembly Commission is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy sets out how the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission uses and protects any information we collect from you, or that you provide to us, when you use our website www.niassembly.gov.uk. Please read the policy to understand our views and practices regarding personal data and how we will treat it. By using our site, you indicate that you accept these terms of use and that you agree to abide by them.

For the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998, the data controller is The Northern Ireland Assembly Commission, Parliament Buildings, Ballymiscaw, Stormont Estate, Belfast, BT4 3XX.

In order to provide full access to our website we sometimes need to collect information about you and how it will be used. This Privacy Policy provides details on the use of cookies on the website and how you can control and delete these cookies. This policy therefore applies to information we collect about:

  • Visitors to our website;
  • Feedback information you provide to us through the website;
  • Personal Details you provide in requesting further information and subscribing to information through the website.

 

Visitors to our website

When someone visits our website at www.niassembly.gov.uk we collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. We collect this information in a way which does not identify anyone. We do not make any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting any part of our website. We will not associate any data gathered from this site with any personally identifying information from any source. If we do want to collect personally identifiable information through our website, we will be up front about this. We will make it clear when we collect personal information and we will explain what we intend to do with it.

The Northern Ireland Assembly Commission is committed to safeguarding your personal information. Whenever you provide such information, we are legally obliged to use your information in line with all laws concerning the protection of personal information, including the Data Protection Act 1998.

 

Managing or deleting cookies

All recent versions of popular browsers, like Google Chrome, Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox, allow you to control cookies. You can set your browser to:

  • accept all cookies
  • reject all cookies
  • accept or reject only certain cookies

For example, you might be happy to accept a cookie that allows you to log in to a website, but want to reject ones which are used to build a profile of how you use the internet.

You should also be able to set your browser to prompt you each time a cookie is offered.

Visit the Information Commissioner’s Office website to find out how to control or delete cookies.

 

How we use cookies

We use cookies for two reasons:

  • to improve your experience on the website. This might include making it quicker and easier for you to find what you need, or remembering your settings.
  • to collect information about how you use our website through Google Analytics (GA). GA is a tool that produces detailed statistics about website activity. It allows us to see where the website can better meet our users' needs.

The cookies we use

Cookie

Name

Purpose

Google analytics

_utma
_utmb
_utmc

_utmv
_utmz

These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our site. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the site. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come to the site from and the pages they visited.

For more information please see this link:https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=en&ref_topic=2919631

 

Online notification form cookie

ASP.NET_SessionId

It helps with the process of 'caching' (putting data in a temporary storage area) certain things to make the website work better for you. For example, if you change the page to high contrast, it’ll keep that setting until you close your browser.

 

 

.EPiTrace

This cookie enables the content management system (the software we use to publish content on the site) to provide a graphical view of the current traffic on the site which we use to monitor spikes in visitor numbers and manage response times.

How to reject or delete these cookies

If you would like more information about the cookies used by Google Analytics please see their individual privacy policy.

If you would like to opt out of google analytics tracking, you can download and install an add-on for your browser that will allow you to do this:

 

Cookies set by Third Party Sites and Information gathered by Third Party Sites

When you visit a page with content embedded from, for example, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube or Twitter, you may be presented with cookies from these websites and you may provide personal information to these sights when you sign up for notifications and subscriptions or when you leave a comment.  

Please not that the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission does not control the dissemination of these cookies or the information you provide them. You should check the relevant third party website for more information about these and urge you to review these as they will govern the use of information you submit or which is collected by cookies whilst visiting these websites.

Facebook – www.facebook.com/about/privacy
Twitter - http://twitter.com/privacy
Soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/pages/privacy
You Tube - http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/policies/privacy/
Flickr Privacy Policy - http://info.yahoo.com/privacy/uk/yahoo/
MailChimp - https://mailchimp.com/legal/privacy/
Vimeo - https://vimeo.com/privacy

To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org  

To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

 

Information we may collect from you - Feedback Forms

When we receive your feedback through the website we only use the personal information we collect to check on the level of service we provide and retain the personal information in line with our retention policy.  This information is not stored on the website.

 

Information we may collect from you - Enquiries / Subscriptions

We have to hold the details of the people who have requested information in order to provide the information/updates.  We only use the information supplied to respond to the enquiry or provide the information to the person as requested. We retain this information in line with our retention and disposal policy.  This information is not stored on the website.  We do not use information for marketing purposes and do not pass personal information on to anyone else.  When people do subscribe to information from our website, they can cancel their subscription at any time by using the unsubscribe link on the email they are sent.

To manage subscriptions we use the email automation platform, Mailchimp. To unsubscribe from any newsletters or subscriptions that you have signed up for, simply click on the unsubscribe link provided in all emails. For more information please read the MailChimp privacy policy and the MailChimp cookie statement.

 

How long do you keep my personal data?

We will only retain your data for as long as necessary to process and in line with our Retention and Disposal Schedule

 

What rights do I have?

 

Changes to this privacy notice

This privacy notice will be reviewed and updated regularly. 

 

How do I complain if I am not happy? 

If you are unhappy with how any aspect of this privacy notice, or how your personal information is being processed, please contact the NI Assembly Information Standards Officer at:

Data Controller Name:

Northern Ireland Assembly Commission

Address:

Parliament Buildings,
Ballymiscaw,
Stormont,
Belfast
BT4 3XX

Information Standards Officer:

Donna-Marie Clark
Email: Donna-Marie.Clark@niassembly.gov.uk
Tel: 028 90 521147

If you are still not happy, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO):

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Tel: 0303 123 1113

Email: casework@ico.org.uk

https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/

 

Recent Updates:

27 March 2023 (General review of information)

5 May 2022 (General review of policy, links and information)

4 April 2022 (Enquiries and Subscriptions section updated to remove reference to a subscription platform no longer being used.)

20 October 2021 (Information Standards Officer information updated)

19 July 2021 (Cookie information updated.)

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