This privacy notice tells you what to expect when Buckinghamshire Local Enterprise Partnership collects personal information. Buckinghamshire Local Enterprise Partnership (Bucks LEP) is a publically funded organisation and as such has open and transparent communications practices in place, which give people confidence in the activities and outputs flowing from Bucks LEP.

As guardians of public funds, with Buckinghamshire Council our accountable body, we will apply similar standards of transparency as other public sector organisations.

We are committed to protecting and respecting your data and complying with all relevant legislation. We deliver a range of projects and services and host a number of websites including this one (with our Growth Hub Buckinghamshire Business First). All of the websites managed by Bucks LEP are listed below.

This policy (together with any other documents referred to in it) sets out the basis on which any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us. Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it.

The projects we deliver may change, however we will endeavour to update this Policy to reflect these new activities.

Information we may collect from you

We aim only to collect the data necessary for the delivery of the project or service you have requested from us. We collect the data of individuals who have requested information or support from us, such as those people signing up to receive updates from the Aylesbury Woodlands website or people requesting to be added to our E-shot newsletter distribution list.

We may collect and process the following data about you:

  • Information that you give us voluntarily for example by filling in a form on one of our websites. We may also ask you for information when you report a problem with our site.
  • If you contact us, we may keep a record of that correspondence.
  • If we phone you or you phone us we will keep a record of this call.
  • If you attend one of our events/workshops we will keep a record of your attendance and any feedback that you supply.
  • Whenever you use any website, mobile application or other internet service, certain information gets created and logged automatically. The same is true of our website. Details of your visits to our websites, the articles you read, the pages you visit and the resources that you access are captured. This gives us valuable ‘analytics’ on the use of our services and allows us to provide you with relevant content based on what you have accessed before.
  • If you respond to one of our surveys we will keep a record of your responses.
  • If you read our email newsletters or browse our website we will collect information on the articles you read.
  • If you sign up to be involved in one of our projects or to apply for grant funding we may collect some specific information from you relating to your application for funding.
  • If you apply for a job with us we will keep a copy of your application and accompanying documents such as your CV.

Where we store your personal data

We aim to protect the information we hold about you and to store it safely and securely. Where possible we use servers hosted in the EU, endeavour to use reputable server hosting providers and to keep our IT platforms updated.

Disclosure of your information

We work with a number of partners that either share our strategic objective of supporting economic development in Buckinghamshire or provide funding to us. These partners include:

We may share your personal information with these partners – but only where it is necessary to do so for the delivery of a project/contract. We deliver a range of projects, if we are working with a partner to deliver these projects we may share information with this partner.

We may disclose your personal information to third parties:

  • If we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our terms of use and other agreements; or to protect the rights and property of Bucks LEP. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

How we might use your information

We might use the information held about you in the following ways:

  • To ensure that content from our websites is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer.
    To provide you with information or that you request from us or which we feel may interest you (you may opt-out of receiving communications from us – see note below).
  • To carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us.
  • To notify you about changes to our provision.
  • To undertake research and analysis; for example to identify key economic points of interest.
  • To conduct surveys to better understand the needs of local business and the economic environment.
  • To alert partners and stakeholders, including the Local Authorities in Buckinghamshire and Government departments, to the economic needs of the area.
  • To ensure you receive payment for the services provided to us.
  • To carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between us and our funders.

We have a legitimate interest in using your data in this way and to provide information and to keep in contact with:

  • Stakeholders and partners who share our objectives to improve the economy
  • Funding applicants and recipients and potential funding applicants

This is to allow us to fulfil our obligations to partners and stakeholders to make them aware of the support available to facilitate the growth of business and the wider economy.

Your rights

You have some options and rights in how we process your information.  To exercise these rights please contact us at info@buckslep.co.uk.

You have the right to access the information we hold about you. We will aim to share this with you as soon as possible and usually within 30 days of you asking us for it.

You have the right for your information to be corrected. Please contact us using the email address above if you want your details updated.  You also have the right for your information to be deleted – unless we are required to keep your data for the fulfilment of a contract.

You have the right to object to us processing your information. You can ask us to stop using your information, including when we use your information to send you news/marketing emails.

We aim only to send you communications if you’ve agreed to it, but if you’d rather we don’t, you can unsubscribe at any time by emailing us or by using the unsubscribe button at the bottom of our news/marketing emails.

You have the right to complain to the data regulator, The Information Commissioner. If you think that we haven’t complied with the data protection laws, you have a right to lodge a complaint.

Changes to our privacy policy

Any changes we may make to our privacy policy in the future will be posted on this page. We will indicate when a change is made. We will share these changes via an email or our various newsletters.

Contact

Questions, comments and requests regarding this privacy policy are welcomed and should be sent to Buckinghamshire Local Enterprise Partnership at info@buckstvlep.co.uk.

Websites managed by Buckinghamshire Local Enterprise Partnership:

Our websites may contain links to and from other websites. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these websites.

Last reviewed by Richard Burton, Communications Manager, January 2023.