Consult Yorkshire is a small “mutual help” voluntary members organisation for independent consultants based in Yorkshire. As such we try to have simple, straightforward policies and procedures.
Your privacy matters to us
This Privacy Policy sets out how and why Consult Yorkshire ("Consult Yorkshire", "we" or "us") collects, stores, uses and discloses your personal information and how you may access personal information about you and seek correction of such information.
We collect a variety of information from visitors to our website, some of which can be confidential. This document explains the types of information we collect, how we collect it and what we do with that information (among other things).
By visiting our website, using any of our member’s services or otherwise providing us with your personal information (or authorising it to be provided to us by someone else), you agree to your personal information being handled as set out in this Privacy Policy. Consult Yorkshire may update this Privacy Policy from time to time so please review it regularly for changes on our website consultyorkshire.com
Your continued use of our member’s services, requesting our assistance or the provision of further personal information to us (directly or via an authorised person) after this Privacy Policy has been revised, constitutes your acceptance of the revised Privacy Policy.
Website Visitors – use of ‘cookies’
Like most website operators, Consult Yorkshire uses cookies to collect non-personally-identifying information of the sort that web browsers and servers typically make available, such as the browser type, language preference, referring site, and the date and time of each visitor request. Consult Yorkshire’s purpose in collecting non-personally identifying information is to better understand how Consult Yorkshire's visitors use its website. The information collected will also help us trouble-shoot problems, analyse our resources and improve services. There is nothing in that kind of information that could enable anyone to identify who you are.
When do we collect personal information?
Visitors to Consult Yorkshire website may choose to interact with Consult Yorkshire in ways that require Consult Yorkshire to gather personal information. The amount and type of information that Consult Yorkshire gathers depends on the nature of the interaction. We collect personal information in a number of ways, including:
when visitors confirm they wish to become a Consult Yorkshire member and optionally sign up for a member profile page on the Consult Yorkshire website.;
when visitors use the ‘contact us’ form;
when you contact us independently of the website, such as by email, phone or in person.
In each case, Consult Yorkshire collects such information with the principal objective to fulfil the purpose of the visitor's interaction with Consult Yorkshire. Consult Yorkshire does not disclose personal information other than as described below. And visitors can always refuse to supply personal information, with the caveat that it may prevent them from engaging in certain website-related activities and we may not be able to provide our member company services or assistance to you or on your behalf.
By providing personal information to us you are expressly and voluntarily accepting the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy and agreeing to our processing of your personal information in ways set out by this Privacy Policy. Where relevant, you consent to Consult Yorkshire posting and using any photographs, content and/or personal information you might upload on our website or have otherwise provided consent to publish on our website, blog, in our marketing collateral or social media channels, which we may use in order to provide member company services, the marketing of such services or for the purpose of our functions and/or activities. You must not provide us with the personal information about another person unless you have first obtained that person's prior consent.
How do we use your personal information?
We collect your personal information in order that you may receive the benefit of our website or through it, member company services.
Subject to this Privacy Policy, we may use your personal information as follows:
If you hold a profile page on our website, we may disclose your published personal information including contact details to enquirers, but only when such disclosure is in relation to the consideration or potential consideration for you to provide services to the prospective client, or otherwise where you have given us permission to make the disclosure to clients or prospective clients in accordance with this Privacy Policy;
If you are a prospective client, we may disclose your personal information including contact details to Consult Yorkshire members, but only when such disclosure is in relation to further progressing the enquiry to perform services, or otherwise where you have given us permission to make the disclosure in accordance with this Privacy Policy;
To establish, maintain and administer your membership;
To send you service or promotional communications, including surveys and information about security updates;
To create or distribute marketing material that may be relevant to you;
To conduct verifications of profiles, checking credentials, monitoring and reporting as permitted in the terms and conditions you have agreed with us or under any applicable laws;
For quality assurance and training purposes;
To promote and market Consult Yorkshire, its member company services, our websites (including any social media pages maintained or operated by us such as Linkedln, Twitter, Facebook etc) and/or the members of Consult Yorkshire;
For any other uses identified at the time of collecting your personal information.
Your personal information will also be used by us to enable more direct connectivity between Consult Yorkshire members and Clients, and between Consult Yorkshire members and members of the public, for the purposes of the services. In particular:
As a member, the visibility of certain personal information included in your professional profile to Clients and the general public will depend on the extent of information, which you have chosen to publish via your profile page.
Your Consult Yorkshire profile page may be picked up through public search engines such as Google when someone searches for your name, and allows them to review your Consult Yorkshire profile. Instructing the removal of your Consult Yorkshire profile will remove this facility. However, you should be aware that third-party search engines may not automatically update their caches, which may contain old public profile information.
You consent to us using and disclosing your personal information in any manner that could reasonably be contemplated by this Privacy Policy.
When we might disclose personal information?
Consult Yorkshire may disclose your personal information to other entities or individuals to facilitate the purpose for which information was collected. Such entities and individuals include:
Other Consult Yorkshire members or as the case may be;
third party service providers for the purpose of enabling them to provide a service such as (but not limited to), IT service providers, data storage, web-hosting and server providers, banking;
any third party partners or entities with whom Consult Yorkshire has a commercial relationship;
any related entity of Consult Yorkshire;
any applicable or relevant regulator or third party for the purpose of legislative or contractual compliance and/or reporting or when Consult Yorkshire believes in good faith that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect the property or rights of Consult Yorkshire, third parties or the public at large; or
other entities if you have given your express consent. Those entities and individuals will be permitted to obtain only the personal information necessary to deliver the service. Consult Yorkshire takes reasonable steps to ensure that these organisations and individuals protect the confidentiality of your personal information.
From time to time, these parties may reside outside the United Kingdom [our website host and Dropbox are USA based]. Our contracts with these parties generally include an obligation for them to comply with UK privacy law and this Privacy Policy. However you acknowledge that, by agreeing to the disclosure of your personal information to these entities outside of UK, we will no longer be required to take reasonable steps to ensure the recipient's compliance with the UK privacy law in relation to your personal information and we will not be liable to you for any breach of the UK privacy law by these overseas recipients. On this basis, you consent to such disclosure.
If you conduct any transaction that requires a payment by you, some of your details may be provided to a third party payment processor to allow the transaction to be completed.
Certain information will be disclosed to potential Clients to allow them to determine which member(s) might be suitable. Contact details will only be shared between Clients and members insofar as is necessary or appropriate to facilitate the services that Consult Yorkshire members provide.
Business Transfers
If Consult Yorkshire, or substantially all of its assets, were acquired, or in the unlikely event that Consult Yorkshire ceases to exist, user information would be one of the assets that is transferred or acquired by a third party. You acknowledge that such transfers may occur, and that any acquirer of Consult Yorkshire may continue to use your personal information as set forth in this policy.
Does Consult Yorkshire use personal information for direct marketing?
From time to time we may use the personal information we collect from you to identify particular Consult Yorkshire member services that we believe may be of interest to you. We may then contact you to let you know about these services, new features and how they may benefit you, solicit your feedback, or just keep you up to date with what's going on with Consult Yorkshire and our memberservices. Direct Marketing from Consult Yorkshire generally takes the form of a direct email.
Electronic marketing – If ever Consult Yorkshire used your personal information to send you marketing information about a Consult Yorkshire event by email, SMS, MMS or other electronic means, we may do so with your express or implied consent. You may give us your express consent by, for example, ticking a box on an electronic or signing in paper form where we seek your permission to send you electronic or other marketing information. Consent may be implied from our existing relationship or where you have a reasonable expectation of receiving an electronic marketing communication.
Every directly addressed contact sent or made by Consult Yorkshire will include a means by which customers may unsubscribe (or opt out) of receiving further marketing information. Additionally, you may instruct us at any time to remove any previous consent you provided to receive marketing communications from us. Requests should be directed to us via our 'Contact us' page.
Links to third party websites
Our website may contain links to the websites of other entities. If you click on such links, you will be transferred to the website of these entities. Consult Yorkshire has no control over, and is not responsible for, the privacy practices of these entities. You should read the privacy policy of these entities to find out how they handle your personal information when you visit their websites.
Accessing your personal information held by Consult Yorkshire
You may review, edit, correct or delete any personal information you submit to us at any time. You just need to access your profile page on our website and/or details held in the membership listing file on the Consult Yorkshire Dropbox account.
You normally may access personal information we otherwise hold about you. However, access to your personal information may be denied on certain grounds including, for example: it is unlawful; it may have an unreasonable impact upon the privacy of other individuals; or your request is frivolous or vexatious. If we deny you access, we will provide our reason for doing so within a reasonable period of time after your request is made. If you wish to access the personal information we hold about you or request correction of it, you should contact the Privacy Officer [Webmaster] on the details below who will respond to your request within a reasonable period after the request is made.
While we do not charge you for a request for accessing your personal information you should be aware that we may charge a reasonable fee (which will be notified to you once you make a request) for time and cost in the following circumstances:
if an extended amount of time is required to collate and prepare material for you; and
if you wish to have your files photocopied for you.
How can you correct and update your information?
We take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we hold about you is accurate, complete and up-to-date. However, we also rely on you to advise us of any changes to your personal information by maintaining and updating your profile. Please contact us using the contact details below as soon as possible if there are any changes to your personal information or if you believe the personal information we hold about you is not accurate, complete or up-to-date so that we can update your file accordingly.
Dealing with us Anonymously or by Pseudonym
In order for us to successfully have communications with you it will not, in most circumstances, be practical for us to deal with you without you providing relevant personal information to us.
Storage and security
Consult Yorkshire takes all measures reasonably necessary to protect against the unauthorised access, use, alteration or destruction of personal information.
Although we aim to create a safe, secure environment by trying to limit access to the website and our Dropbox account to legitimate users, we cannot guarantee that unauthorised parties will not gain access. We will not have any liability arising from any unauthorised access to your personal information.
Privacy Complaints or Contact Us
If you would like to obtain further information about the way we manage your personal information or believe that we have acted inconsistently with your privacy rights in any way, or you would like to discuss any issues about our privacy policy please contact our Webmaster at zara@consultyorkshire.com
All such enquiries or complaints will be taken seriously and will be handled as soon as reasonably practicable.
Last reviewed July 2019
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