This statement covers the website www.skillset.org, its sub-sites and all other websites owned and operated by Skillset. Skillset is fully committed to protecting your personal information and conducts all its business in compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998. Skillset collects and uses personal data for a range of purposes in support of its core objectives. This information is processed in accordance with the eight enforceable principles of good practice, which state that information collected should:

1. be fairly and lawfully processed;
2. be lawfully obtained and processed for limited purposes;
3. be adequate, relevant and not excessive;
4. be accurate and up-to-date;
5. not be kept for longer than is necessary;
6. be processed in accordance with the data subject's rights;
7. take technical and organisational measures;
8. not be transferred to countries outside the EU.

This statement explains how Skillset gathers information from you and how this information is then used. If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail Skillset's Database Administrator Lavinia Orton at laviniao@skillset.org.

Collection of your personal information

Personal information collected by Skillset is often limited to contact details and some basic information about your area of work and employment status, but may include other information necessary to provide a particular service you have requested. Sensitive data may include data about your ethnic origin, nationality, gender, membership of a trade union or association, employment status. If you are applying for a service for which government funding is available, you may need to answer certain additional questions such as your age and your current education and employment status, in order for us to evaluate whether you are eligible for that funding. By providing your information to Skillset, you explicitly give your consent for us to process your personal and sensitive data. However, when we collect sensitive personal data through this site, we will ask you to consent to our uses of the data, and you may choose not to give us this consent if you so desire. Wherever the provision of information is optional, this will be made clear. You will need to provide personal data when:

• you register on this site to access additional online products and services;
• you wish to subscribe to Skillset mail outs and e-newsletters;
• you provide us with feedback about our services or comment on our website(s);
• you complete an application form for our services online;
• you request further information or advice through our website(s);
• you send us a letter or e-mail requiring information or dialogue;
• you call one of our helplines asking for advice.

Please note that if you are aged 16 or under, you will need to get your parents' permission before providing us with your personal information.

Cookies and user tracking

Cookies are small pieces of data which are sent from a web server to an individual's web browser to help to identify users and personalise user visits. Skillset do not use cookies to store personal information. Within Internet Explorer you can set your browser to reject or request permission to accept cookies on via “Tools | Internet options | Privacy”. However this may limit some of the functions available on the site, including registration, and is not advised. Skillset also collects information on user IP addresses to assist us in identifying unique user visits and typical paths through the site. IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information. We only use IP addresses to analyse trends, administer our website, track general user movements, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use.

Maintaining your information

We take appropriate steps to maintain the security of your data and ensure that it is used only for the purposes you intended. The data cannot be accessed except by Skillset and our associated third party organisations employed to deliver services on behalf of Skillset. We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as you use the service you have requested and we are required by government and law.

How we use your information

We use your personal information for the following purposes:

• To deal with your comment or query, and to contact you for more information regarding a comment or query you have made.
• To arrange and deliver services you have requested, whether online, one-to-one or via the telephone.
• To deliver specific information you have requested, such as event invitations, careers information, publications, e-newsletters and press releases.
• To deliver more general information on an ongoing basis, such as promotional materials and general updates relevant to you on Skillset's activities and those of our partner organisations, if you so request.
• To contextualise comments you have made and analyse the results of online and e-mail consultations and surveys, as part of our ongoing research activities.
• To generate anonymous statistics to help us improve the services we offer to you. (These statistics will not include information that can identify you as an individual.)
• To ensure that the Equal Opportunities Policy is effective, a monitoring of applications is carried out. The collected sensitive information regarding your gender, age, ethnic group and any disability you may have is used solely for monitoring purposes and will be treated as confidential.
• To pre-populate forms on our website requesting information you have already provided, for your convenience and ease-of-use.

Disclosure of information

Personal data about you will be processed in accordance with this Data Use Policy and Privacy Statement. We will not disclose your data to any organisation which is not part of the Skills for Business Network without your explicit consent. The sole exception to this would be where the data may be provided to a third party company, such as a mailing house or web agency, for the sole purpose of delivering a service on Skillset's behalf.

Accessing and managing your information

In accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998, you are entitled to know whether we hold information about you, and also to access that information and require it to be corrected if it is inaccurate. To request access to your information, or if you wish to be removed from our database at any time, please contact our Database Administrator Lavinia Orton at laviniao@skillset.org. Anyone subscribing to receive information from Skillset can unsubscribe from receiving such information at any time, either by following the unsubscribe instructions sent with all electronic communications, or by e-mailing info@skillset.org.

Site Content and Third Party Links

Skillset may update or change the contents of this website at any time and without notice. Please contact Skillset directly at info@skillset.org to verify that any information contained on this site is accurate and up-to-date. All content Copyright 2001-2009 by Skillset - Sector Skills Council for Creative Media. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright applies to the entire web site. No part of this website may be reproduced in any manner without the express written permission of the copyright owners. Users may access content on this site solely for their own personal, non-commercial use. This policy does not cover any third party websites linked to from any Skillset website. Skillset does not endorse any of the products or services of third party organisations contained within its sites unless expressly stated, nor does it guarantee the quality of links to the external sites listed. Thank you for reading this privacy policy. If you have any questions, please contact Skillset's Database Administrator Lavinia Orton at laviniao@skillset.org.

Skillset, Focus Point, 21 Caledonian Road, London, N1 9GB. Tel: 020 7713 9800