This privacy policy applies only to personal data as defined in s.1 of the 1998 Data Protection Act ("personal information" or "information") and not other types of business or general information. The policy tells you who we are, how we collect personal information about you through this website, what we intend to use that information for, with whom we intend to share it, how we keep it secure, and how we transfer your information outside the European Economic Area ('EEA'). Please read the policy carefully. By accessing or using this web site you are deemed to agree to the terms of this privacy policy, and if you do not agree with it, then you must not send us any personal information.

Note that if you follow a link from this site to another site, this policy will no longer apply. We are not responsible for other sites' information handling practices. Use of your information by the owner of the linked site will normally be governed by that site's privacy policy, which we encourage you to read.

Further information about privacy and data protection issues including the online Register of Data Controllers can be found on the Information Commissioner's website at www.dataprotection.gov.uk.

How we collect information from you

By the use of "cookies" and "web beacons".

Cookies

A cookie is a small text file which is transferred from a website and stored on your computer's hard drive. It enables a website to "remember" who you are.

Most browsers are automatically set to accept cookies but if you are using Microsoft's Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator, you should be able to configure your browser to restrict cookies or block all cookies if you wish. This will however, affect your ability to log into our website's Press Pass feature. Browser-specific instructions on how to restrict or block cookies may be found on the Interactive Advertising Bureau's website at http://www.allaboutcookies.org.

We use cookies to verify your identity when you log in, to keep track of which pages you visit and to personalise our service to you, including sending you or your business any marketing or news information you have indicated you would be happy to receive and to improve our website. Our cookies currently contain your ID (which is encrypted), name, username, email address, country and language.

No cookies on our site are served or used by third parties.

Web beacons

Some of our web pages and emails contain electronic images known as web beacons (sometimes known as web bugs, clear gifs, or trackers) that allow us to count users who have visited these pages. They also tell us exactly what our users have been looking at. The aim of this 'tracking' is to better understand what interests you so that we can better tailor information to you in the future on a 'less is more' basis. I.e. If we do occasionally contact you, we aim to only do so regarding something that you are interested in.

Web beacons collect only limited information which includes a user id, cookie number, time and date of a page view, and a description of the page on which the web beacon resides. We do not carry web beacons placed by third party advertisers.

Because web beacons are the same as any other content request included in the recipe for a web page, it is not possible for you to opt out or refuse them. However, as we use web beacons in conjunction with cookies they can be rendered ineffective by either opting out of cookies or by changing the cookie settings in your browser. If you have registered for a Press Pass, you may also stipulate that we never send you anything.

Further information

More information on cookies and web beacons can be found at http://www.allaboutcookies.org.

Registration

We collect information about you that you provide when you register with us. Once registered, you may edit your profile or unsubscribe at any time.

Through traffic data and site statistics

We do keep a record of traffic data which is logged automatically by our server, such as your IP address, the URL you visited before ours, the URL you visit after leaving our site and which pages you visit. We also collect some site statistics such as page hits and page views. We are not readily able to identify any individual from these server traffic data or site statistics.

Contacting Us

The website provides various e-mail addresses for you to contact us. We will collect information from you that you provide through any of these methods. We may also collect other information you supply to us after your initial contact with us.

Security and storage of information

We will keep your information secure by taking appropriate technical and organisational measures against its unauthorised or unlawful processing and against its accidental loss, destruction or damage.

Please remember that normal Internet e-mail is insecure.

We will store your information at least for the duration of any relationship we have with you, or as otherwise required by law (normally up to a maximum of 7 years for legal and tax reasons).

With whom we may share your information

We will not share your information with any other organisation except in the following circumstances.

· We will share your information with another organisation to which we transfer.

· We may share your information with another organisation that buys our company.

· We may share your information with our funders or potential funders, such as our bank and with our professional advisers who have a reasonable need to see it.

· We will disclose your information to enforcement authorities if asked to do so, or to a third party in the context of actual or threatened legal proceedings or if otherwise required to do so by law.

Your Rights

You have a right to rectify any errors in information we hold about you, and to change or correct any details you have already given us. Please inform us, using the My Profile section of the site, about changes to your details so that we can keep our records accurate and up to date.

You also have a right to be removed from any mailing list we hold at any time. Please edit your profile to do so.

You have a right to see a copy of the information we hold about you on payment of a statutory fee, which is currently £10. Before we agree to this, you must provide with sufficient evidence of your identity and sufficient details of the information you wish to see to enable us to locate it.