for Website Users…
This privacy notice explains what information we collect, when we collect it and how we use it. During the course of our activities, we will process personal data (which may be held on paper, electronically, or otherwise) about you and we recognise the need to treat it in an appropriate and lawful manner. The purpose of this notice is to make you aware of how we manage your information when you visit our website. West Granton Housing Co-operative, is a fully mutual housing co-operative registered as:
• A social landlord with the Scottish Housing Regulator (HAC 225);
• A registered society under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 (2357 RS)
And having their registered address at 26 Granton Mill Crescent, Edinburgh, EH4 4UT takes the issue of security and data protection very seriously and strictly adhere to data protection legislation, i.e. The General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
We are notified as a Data Controller with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) under registration number Z7465766 and we are the data controller of any personal data that you provide to us. A copy of our ICO registration certificate can be seen by clicking here. This website privacy notice explains how we collect and use personal information about you. Separate versions of Privacy Notices are issued to our Tenants, Staff and Committee Members.
When you visit our website, we may collect personal information about you if you:
- report a repair to us;
- apply for a house or an internal transfer;
- make a complaint or report anti-social behaviour to us;
- ask for assistance or benefits as a result of publicised grant funding;
- apply to join WGHC’s Committee;
- download a Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Registration form;
- or, complete and submit a “contact us” form to us;
We may use this personal information to:
- provide you with the services that you have requested from us;
- communicate with you, including in response to any of your enquiries;
- improve our services and respond to changing needs;
- process your rent payments;
- carry out repairs to your property;
- handle and resolve complaints made by, or, against you;
- keep the personal information that we hold about you accurate and up-to-date (if you provide any new personal information to us via the website); and
- signpost you to organisations that can offer benefits and debt advice and support.
We may contact you by post, telephone or fax as well as by e-mail. If you change your mind about being contacted in the future by any of these means then please let us know.
Who do we share your personal information with?
We may share your personal information with the following organisations for the purposes described above:
- our contractors to undertake repairs, works and maintenance;
- organisations providing benefits advice, debt advice, welfare rights and support;
- Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library (if you complete a registration form); and
- when we are investigating a complaint, information may be disclosed to Police Scotland, Local Authority departments, Scottish Fire & Rescue Service and others involved in any complaint, whether investigating the complaint or otherwise.
In addition, if our business enters into a joint venture with or is sold to or merged with another business entity, your information may be disclosed to our new business partners or owners. Unless required to do so by law, we will not otherwise share, sell or distribute any of the information you provide to us without your consent.
How long do we keep your personal information?
We will only keep your personal information for as long as we need to for the purposes described above, including to meet any legal, accounting, reporting or regulatory requirements. More information is contained within our data retention policy and schedule which is available free of charge from our office.
How do we keep your personal information secure?
The security of your personal information is of paramount importance to us and we use appropriate technical and organisational measures to safeguard your personal information.
However, while we will use reasonable efforts to safeguard your personal information, the use of the Internet is not entirely secure and, for this reason, we cannot guarantee the security of any personal information that is transferred by or to you via the Internet. If you have any concerns about the security of your personal information, please contact our Data Protection Officer (DPO) for more information.
Your rights
It is important that the personal information that we collect, hold and use about you is accurate and current.
Since 11 November 2019, West Granton Housing Co-operative is considered a Public Authority under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and is, therefore, required to appoint a Data Protection Officer (DPO). Our DPO function is undertaken by David Mills, COO. Any questions relating to this notice and our privacy practices should be directed, in the first instance, to: david.mills@westgrantonhc.co.uk or by telephoning 07951 241584.
Under certain circumstances, the law gives you the right to request:
- A copy of your personal information and to check that we are holding and using it in accordance with legal requirements.
- Correction of any incomplete or inaccurate personal information that we hold and use about you.
- Deletion of your personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to hold and use it. You also have the right to ask us to do this where you object to us holding and using your personal information (details below).
- Temporarily suspend the use of your personal information, for example, if you want us to check that it is correct or the reason for processing it.
- You can also object to us holding and using your personal information where our legal basis is a legitimate interest (either our legitimate interests or those of a third party).
When you make a request, we are required to verify your identity and may ask you for specific information to fulfil this purpose. Normally, you will not need to pay a fee when you make any of the above requests, but we may charge a reasonable fee or refuse to comply if your request for access is clearly unfounded or excessive.
Complaints
We seek to directly resolve any complaints about how we handle personal information and would request you contact us in the first instance. If you are not happy thereafter, you also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in relation to our use of your information. The Information Commissioner’s contact details are noted below:
The Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wilmslow,
Cheshire,
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Web: www.ico.org.uk
We keep this privacy notice under regular review and if there are any significant updates, we will draw attention to these via a banner page on our website. This update December 2023. (Previous (last) update March 2022.)
Cookies
A “cookie” is a piece of software that attaches to the hard drive of your computer and remembers information about the configuration of your computer. We may use this information to track your movements through our website, to find out how it is being used and to assess its usefulness. Personal information about you is not collected during the tracking process. You can disable the cookies that we attach if your browser supports this. However, you should bear in mind that if you exercise this option, you may be unable to access certain parts of our site.
Cookie: Universal Analytics (Google)
Name: _gat, _ga, _gid
Purpose: These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our website. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the website.
The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the website, where visitors have come to the website from and the pages they visited.
Third Party Websites
Because we want your experience of our site to be as informative and useful as possible, we may provide links to websites operated by third parties (“Third Party Websites”). Please be aware that we do not control such Third Party Websites and that such Third Party Websites may send their own cookies to users, or otherwise collect data or solicit personal information. We assume no responsibility for the information gathering practices of Third Party Websites that you are able to access through our Site, and we encourage you to review each Third Party Website’s privacy policy before disclosing any personally identifiable information.