PRIVACY POLICY
GovNewsDirect, part of Pendulum Media Limited, is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your contact information. This privacy notice describes how we collect and use the work information about you in accordance with data protection law.
Data protection law says that the information we hold about you must be:
- Used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way.
- Collected only for valid purposes that we have clearly explained to you and not used in any way that is incompatible with those purposes.
- Relevant to the purposes we have told you about and limited only to those purposes.
- Accurate and kept up to date.
- Kept only as long as necessary for the purposes we have told you about.
- Kept securely
Having worked alongside the ICO in the lead up to GDPR, we have tried to ensure that we have used appropriate wording, terminology and processes to ensure we are compliant with current and new data protection legislation. This privacy statement should provide the reassurances required in relation to the validity of our regular data privacy requests.
GovNewsDirect is not a government/public sector organisation. We are a news brand operated by an independent limited company. However, we have managed news content since our inception in 2014, with many areas of UK public sector being the predominant users of our communications and services. Over that time we have built trusted relationships with those individuals and organisations whose professional information we hold on our readership database. Testament to this is the length of time that individuals have been on our readership, with over 90% for 3 or more years.
As a UK Public Sector news organisation, we are more than happy to work with individuals and organisations where appropriate to provide further reassurances and answer any questions relating to this and future GovnewsDirect communications, especially where an individual or an organisation has expressed a reliance and/or interest in the services and communications we facilitate.
GovNewsDirect have always worked within the highest standards of data protection and so the changes to this privacy policy are minimal. We will continue to hold and process data under the legal basis of 'legitimate interest' based on the nature of the services and communications that we provide to the uk public sector. We will continue to gain consent where appropriate so that public sector professionals can receive all communications and services relevant to their professional role now and in the future.
The GovNewsDirect readership covers the most influential individuals' in UK public sector, who have either been self-declared, peer-nominated or identified as one whose role is as a key decision-maker or opinion leader. As a result, there could be many reasons why your professional information is currently held on our readership. For example, your role has been identified as one which is required to receive regulatory notifications and communications OR your organisation has provided your details for you to receive your copies of our alerts on policy &/or best practice.
You could already be on a subscription or circulation list to receive broadcasts of:
- GovNewsDirect
- GovNewsSurvey
- GovNewsWebinar
- GovNewsForum
- GovNewsAwards
- GovNewsNotice
- Smarter Working Live
Your organisation could have previously disclosed your work contact details in their publication scheme or your department/location was contacted by telephone or in writing with an explanation of why we hold your details and to validate your information.
Should you require specific details of how and when your information was collected, please contact our Data Protection Officer on dataprotection@govnewsdirect.com
Some of the communications and services you will have received may be from either GovNewsDirect or possibly one of the other brands:
- GovNewsDirect
- GovNewsSurvey
- GovNewsWebinar
- GovNewsForum
- GovNewsAwards
- GovNewsNotice
- Smarter Working Live
GovNewsDirect is a provider of public sector news information and intelligence in the UK. GovNewsDirect works closely with government organisations and regulatory bodies, industry think tanks as well as other providers and suppliers to deliver services, facilitate communications and initiate conversations that aim to ultimately improve public sector efficiency, outcomes & services.
We will never knowingly allow for your professional contact information to be used for anything other than public sector related services or communications. The services that your details may be used for include, but are not limited to:
- Regulatory obligations and updates
- Key policy notifications and updates
- Membership and subscription services
- Invitations to take part in surveys and other studies, research or to request your views with regards to your work
- Invitations to attend, speak or take part in webinars, forums and events, advisory boards or training
- Invitations to write, contribute or review whitepapers, thought leadership, point-of-view assets, articles, and case studies
- Educational, training, CPD and news services
- Promotional information from selected GovNewsDirect companies, private organisations including public sector solution supplier companies
You can opt-out of receiving promotional-type communications at any time but may be required, for either statutory or regulatory purposes, to continue receiving regulatory notifications and communications if the appropriate regulators have identified your role as someone who is required to receive that notification.
If you opt-out you will be retained on our database for this purpose only, and if required only.
Apart from regulatory obligations, all other types of communication GovNewsDirect deliver on behalf of government, are considered 'promotional' for the purposes of data protection. Therefore, if you opt-out you will not receive some of these services and communications that you may rely on or find useful in your professional role. Note that our communication services are used for services and communications from other industry membership organisations, so you may stop receiving information that is relevant to your role, which you are expecting to receive, if you opt-out.
Please note that it may take time for all services that you receive to stop. Should you have any questions or wish to change your preferences then please contact our Data Protection Officer – dataprotection@govnewsdirect.com
The Information Commissioner's Office is the regulatory authority in the UK – contact details can be found via http://ico.org.uk. Under the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) you have the right to access/port/rectify/erase/restrict data, object to processing or withdraw consent at any time.
Organisations and other individuals are not permitted to opt-out or give consent on behalf of an individual (unless they are doing so with the full knowledge and express permission of the individual - in this instance we will now ask for confirmation).
Whilst we need to keep some basic information about you and your role (name, title/role, organisation, email etc) to allow us to communicate with you, provide services to you and/or validate that you are a genuine public sector professional, the rest is down to your preferences on how you prefer to receive information and in which format.
Some communications lend themselves better to different channels, for example: email may be the quickest way to receive and review a whitepaper, a postal mailing may be the best way to receive a comprehensive survey report and an sms may be the best way to inform you of a local training workshop.
The more information we have about you, your role and your preferences, the more targeted we can be with the services and communications we offer to you. Your data is always held in a secure database with restricted access. GovNewsDirect will ensure the protection of the confidentiality, integrity and security of all data provided to us.
Data is kept for a minimum of 5 years for regulatory and auditing purposes.
Our chosen news partners and if applicable, their channel partners/resellers, can only access the contact information of those who have completed a call to action. Readers are clearly informed that by completing the call-to-action, they then accept our chosen partner and their channel partners/resellers only has access to their work contact information, for follow-up and related promotional purposes.