The Diocese of Westminster…
1. Introduction and General Terms
The Diocese of Westminster is dependent on the generosity of our supporters as well as the goodwill and trust of the public. We are therefore committed to protecting any personal information we obtain about you, whether you are just visiting our website or are a financial supporter, clergy or parishioner. This Privacy Policy sets out how we obtain, use and protect any personal information you provide to us, whether online, via phone, text, email, in letters or in other correspondence.
This privacy policy explains the following:
what information the Diocese may collect about you;
how the Diocese will use information we collect about you;
when the Diocese may use your details to contact you;
whether the Diocese will disclose your details to anyone else;
your choices regarding the personal information you provide to us; the use of cookies on the Diocese website and how you can exercise your choices in relation to those cookies.
The Diocese is committed to safeguarding your personal information. Whenever you provide such information, we are legally obliged to use your information in line with all laws concerning the protection of personal information, including the Data Protection Act 1998.
The Diocese website contains hyperlinks to websites owned and operated by third parties. These third party websites have their own privacy policies, including policies on their use of cookies, and we urge you to review them. They will govern the use of personal information you submit or which is collected by cookies whilst visiting these websites. We cannot accept any responsibility or liability for the privacy practices of such third party websites and your use of such websites is at your own risk.
2. Who we are
The Diocese of Westminster is a registered charity No.233699. The Diocese’s registered address is Archbishop’s House, Ambrosden Avenue, London SW1P .
3. What information will the Diocese collect about me?
When you contact the Diocese to make a donation, purchase an item online, or sign up to any of the Diocese’s activities or online content, such as newsletters or message boards, or you telephone, email, write to or text the Diocese, or engage with the Diocese via social media channels, we may receive and retain personal information about you. This can consist of information such as your name, email address, postal address, telephone or mobile number, bank account details to process donations and whether or not you are a tax payer so that we can claim gift aid.
By submitting your details, you enable the Diocese (and where applicable any sub-contractors we may use) to raise funds and to provide you with the goods, services, information, activities or online content you select.
We do not usually collect “sensitive personal data” about you, e.g. health status, unless there is a clear reason for doing so – such as participation in an event where we need this to ensure that we provide appropriate facilities or support to enable you to participate in an event. Clear notices will be provided on applications for such events so that it is clear what information we need and why we need it.
If you are simply browsing our website as an anonymous visitor, The Diocese may still collect certain information from you, such as your IP addresses (an IP address is a number that can uniquely identify a specific computer or other network device on the internet).
The Diocese also uses cookies. Cookies are small text files on your device. They are made by your web browser when you visit a website. Every time you go back to that website, your browser will send the cookie file back to the website’s server. They improve your experience of using a website, for example, by remembering your preference settings and by measuring your use of a website to ensure that it meets your needs. See Section 10 below for more detail on how we use cookies and how you can control your cookie preferences.
4. How will the Diocese use the information you collect about me?
The Diocese will use your personal information for a number of purposes including the following:
in relation to any correspondence you have entered into with us whether by letter, email, text, social media, message board or any other means;
for “service administration purposes”, which means that the Diocese may contact you for reasons related to donations you have made or the activity or online content you have signed up for;
for internal record keeping;
to fulfil sales contracts you have entered into with the Diocese;
to contact you about any content you provide;
to invite you to participate in surveys or research about the Diocese or our work (participation is always voluntary);
for marketing purposes where you have specifically agreed to this (see below);
to provide you with information about our activities or online content you have agreed to receive;
to personalise the way the Diocese content is presented to you;
to use IP addresses to identify the location of users, to block disruptive use, to establish the number of visits from different countries;
to analyse and improve the activities and content offered by the the Diocese website to provide you with the most user-friendly navigation experience. We may also use and disclose information in aggregate (so that no individuals are identified) for marketing and strategic development purposes.
5. Will I be contacted for marketing purposes?
The Diocese will only contact you for marketing purposes by email or other electronic means if you have agreed to be contacted for these purposes or where you have made a donation by text and have not opted out from receiving further information. Where you have provided your postal address we may send you direct mail about our work unless you have told us that you do not wish to receive such information.
If you wish to contact us either to obtain information about our work or to stop us sending you such information please email us at communications@rcdow.org.uk, call 0207 798 9000 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm) or write to Archbishop’s House, Ambrosden Avenue, London SW1P with the details. You may also opt out of marketing emails at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in any marketing email from the Diocese.
6. Will the Diocese share my personal information with anyone else?
We will only use your information within the Diocese for the purposes for which it was obtained, unless you have explicitly agreed that we may share your information with another organisation. Sometimes the Diocese contracts third parties to process your information on our behalf. We require these third parties to comply strictly with our instructions and data protection laws.
We will keep your information confidential except where disclosure is required or permitted by law (for example to government bodies for tax purposes or law enforcement agencies for the prevention and detection of crime, subject to such bodies providing us with a relevant request in writing).
7. Offensive or inappropriate content placed on the Diocese website
If you post or send offensive, inappropriate or objectionable content to or anywhere on the Diocese website or otherwise engage in any disruptive behaviour on any Diocesan service, we may use your personal information to stop such behaviour.
Where the Diocese reasonably believes that you are or may be in breach of any of the laws of England and Wales (or the law of Scotland if you live there) (e.g. because content you have posted may be defamatory), we may use your personal information to inform relevant third parties such as your employer, internet provider or law enforcement agencies about the content and your behaviour.
8. How long will the Diocese keep my personal information?
We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary for the relevant activity, eg we will keep a record of donations for at least seven years. If you request us not to send you marketing information we will keep a record of your contact details and appropriate information to enable us to comply with your request not to be contacted by us.
Where you contribute material to us, e.g. user generated content or in response to a particular campaign we will generally only keep your content for as long as is reasonably required for the purpose(s) for which it was submitted unless otherwise stated at the point of generation.
9. What is the Diocese’s policy on allowing me to update, correct, or delete my personal information?
The accuracy of your information is important to us. We are working on ways to make it easier for you to review and correct the information that the Diocese maintains about you. In the meantime, if you change email address or any of the other information we hold is inaccurate or out of date, you can let us know:
through our website or
email us at communications@rcdow.org.uk, or write to Archbishop’s House, Ambrosden Avenue, London SW1P with the details.
Under the Data Protection Act you have the right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to have any inaccuracies corrected. (We charge £10 for information requests and require you to prove your identity with two pieces of approved identification).
Please address requests and questions about this or any other question about this Privacy Policy to the Data Protection Officer, Archbishop’s House, Ambrosden Avenue, London SW1P.
10. Cookies Policy – Information the Diocese collects from your computer or mobile device
a. What is a cookie?
Cookies are small text files on your device. They are made by your web-browser when you visit a website. Every time you go back to that website, your browser will send the cookie file back to the website’s server. Cookies are useful because they allow a website to recognise a user’s device. You can find more information about cookies at: www.allaboutcookies.org and www.youronlinechoices.eu. For a video about cookies visit http://www.google.co.uk/goodtoknow/data-on-the-web/cookies
Cookies do lots of different jobs, like letting you navigate between pages efficiently, remembering your preferences, and generally improving the user experience.
They can also help to ensure that adverts you see online are more relevant to you and your interests.
b. Why does the Diocese use cookies?
Like many websites, the Diocese uses cookies in order to provide you with a more personalised web service.
Cookies help us identify which bits of our website people are using, and help us do work on those sections of the website to improve the user experience. We also use cookies to help show content on our site which is relevant to you and your interests, for example if on a previous visit you went to our pages about the archbishop, news or events, we might find this out from your cookie and show you other information on our website related to the archbishop, news or events on subsequent visits.
Information supplied in cookies also allows us to measure the effectiveness of online marketing campaigns for the Diocese. This enables us to ensure any money we spend on digital marketing gives us a good return on investment.
c. Further information on the Diocese cookies and how to control your cookie preferences
A list of the main cookies that we use and what each is used for, together with ways to control your cookie preferences can be found in our cookie policy.
11. Changes to the Diocese’s Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time so you may wish to check it each time you submit personal information to the Diocese The date of the most recent revisions will appear on this page. If you do not agree to these changes, please do not continue to use the Diocese website to submit personal information to the Diocese If material changes are made to the Privacy Policy we will notify you by placing a prominent notice on the website.
How to control and delete cookies
Cookies are used to enable us to improve services for you through, for example:
remembering if you are logged in so you can move around the website without having to log in again on each page (for example if you are in checkout)
measuring how many people are using each page of the website and for how long so that we can try to improve the quality of our website
enabling you to view content shared on other sites e.g. YouTube or Twitter
However, if you wish to restrict or block the cookies which are set by the Diocese website, or indeed any other website, you can do this through your browser settings. The Help function within your browser should tell you how.
Alternatively, you may wish to visit www.aboutcookies.org which contains comprehensive information on how to do this on a wide variety of browsers. You will also find details on how to delete cookies from your computer as well as more general information about cookies. For information on how to do this on the browser of your mobile phone you will need to refer to your handset manual.
Please be aware that restricting cookies may impact on the functionality of the Diocese website.