Privacy Policy

1. Who are we?

Dorset Dogs was set up by a group of land managers who were also dog owners.  We recognised from our own experience that there are issues to do with dogs out and about on their walks (eg fouling, or disturbance to wildlife, grazing animals or other people) but we wanted to find more positive ways to manage those issues and also to recognise the benefits that dog owners can bring.  So we champion positive access management for dog owners whilst promoting responsible ownership, especially in terms of access to countryside and greenspaces.  We work together with other dog owners and land managers to do this, as well as dog, conservation and countryside organisations, charities and businesses.  We are a small team comprising of 2 part-time staff working as part of the Urban Heaths Partnership (UHP) core team, line managed by the UHP Team Manager.  We have a growing volunteer force and over 2000 members.

Dorset Dogs is a not-for-profit organisation.  We come under the umbrella of Dorset County Council and the Urban Heaths Partnership for staffing and procurement purposes and are funded from heathland mitigation funds (developers in south-east Dorset put money into mitigation funds when they build new developments to counteract additional urban pressures on heaths, which have special designations that mean they must be provided with protection as they are internationally rare habitats with rare wildlife species) as well as from other funding sources when they are available.  We also raise money from businesses when possible and through website advertising. 

2. Our commitment to your privacy

Dorset Dogs is committed to keeping the personal details of our members and supporters safe. This policy explains how and why we use your personal data, to ensure that you remain informed and in control of your information.

Dorset Dogs use three key definitions to describe people mentioned in this policy. These are definitions used by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s independent body set up to uphold information rights (www.ico.org.uk)

  • Data subject’: this is you, one of our loyal members and supporters. As the data subject, we respect your right to control your data.
  • ‘Data controller’: this is us, Dorset Dogs. With your permission, we determine why and how your personal data is used (as outlined in this policy).
  • ‘Data processor’: this is a person who processes your data on our behalf, with your permission. For example, this might be a trained, checked member of staff or volunteer who needs your name and address to send out your new members pack.

Dorset Dogs will never sell your personal data.

Should you wish to find out more about the information Dorset Dogs has about you, or about our privacy policy, please contact us:

Dorset Dogs Officer
Telephone: 01202 642786
Email: dorsetdogs@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk
Urban Wildlife Centre, Beacon Hill Lane, Corfe Mullen, BH21 3RX.

Dorset Dogs has an answering machine if I am not in the office and we can also be contacted via the messaging service at www.facebook.com/dorset dogs.

3. Why do we collect your personal data?

We use your personal data to keep in touch with you.

We will only ever collect, store and use your personal data when we have an identified purpose and reason to do so. The ICO refers to this as a ‘lawful basis’. Further information about why we collect your personal data is outlined below.

a) To administer your Dorset Dogs membership

We collect your personal data to administer your membership, which may involve:

  • Sending you your membership welcome pack when you first join us
  • Sending you a Dorset Dogs members email newsletter 4 to 8 times a year.

The ICO define the lawful basis for processing your data for these purposes as ‘contractual’.

b) To ask for your opinion and to give other organisations who we work with advice about best practice canine access management and promoting responsible canine access.

Dorset Dogs asks if you are happy to be on the consultation panel when you join. If you say yes we may contact you by email to ask for feedback about our work or work connected to dogs and access management or to discuss dog access management issues and opportunities.

The information you give us about your walks and your dogs is used to inform us and organisations we work with on how better to manage access for people with dogs and promote responsible ownership, for example by providing information about the sort of places where people enjoy walking their dogs, so more places like this can be provided. We may also include some of this information on the new members page. You can choose not to have your email address stored with this information, which is then anonymous and can not be traced back to you.

c) To enable you to volunteer with us

If you are a Dorset Dogs volunteer, we collect your personal data so that we can keep in touch with you about, for example:

  • Information and changes to volunteer work
  • dedicated volunteer thank-you events

As defined by the ICO, the lawful basis for processing your data for these purposes is ‘legitimate interest’ (b) when sending you information about our work and ‘contractual’ (c) where administering your volunteer record.

4. What kind of personal data do we collect? How do we collect it?

a) Basic information

Dorset Dogs ‘join us’ form asks for basic information about you, including your name, postal address, telephone number and email address plus information you would like to tell us about the places where you walk and about your dog(s).

The join us form is sent by you direct to the Dorset Dogs Membership inbox. This information is then stored on a secure database held password-protected on the Dorset County Council system and is only available to Dorset Dogs staff and one trained membership volunteer. However, once your membership pack has been sent to you we delete your surname and your house number and street name from the spreadsheet, which anonymises your data, apart from your email address. You can ask for this to be removed from the database at any time.

We also store your email address securely in email groups so that we can send out the Dorset Dogs newsletter to you.  You can ask for your email address to be removed at any time.

We also may store questions, queries or feedback you leave, including your email address in secure email folders.

b) Getting to know you better

We also collect information about you that helps us to get to know you better. This may include:

  • your preferences of how you would like us to contact you
  • ways you’ve helped us through volunteering your time
  • records of events you’ve attended, or campaigns or activities that you’ve been involved in 

Other ways in which we collect personal data to get to know you better include cookies on the website.

Our website uses ‘cookies’ to help provide you with the best experience we can. Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer or mobile phone when you browse websites.  See below for our full cookies policy.

Our cookies help us:

  • Make our website work as you’d expect
  • Remember your settings during and between visits
  • Improve the speed/security of the site
  • Allow you to share pages with social networks like Facebook
  • Continuously improve our website for you

c) Sensitive personal data

We do not normally collect or store sensitive personal data (such as information relating to health, beliefs or political affiliation) about supporters and members. However, there are some situations where this will occur.

When we do so, we will be very clear as to why we are collecting such information, and we will only do so with your specific consent and permission. In these situations, we collect the data from you directly.

If you are a volunteer then we may collect extra information about you, for example:

  • references
  • criminal records checks
  • details of emergency contacts
  • medical conditions

We may also collect sensitive personal data if you have an accident whilst volunteering for us or attending one of our events. This information will be retained for legal reasons, for safeguarding purposes and to protect us (including in the event of an insurance or legal claim). If this does occur, we’ll take extra care to ensure your privacy rights are protected.

d) Children and young people

In line with data protection law, we will not collect, store or process your personal details if you are under 13 years of age; unless we have the express permission from your parent or guardian to do so.

5. How do we store your data?

a) Security

All of the personal data we process is processed by one of 2 Dorset Dogs staff or our trained membership volunteer in the UK. However, for the purposes of IT hosting and maintenance your information may be situated outside of the European Economic Area (EEA). This will be done in accordance with guidance issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Electronic data and databases are stored on secure computer systems and we control who has access to information (using both physical and electronic means). Our staff receive data protection training and we have a set of detailed data protection procedures which personnel are required to follow when handling personal data.

c) CCTV

Dorset Dogs comes under the umbrella of the Urban Heaths Partnership which has an office base at the Urban Heath Wildlife Centre on Beacon Hill Lane, leased from the Dorset Wildlife Trust. There is CCTV there so you may be recorded when you enter or leave the building. CCTV is there to help provide security and to protect both you and Dorset Wildlife Trust who manage the building. CCTV will only be viewed when necessary (e.g. to detect or prevent crime) and footage is only stored temporarily. Unless it is flagged for review CCTV will be recorded over.

Dorset Wildlife Trust complies with the Information Commissioner’s Office CCTV Code of Practice, and put up notices, so you know when CCTV is in use.

d) Data retention policy

We will only use and store information for as long as it required for the purposes it was collected for and for as long as you are happy for us to keep it. We continually review what information we hold and delete what is no longer required. This is why we no longer keep your surname and address record once we have sent you your new members pack. 

6. Your rights

We respect your right to control your data. Your rights include:

a)     The right to be informed

This privacy notice outlines how we capture, store and use your data. If you have any questions about any elements of this policy, please contact us.

b)     The right of access

If you wish to obtain a record of the personal data we hold about you, through a Subject Access Request, we will respond within one month.

c)     The right to rectification

If we have captured information about you that is inaccurate or incomplete, we will update it.

d)     The right to erase

You can ask us to remove or randomise your personal details from our records.

e)     The right to restrict processing

You can ask us to stop using your personal data.

f)      The right to data portability

You can ask to obtain your personal data from us for your own purposes.

g)     The right to object

You can ask to be excluded from marketing activity.

h)     Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling

We respect your right not to be subject to a decision that is based on automated processing. 

For more information on your individual rights, please see the Information Commissioner’s Office.

7. Making a complaint

Dorset Dogs wants to work to the highest standards at all times. However, we are a very small team with a high workload and know that there may be times when we do not meet our own high standards. When this happens, we want to hear about it, in order to deal with the situation as quickly as possible and put measures in place to stop it happening again.

We take complaints very seriously and we treat them as an opportunity to develop our approach. This is why we are always very grateful to hear from people who are willing to take the time to help us improve.

Our complaints policy is:

  • To provide a fair complaints procedure that is clear and easy to use for anyone wishing to make a complaint.
  • To publicise the existence of our complaints procedure so that people know how to contact us to make a complaint.
  • To make sure everyone in our organisation knows what to do if a complaint is received.
  • To make sure all complaints are investigated fairly and in a timely way.
  • To make sure that complaints are, wherever possible, resolved and that relationships are repaired.
  • To learn from complaints and feedback to help us to improve what we do.

Details in italics below are in the process of being verified and confirmed. In the meantime complaints may go via Paul Attwell.

If you wish to make a complaint you may contact the Dorset Dogs Officer, or the Manager of the Urban Heaths Partnership team, Paul Attwell, who is the line manager of both of the 2 part-time Dorset Dogs staff.  Alternatively, you may wish to make a complaint through the Dorset County Council complaints process.

Contact details for Paul Attwell:

Email: p.attwell@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk

Telephone: 01202 642787

Address: Urban Wildlife Centre, Beacon Hill Lane, Corfe Mullen, BH21 3RX.

Confidentiality
All complaint information will be handled sensitively, in line with relevant data protection requirements.

Responsibility
Overall responsibility for this policy and its implementation lies with … who is the relevant director in Dorset County Council.

Information Commissioner’s Office

For further assistance with complaints regarding your data, please contact the Information Commissioner’s Office, whose remit covers the UK.

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Email: casework@ico.org.uk

8. Leaving our website

We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of any other websites linked to our website. If you have followed a link from this website to another website, you may be supplying information to a third party.

9. Get in touch

Should you wish to find out more about the information we hold about you, or about our privacy policy, please contact us:

Dorset Dogs Officer

Telephone: 01202 642786

Email: dorsetdogs@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk

Urban Wildlife Centre, Beacon Hill Lane, Corfe Mullen, BH21 3RX.

Dorset Dogs has an answering machine if we are not in the office.

Last updated:  Aug 2020


Cookies policy

First Party Cookies

Our websites use cookies to collect information about how the site is used by its visitors. Cookies provide statistical information about visits to pages on the site, which may include the duration of individual page views, paths taken by visitors through the site, and other general information. None of this information is associated with you personally.

Cookies set by this website

Our website uses a ‘session cookie’ to identify your browser ‘session’ as you move between pages on the website and perform activities.  The cookie is named c2dorsetwildlifetrust_dor4676jhf3 and will last for three months.

The website cookie allows our website to recognise each subsequent request from your browser as being the same browser that made the initial request to our website.  By knowing that each subsequent request is related to the first, our website can track your actions as you move around the website and to provide interactive features.

By analysing how our website is being used in general, we can improve the website experience for future visitors.  Should you experience any problems in using our website, our website developers may be able to use this information to track down your specific user-journey and investigate and fix any issues that might arise.

The cookie itself is a very small text file that is stored on your device (for example, your PC or your phone) by your web browser.  It contains a simple text code that your browser sends back to our website each time you browse to a new page.  This allows the website to look up your specific session and associate data for that session with your browser.  The data itself is not stored in your cookie but on the server(s) operating the website.

Each page on our website is generated by a sophisticated Content Management System (CMS).  This system provides several interactive features where your experience may be tailored according to your past activity on the website.  The ‘session cookie’ provides the means for:

·       You to take part in votes (or polls) on the website.

·       To remember whether you have ‘liked’ our Facebook page.

As we improve our website over time, similar and more advanced features may be added that also require a ‘session cookie’ to operate.

Third Party Cookies

We use a number of suppliers who may also set cookies on their websites on their behalf. This site does not control the dissemination of these cookies. You should check the third-party websites for more information about these.

ProviderNamePurposeMore info
Google Analytics_utma
_utmb
_utmc
_utmz
These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our site. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the site. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come to the site from and the pages they visited.Google Privacy policy
ShareThis ShareThis collects information via technical cookies placed on your browser, pixel tags, HTTP headers (or other communication protocols), and browser identifiers.  They do not use flash cookies or other locally stored objects (LSO) that may be used to circumvent user opt-out choices. They collect data that does not directly identify an individual.ShareThis Privacy Notice and Opt-Out
Facebook and Google Online advertising and network cookies are used to track when you have clicked on an advert, to see what pages of the website are used and this provides insight as to how improvements can be made. We also have relationships with carefully-selected advertising partners (such as Facebook and Google) who may also set cookies during your visit to allow them to serve online advertising that we believe will be of interest to you based on information about your visit to this and other websites (this is called re-targeting). This information is anonymous and does not include personal data.WebChoices Digital Advertising Alliance Opt-Out Tool Your Online Choices Guide to Online Behavioural Advertising

Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org

To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

You Tube Cookies

We embed videos from YouTube. This may set cookies on your computer, particularly if you are logged into a Google or YouTube account. To find out more, please visit YouTube’s embedding videos information page.