The DofE’s Data Protection
Privacy Statement
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award appreciates the importance of keeping personal information private and protected for its participants, Leaders and supporters.
You can be assured that we will do our very best to ensure that our websites are secure so that your confidentiality is maintained. As you would expect we adhere to the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998, which gives you control over the information stored about you and how we contact you in the future for promotional offers from our partners or eDofE email message alerts.
This statement explains how we achieve these goals and gives details of our privacy practices, including what information we collect about people using eDofE, our website and other online services, how the information will be used or disclosed, and rights with respect to our collection and use of personal data.
By using our online services you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy Statement.
Why we collect personal information
There are two types of information you provide us with when using our online services: personal information provided when completing personal information boxes, and information collected by us as you interact with our services. We do not collect your email address unless you freely provide this to us. We collect your personal information because it helps us to support our Licenced Organisations, DofE centres and groups and participants in undertaking their programmes. It enables us to give convenient access to our online services and support mechanisms. In addition, personal information helps us to continue to develop and improve the way the DofE operates and supports its network.
What Information does the DofE collect and why?
Essentially, the information is used to provide you with the service you have requested or to answer an enquiry. We may ask you to provide us with personal information on a voluntary basis in certain areas of our online services. This information will be used for the purposes outlined at the time of collection. In particular, you may be asked to provide the following information:
· Website: Name, address and contact details to enable us to fulfil the order(s) for goods and services requested.
· eDofE: In order to use the online management system offered by the DofE called eDofE you will need to provide personal information including, but not limited to, personal details, contact details, lifestyle and statistical information and, for young people, detailed information about your DofE programme and activities. This convenient service saves you time and allows for easier use of our services. If you are using eDofE, you will have an account created for you with a default username and password by an authorised person within the DofE structure. On your first sign in you will create a personal profile by choosing a password (with a password security question, in case you forget it) and providing your personal details. The system saves your information. The next time you access eDofE all you need to do is enter your username and password and the system looks up the information it needs to assist you. We keep records of your activity on eDofE to help us understand how you use the system so that we can make it a more effective tool for you. You can update your unique username and password at any time on your eDofE profile.
· Keeping in touch: The DofE e-newsletters, magazine and other operational emails are essential parts of our core DofE programme containing vital updates and useful programme information, so all participants, Leaders, Managers, Co-ordinators and Assessors will receive those appropriate to their roles. Leaders can determine the frequency of the eDofE message/alert summary emails.
· Promotional offers from partners: From time to time, we may also have promotional opportunities, specially negotiated offers, free prize draws and privilege discounts from our partners to tell you about. Your personal information will not be passed onto these partners. If you would rather not hear about these from us, you can tick the box on the communication preference screen in your eDofE profile to opt out of these. If you do not want to receive emails from us then you can also use the ‘unsubscribe’ function at the bottom of emails sent by us.
· Online surveys: If you want to participate in any of our online surveys you may be asked to provide personal information. The nature of the information may vary depending upon the type of survey that is being conducted, but it is likely to include contact information and demographic information. We will use this information to determine which products and services are likely to be of interest to you and to improve our service to you.
· Competition information: If you enter any of our competitions online you will be asked to provide personal information. The nature of the information may vary depending on the competition, but it will include contact information. We will use this information to inform our competition winners. We may publicise the winners, but will not give enough information to personally identify you to anyone else without explicit permission.
· Applications for financial support: The DofE provides access to several funds for participants including the SERCO Bursary and the ALDO Trust. The nature of the information we will ask for in the application process may vary depending upon the application process and requirements of the funds. Usuallyit will include general personal information, including contact details (such as your name and address), statistical and lifestyle information and information about your DofE activities. We may publicise the names of participants who are granted support, but we will always ask your permission before doing so.
· If you are unhappy with your experience with any part of the DofE or wish to provide feedback on our services or programmes you may do so using our Complaints, Feedback and Enquiries system found on the DofE website. You will be asked to provide contact information and details of the incident. You will need to authorise us to share this information with the parties involved in order to take action on your feedback.
How does The Duke of Edinburgh's Award use the information that it collects from its online services?
All contact from the DofE using personal data will communicate useful and relevant information to either help participants complete their DofE programme, Leaders and Licensed Organisations to run DofE programmes more effectively or help the DofE Charity improve the quality and breadth of its programmes.
We may therefore use this personal data for the following purposes:
· To send you information about and changes to eDofE and the DofE website.
· To send you information about the DofE and promotional material about our products and services, and products and services offered by our partner organisations and companies, that we think may be of interest to you, provided that you have not opted out as described above.
· To monitor interest in our range of products and services and to assist us in tailoring the content of the website and eDofE to our online visitors' needs by collecting information about your preferences through tracking patterns of page-viewing, downloads and uploads.
· To create a profile relating to you in order to show you the content that we think you might be interested in.
Does The Duke of Edinburgh's Award disclose information that it collects from these sites to other parties?
The DofE will not provide any information collected from the DofE website or eDofE that personally identifies you to any other company or organisation, unless it is required to do so by law, Court Order by other Government or law enforcement authorities or as described in this Policy Statement.
Data collected on eDofE is shared with the relevant Licensed Organisation and DofE centre, as a necessity to enable young people to complete their DofE programme and achieve their Award and for DofE Leaders to manage our programme effectively.
The DofE has partnered with leading supplier DG3 to enable participants to create an Achievement Pack on approval of an Award, using a secure online environment.
DG3 will not share this information with third parties, except for the purposes of fulfilling an order (i.e. postal and payment services). DG3 are not allowed to use any personally identifiable information except for the purpose of providing the Achievement Pack publishing service.
Participants will be notified of this before any data is exchanged and asked to agree to the terms and conditions of DG3’s privacy policy before they can access the secure site.
The DofE have a licence agreement with Cotswold Outdoor which provides Leaders, Co-ordinators and Managers with 20% off any purchase via Cotswold Outdoor online and high street stores. To receive this 20%, the DofE send name and address details to Cotswold Outdoor to enable them to send the Discount card to the Leaders, Co-ordinators and Managers by post. We have a written agreement with Cotswold Outdoor that they will not retain your personal details for any further marketing or communication purposes by them or any other third party.
Use of cookies
As is standard practice on many websites and online services, the DofE online services uses ‘cookies’ and other technologies to help us understand which parts of our services are the most popular, where our visitors are going, and how much time they spend there. We also use cookies and similar technologies to see if our online advertising is bringing people to our resources and services, such as the DofE Expedition Guide and other online training and downloads. We use cookies and other technologies to study traffic patterns on our website, to make it even more rewarding as well as to study the effectiveness of our participant and network communications. We also use cookies to customise your experience and provide greater convenience each time you interact with our services.
If, however, you prefer not to enable cookies you can disable them on your PC and laptop. Please note that certain features of the DofE website and eDofE will not be available once cookies are disabled.
As is true of most websites, we gather certain information automatically and store it in log files. This information includes Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, Internet Service Provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp and clickstream data. We use this information, which does not identify individual users, to analyse trends, to administer the site, to track users' movements around the site and to gather lifestyle and statistical information about our user base as a whole.
In some of our email messages we use a "click-through URL" linked to content on the DofE website. When a customer clicks one of these URLs, they pass through our web server before arriving at the destination web page. We track this click-through data to help us determine interest in particular topics and measure the effectiveness of our communications. If you prefer not to be tracked simply avoid clicking text or graphic links in the email or website.
· Your rights: If you do not opt-out of receiving promotional information from our partners on the Communications Preference screen of eDofE or you are not currently using eDofE, but later decide that you do not wish to receive future communications of this nature then you should send an email message to info@DofE.org with the subject ‘Unsubscribe Direct Marketing re promotional offers from partners’. Within eDofE you can change your preferences at any time after sign in. Please note, messages will still be posted within the eDofE messaging system, but you can choose not to receive them to an external email account. Remember though that all programme emails and information will be compulsory for all participants undertaking their DofE programme and for all Leaders, Managers and Co-ordinators running the DofE programme. This is to ensure everyone is getting consistent information at the same time.
· Access and correction: You have a right to know about the personal information that the DofE holds about you and to receive a copy of that information provided upon request. You also have a right to correct, amend or delete the information that the DofE holds about you if it is incorrect. If you wish to exercise these rights and you are not currently using eDofE please contact us by post or email at the address shown in the ‘Contact’ section below. Within eDofE you can view these details at any time by signing in with your personal username and password. On payment of a fee of £10.00 we will send you a copy of all the personal data held about you. Please apply in writing to: The Data Controller, The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, Gulliver House, Madeira Walk, Windsor, Berkshire, SL4 1EU.
Security
We take all reasonable safeguards to keep all your personal information as secure as is humanly possible. In addition to a rigorously enforced data handling policy, all our staff members are made aware of their obligations to keep the information for authorised use only. Of course no technology is fail-safe, but we have made every reasonable effort to keep our systems up to date with the relevant protocols.
Children
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award programme is open to 14 to 24 year olds. Some 13 year olds are able to start the programme with their peers. The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award does not knowingly solicit information from any child under the age of 13. Should a child whom we know to be under 13 send personal information to us, we will use that information only to respond directly to that child to inform him or her that we must have parental consent before receiving his or her personal information. We recommend that the children over the age of 13 and up to the age of 16 ask their parents’ permission before sending any information about themselves to anyone over the internet. All under 16s are required to obtain parental consent on Licensed Organisation enrolment forms before they are set up on eDofE. Model Release Forms need to be signed by the parent or guardians of any child under the age of 16 who has their photograph taken for use by the DofE. Anyone over the age of 16 is also asked to sign a Model Release Form to authorise us to use their photographs to broaden the reach of the DofE and its programme.
External links
The DofE’s online services provide links to various websites that we do not control as well as to websites of our sponsors. When you click on one of these links, you will be transferred out of our website and connected to the website of the organisation or company that you have selected. Even if an affiliation exists between our website and a third-party website, we exercise no control over linked sites and are not responsible for the privacy practices of other organisations and their websites. Each of these linked sites maintains its own independent privacy and data collection policies and procedures. If you visit a website that is linked to our site, you should consult that site's privacy policy before providing any personal information. This Privacy Statement applies solely to the information gathered by the DofE.
Future policy
Whilst we do not envisage any alterations to this dtatement, should circumstances, legislation or technology change we may need to update it. In this event, we will highlight the fact that it has been revised on this website.
Contacting the DofE
If you have any questions about this Privacy Statement, the privacy practices of the DofE or if you want to exercise any of the rights that you are given under this Privacy Statement you can contact:
Post: The Duke of Edinburgh's Award, Gulliver House Madeira Walk, Windsor SL4 1EU
Last updated: February 2013