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Privacy policy

GDPR

Under GDPR, we have a legal duty to protect any personal information we collect from you. We use leading technologies and encryption software to safeguard your data, and keep strict security standards to prevent any unauthorised access to it.
We do not pass on your details to any third party or other government department.

Your rights

Under GDPR, you have rights as an individual which you can exercise in relation to the information we hold about you. These are:

  • a right of access to a copy of the information comprised in their personal data;
  • a right to object to processing that is likely to cause or is causing damage or distress;
  • a right to prevent processing for direct marketing;
  • a right to object to decisions being taken by automated means;
  • a right in certain circumstances to have inaccurate personal data rectified, blocked, erased or destroyed; and
  • a right to claim compensation for damages caused by a breach of the Act.

Visitors to our websites

When someone visits www.hiw.org.uk we use a third party service, Google Analytics, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is only processed in an anonymous way which does not identify anyone individually. We do not make, and do not allow Google to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website. If we do want to collect personally identifiable information through our website, we will be open about this. We will make it clear when we collect personal information and will explain what we intend to do with it.

Use of cookies by Healthcare Inspectorate Wales 

Cookies are small text files sent to your computer or mobile device by the websites that you visit. They help make websites work better and provide information to the owners of the site. For instance, we use language cookies to know what language you would like the web site displayed to you in, we also use YouTube cookies to embed videos in pages and Google Analytics cookies to track users’ behaviour whilst on the site. By understanding how people use our site, we can improve the navigation and content to better meet people’s needs. The information collected by the Company Name includes IP address, pages visited, browser and operating system. The data will not be used to identify any user personally. The cookies we use on our site are:

Language version

Name:     langPrefWAG
Purpose:    This cookie is created by the content management system and is essential for the site to display to correct language version of the site.
Expires:     When you close your browser

Session Tracking

Name:     JSessionID
Purpose:     To track a session when cookies are disabled. This allows the browser to preserve your session. 
Expires:     At end of session

GoogleAnalytics

Name: _    ga
Purpose:     This cookie is used to find out how visitors use our site. We use the information to help us improve the site. The cookie collects information in an anonymous form, including demographic information, the number of visitors to the site, whether they have visited before and the pages they visit.
Expires:     2 years 

CookieControl

Name:     civicAllowCookies
    civicShowCookieIcon
Purpose:     This cookie records whether a user has accepted the use of cookies on our site
Expires:     10 hours

YouTube

Name:     VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
    PREF
Expires:     8 months
Name:     use_hitbox
Expires:     At end of session
Purpose:     These cookies are essential for the display of YouTube videos on our site.

Web browsers allow some control of cookies through browser settings. To find out more about cookies and how to manage them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org  

Healthcare Inspectorate Wales social media use

We operate a number of social media channels to communicate the work we do, our policies and the decisions of Ministers. Owing to their sheer volume, we regret we are unable to respond to all enquiries and messages we receive via social media. However, we welcome feedback, ideas and engagement from all of our followers about the work we do.

House rules

Your input must stay within the rules of these channels. Specific channels may have specific house rules. The following types of enquiry and comments are against our general house rules and will not be responded to on any of our social media channels:

  • questions which cannot be answered through provision of public domain information (these questions, including potential FOI Requests, will be taken offline and redirected where appropriate)
  • comments on the virtue, absence or likelihood of any policy
  • personal comments directed at Ministers or staff
  • abusive comments or comments that are racist, sexist, homophobic, sexually explicit or otherwise objectionable rhetorical comments or questions, or those which have been auto-generated

We reserve the right to remove or ask for the removal of any contributions across any of our social media channels that we consider break the rules of the relevant community, or are against the house rules above.  We also reserve the right to remove posts of users who:

  • engage in spamming by posting the same message, or very similar messages, more than once
  • post content that is ‘off message’ or not relevant to that channel
  • advertise commercial products or services
  • include links to content not suitable for a general audience
  • post content copied from elsewhere, for which they do not own the copyright
  • publicise anyone’s personal information
  • impersonate someone else or falsely claim to represent a person or organisation.

Where a user contravenes the rules of the social media platform, or any of the above guidance, we reserve the right to block that user from posting to our channels.

Facebook House Rules

Our Facebook pages offer you a way to engage with us on a wide range of topics in Welsh and English. They include our latest news and updates, and you can find out how to get involved in our work.

It’s important that our online channels are safe and our followers and contributors feel respected. We’ve drawn up a moderation policy to ensure that everyone feels comfortable sharing views and opinions on these channels.

The safety and wellbeing of our online communities are very important to us, and therefore we ask you to adhere to the following:

  • Do not use offensive, indecent or obscene language that could be discriminatory or promotes discrimination of any kind.
  • Do not incite, condone or encourage conduct which could result in a criminal offence, civil liability, or otherwise breach any laws.
  • Do not post anything that could be considered defamatory, embarrassing, or damaging to an individual or company. 
  • Stay on topic and avoid posting irrelevant comments
  • Do not post confidential or personal information. If we need further information, we will ask you to contact us via email, telephone or in writing.
  • Do not to target, harass or intimidate Healthcare Inspectorate Wales staff or community members.

Posts of the above nature will be removed from our page.

Please recognise that these online communities may not be the best way for us to respond to certain questions you raise and we may ask you to use alternative ways of communicating with us. Sometimes we will be unable to answer certain questions due to legal restrictions. 

We do not investigate individual concerns about the care you have received, but we do welcome information about your experiences which will feed into our intelligence process. Please email: hiw@gov.wales

We want our online spaces to be positive communities. We are independent and objective and we will not censor comments unnecessarily, however we will hide or delete your posts if they are in violation of our rules. Continuous breaches may lead us to take a decision to block you from our page.

Management of our Social Media accounts

  • Our pages are managed by staff from 9am to 4pm, Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays and civil service privilege days). Whilst we may post outside of these hours, we are not able to respond to posts or queries outside of these hours.
  • Our Facebook Admin team will check all Facebook posts before they are published to ensure they adhere to the rules above. This means there will be a delay from posting a comment to the published comment appearing on our pages.
  • We aim to respond to all posts with 48 hours and within office hours only. For example, if you post a comment on Friday or Saturday, we aim to respond by Tuesday.
  • Social media platforms may occasionally be unavailable and we accept no responsibility for lack of service due to downtime or problems with the internet. We reserve the right to delete our accounts at any time.

What information do we collect?

We monitor user activity to enhance content provided on this site. This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google Inc. ('Google'). Google Analytics uses 'cookies' and JavaScript code to help analyse user activity on websites. The information generated about your use of the website (including your anonymised IP address) will be transmitted to and stored on Google servers in the United States. 

Google will use this information to produce user activity reports for this website. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google's behalf.

Google will not associate your IP address with any other data previously held. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser. Please note that if cookies are disabled, you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above.

Read Google's Privacy Policy and Google's Terms of Service for detailed information.

This site, from time to time, links to SurveyMonkey forms for data collection. This data is processed in the US and its handling satisfies the provisions of GDPR.

Your Interaction with This Web Site

We collect two kinds of electronic information direct from visitors to this website; feedback and email subscription details.

Search engine

Our website search and decision notice search is powered by a Google Search Appliance (GSA). Search queries and results are logged anonymously to help us improve our website and search functionality. No user-specific data is collected by either Healthcare Inspectorate Wales or any third party.

E-newsletter

We use a third party provider, GovDelivery, to deliver our monthly e-newsletters. We gather statistics around email opening and clicks using industry standard technologies including clear gifs to help us monitor and improve our e-newsletter. For more information, please see GovDelivery’s GDPR policy. Their general Privacy Policy can also be seen here.

Consultations and Online survey tools

We collect information volunteered by members of the public using an online survey tool hosted by Smart Survey, who acts as data processor for Healthcare Inspectorate Wales and only process personal information in line with our instructions. Smart Survey hosts in the United States, but has issued assurances that they meet GDPR standards, which can be seen in their Privacy Policy

Online Forms

Some of our sites use Wufoo forms to collect information from users. Wufoo is a subsidiary of Survey Monkey, who store the data collected in the US, but follow our instruction and do not distribute to any third parties. Their statement on GDPR can be found here. People who contact us via social media
We use a third party provider, Hootsuite to manage our social media interactions.

If you send us a private or direct message via social media the message will be stored by Hootsuite for three months. It will not be shared with any other organisations.

People who email us

We use Transport Layer Security (TLS) to encrypt and protect email traffic in line with government. If your email service does not support TLS, you should be aware that any emails we send or receive may not be protected in transit.
We will also monitor any emails sent to us, including file attachments, for viruses or malicious software. Please be aware that you have a responsibility to ensure that any email you send is within the bounds of the law.

Registration

Some features of Company Name websites require registration. The registration information we require as mandatory for registration is your email address. This data is stored in the US but its handling satisfies the provisions of GDPR as confirmed here. This information is stored until such time as you choose to delete your account.

You can change your registration preferences, e-mail address and login details through the website at any time. If you are no longer interested in receiving Healthcare Inspectorate Wales newsletters you can delete your account from within the preferences page of your account.

Complaints or queries

Healthcare Inspectorate Wales tries to meet the highest standards when collecting and using personal information. For this reason, we take any complaints we receive about this very seriously. We encourage people to bring it to our attention if they think that our collection or use of information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate. We would also welcome any suggestions for improving our procedures.

This privacy policy was drafted with brevity and clarity in mind. It does not provide exhaustive detail of all aspects of Healthcare Inspectorate Wales collection and use of personal information. However, we are happy to provide any additional information or explanation needed. Any requests for this should be sent to the address below.

Links to other websites

This privacy policy does not cover the links within this site linking to other websites. We encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit.

Changes to this privacy Policy

If this privacy policy changes in any way, we will place an updated version on this page. Regularly reviewing this page ensures you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we will share it with other parties.
This privacy policy was last updated on 24 May 2018.

How to contact us

If you want to request information about our privacy policy you can email us at customerhelp@gov.wales or write to:

Data Protection Officer
Welsh Government
Cathays Park
Cardiff
CF10 3NQ

Feedback

We welcome your feedback. If you contact us asking for information, we may need to contact other government departments to find that information. If your question is technical, we may need to pass it to our technology suppliers.
We do not pass on any of your personal information when dealing with your enquiry, unless you have given us permission to do so. Once we have replied to you, we keep a record of your message for audit purposes.

Further information

If you have any further questions about how your data will be used by Healthcare Inspectorate Wales, please write to us using the details below.
Healthcare Inspectorate Wales
Welsh Government
Rhydycar Business Park
Merthyr Tydfil
CF48 1UZ

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