Privacy policy
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How we use your information
This privacy notice tells you what to expect when Invest Northern Ireland collects personal information. It applies to information we collect about:
- people who use our services: These include Invest NI Clients, participants in our programmes or services and attendees at events organised by Invest NI. It also includes those who avail of the Business Information Centre.
- visitors to our website
Changes to this privacy notice
We keep our privacy notice under regular review and we will place any updates on this webpage.This privacy policy was last updated June 2010.
People who use Invest NI services
Invest NI offers various services to our Clients and the public. Our role is to grow the economy by helping new and existing businesses to compete internationally, and by attracting new investment to Northern Ireland. Invest NI offers the Northern Ireland business community a single organisation providing high-quality services, programmes, support and expert advice. Full details of these services are found within this website.
We need to hold the details of the people who have requested access to our programmes and services in order to provide them with the necessary advice or support. The nature of the data that we keep on record may include your name, company name, email address, mailing address, telephone number and employment details. Please do not provide us with information if you do not want it stored.
Security of your personal information
Invest NI carefully protect your data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure or alteration. Internally, data is stored in password-controlled servers with restricted access.
Information will be destroyed in line with our Records Management Policy
Disclosure of personal information
To deliver a service we may need to share your information with our sponsor the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI), other agencies involved in economic development, our External Delivery Organisations and the European Commission. This will depend upon the service you require. However we will never pass on these details other than for the purpose for which they were provided to Invest NI. This may also involve the transfer of details outside the European Economic Area to our overseas offices, for those who require the services of these offices.
Occasionally we may share information with other public bodies that provide economic development activities and whose services we feel would benefit those Clients who operate in the relevant area that the agency is providing a service.
When information is passed to an overseas Invest NI office or any other agency or External Delivery Organisation we will take appropriate steps to ensure that personal data is protected from unauthorised use and kept in a secure manner.
As required by law we may disclose information to government bodies and law enforcement agencies for their enforcement purposes.
Invest NI will not sell your personal information to any other company.
When you provide personal information to us, you understand and agree that:
- This may involve the information being used by Invest NI and DETI for direct marketing and other economic development related activities.
- Invest NI, DETI or another public agency providing economic development activities may also contact you directly in the future in relation to offering related services on which you provided your details to Invest NI.
- It may involve the transfer of data outside the European Economic Area to our overseas offices.
- Invest NI may send you marketing information about Invest NI by email.
Opt-Out to Disclosure of personal information
If you do not want your details to be used in any of the ways described above, please advise Invest NI by getting in touch with your Invest NI contact – such as your Client Executive or event organiser.
Please note that it may not be possible to provide some Invest NI services if you do not allow us to disclose information provided to us. For example, you would not be able to participate in a Trade Mission outside the European Economic Area if you were to advise that we could not transfer personal information outside this area. In addition, a number of our programmes/events will involve participation of External Delivery Organisations. If we could not share personal information with these organisations then your participation in the relevant programme/event would not be possible. This does not apply to the issue of direct marketing and you can opt out at any time with no impact upon the delivery of services.
Visitors to our website
When someone visits our website we 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 Invest NI’s website. We collect this information in a way which does not identify anyone. We do not make any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website.
We use Webtrends Analytics to help analyse use of our website. This analytical tool uses 'cookies'(see explanation below), which are text files placed on your computer, to collect standard internet log information and visitor behaviour information in an anonymous form. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) is transmitted to Webtrends. This information is then used to evaluate visitors’ use of the website and to compile statistical reports on website activity for the Invest NI.
Invest NI will not (and will not allow any third party) to use the statistical analytics tool to track or to collect any personally identifiable information of visitors to our site. We will not associate any data gathered from this site with any personally identifying information from any source as part of our use of the Webtrends statistical analytics tool. Webtrends will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Webtrends. Neither the Invest NI nor Webtrends will link, or seek to link, an IP address with the identity of a computer user.
If we do want to collect personally identifiable information through our website, we will be upfront about this. We will make it clear when we collect personal information and will explain what we intend to do with it.
Cookies
Cookies are small files that are often created when you visit a website, and which are stored in the cookie directory of your computer. A cookie often includes an anonymous unique identifier. Cookies do not damage your computer. Each website can send its own cookie to your browser if your browser's preferences allow it, but to protect your privacy your browser only permits a website to access the cookies it has already sent to you, not the cookies sent to you by other sites. You do not have to accept cookies. You can decide if you want to accept cookies by changing the settings on your browser to either, accept all cookies, reject all cookies, or notify you when a cookie is set. Switching off cookies will still allow you to view the majority of content on our site, although it may restrict your use of our interactive tools.
There are two types of cookie. Persistent cookies remain on your computer for a specified time. We use persistent cookies to:
- identify that a registered user has returned
- collect information for use as described above.
Session-specific cookies are deleted when you leave the website. We use session-specific cookies to:
- hold the information given while using an interactive tool on the website
- hold your details when you are logged into the site
- hold your search criteria while you are carrying out a search of the website
- collect information for use as described above
To find out more about cookies, including how to control and delete them, visit www.aboutcookies.org/.
Linking to other websites
This website contains links to other government and non-government websites. Anonymous visit or session information may be passed to other websites for the web usage information purposes described above. None of this information can be related to an individual user of the website. The operators of other sites may collect information from you which will be used by them in accordance with their own data protection policy.
This privacy policy applies only to our website. We are not responsible for the privacy practices within any other websites. You should always be aware of this when you leave this website and we encourage you to read the privacy statement on any other website that you visit.
Access to personal information
Invest NI will be as open as it can be in terms of giving people access to their personal information. Individuals can find out if we hold any personal information by making a ‘subject access request’ under the Data Protection Act 1998. If we do hold information about you we will:
- give you a description of it;
- tell you why we are holding it;
- tell you who it could be disclosed to; and
- let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form.
To make a request to Invest NI for any personal information we may hold you need to put the request in writing addressing it to our Information Governance Team at the address provided below.
Accuracy of personal information
While we make all efforts to keep our data current we would ask you to inform us of any changes in your personal information so that we may keep our records up to date at all times.
If we do hold information about you, you can ask us to update or correct any mistakes by contacting the Knowledge Management Team at knowledgemanagement@investni.com.
Freedom of Information
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) are designed to establish a culture of openness and transparency in public administration. As a designated public authority under the FOIA and EIR, Invest NI is subject to statutory obligations of disclosure. We are therefore required to release into the public domain details of our interactions with Clients and those who avail of our services when appropriate. Details such as who receives assistance, and the types and amounts of such assistance may be routinely released. In doing so we will strive to ensure that we will not conflict with our duties as a data controller under the Data Protection Act 1998. Full details of our FOIA policy can be found by clicking here
Complaints or queries
Invest NI 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.
Please see the Invest NI feedback form - click here.
This privacy notice was drafted with brevity and clarity in mind. It does not provide exhaustive detail of all aspects of Invest NI’s collection and use of personal information. However, we are happy to provide any additional information or explanation needed. Any requests for this should be made via the contact details below.
How to contact us
Requests for information about our privacy policy can be sent to the Information Governance Team by writing to:
Information Governance Team
Invest Northern Ireland
Bedford Square
Belfast
BT2 7ES
Email foi@investni.com Telephone: 028 9069 8864
If yourequire a copy of this notice in analternative format (including Braille, disk, audio cassette or in minority languages to meet the needs of those who are not fluent in English), then please contact the Equality Teamon 028 9069 8273; Text phone 028 9069 8585 or e-mail equality@investni.com.
