Protecting your privacy

1. Introduction

The Language Alliance Limited takes your privacy seriously. We aim to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and we are registered with he Information Commissioners Office.

This privacy policy describes how and why we obtain, store and process data which can identify you; how you can instruct us if you would prefer to limit the use of that information and the procedures, we have in place to safeguard your privacy. We may update this policy from time to time and shall indicate on the web site when changes have been made.

2. The Information we collect

Information is collected from you when you request access to sample resources, request further information, book onto events or order our resources by email, phone, via our online forms or face to face at an event run by our authors and have requested follow up information by providing your email.

3. Why we collect it

a) so that we can liaise with you regarding an order

b) so that we can provide you with access to online resources

c) so that we can inform you of any updates to resources

d) so that we can inform you of future resources

e) so that we can inform you of future events (face to face and online)

f) so that we can process candidate qualification and examinations

g) so that we can submit candidate information for qualification certification

You may choose not to receive any of the above communication from us by simply emailing us to remove you from our database or by clicking the unsubscribe button in our mail outs.

4. Who we disclose it to

We will take appropriate measures to keep your information confidential and secure in accordance with our internal procedures covering the storage, access and disclosure of information.

For candidates and their assessors registered with us to processes qualification and certification requests we provide information required by the awarding body related to that qualification in order to fulfil our obligations as a qualification centre.

We provide personal data required by funding organisations such as The British Council or their partners for the “Erasmus Plus” program; to process grant applications in relation to, for example work experience trips.

Other than as described above we do not disclose your information to any other business or third party.

5. Security

Keeping information about you secure is very important to us and certain sections of the site may encrypt data using SSL or a comparable standard. However, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be totally secure. As a result, whilst we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information which you send to us, and you do so at your own risk.

Where you have a password and account details, you are responsible for protecting the confidentiality of your password and user account details and you should not share this information with any other person. You may not transfer your account to anyone without our prior written consent.

6. Data retention and deletion

We keep your personal data only as long as necessary for legitimate and essential business purposes. For example, we are required by awarding bodies to retain candidate records for a minimum period. For some awarding organisations this is a period of 3 years. We delete candidate information within a reasonable period after this.

If you request, we will delete your personal data unless, we are legally allowed or required to maintain certain personal data, including situations such as the following:

If there is an unresolved issue relating to your account, such as an outstanding credit on your account or an unresolved claim or dispute we will retain the necessary personal data until the issue is resolved. Where we are required to retain the personal data for our legal, tax, audit, and accounting obligations, we will retain the necessary personal data for the period required by applicable law; and/or where necessary for our legitimate business interests such as fraud prevention or to maintain the security of our users.

7. Accessing and updating

You have the right to apply for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, and to request to have any inaccurate personal information about you corrected. You also have the right to ask us not to process your personal data for marketing purposes. Where we intend to use your data for such purposes or intend to disclose your information to any third party for such purposes, we will usually inform you before collecting your data.

8. Questions?

If you have any questions or complaints relating to this Privacy policy or how we use the personal information we have about you, please contact info@languagealliance.co.uk. We will endeavour to respond to you promptly.

9. Contacting the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)

If you are unhappy with the way your data has been handled and we have been unable to give you a satisfactory response to your request you may contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on 0303 123 1113 or you can visit their website.

If we become subject to any data breach of any significance where the rights of individuals are prejudiced in any way i.e. where there is potential for an individual’s identity to be stolen or confidentiality is breached, we will report that breach to the ICO.