Privacy Policy

1. WHO WE ARE

Policy Network and Communications Ltd is a company limited by guarantee (England and Wales No 391899), and this privacy policy applies to it and all its activities, including our stateoftheleft.org website which operates wholly within Policy Network.

Policy Network’s registered address is 8/9 Well Court, London, EC4M 9DN, UK.

This Privacy Policy relates to information which is obtained by Policy Network and for which Policy Network is the Data Controller.

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2. WHAT WE DO

Policy Network is the international ideas exchange for progressives.

More than just a thinktank, our network spans national borders across Europe and the wider world with the aim of promoting the best progressive thinking on the major social and economic challenges of the 21st century.

Too much of the policy conversation is conducted in national silos; our work brings together new thinking from across the world. Policy Network is different to traditional thinktanks, as well as our own detailed thinking we publish the best ideas from around our network and host stateoftheleft.org the only online portal providing political analysis written by progressives, for progressives. Crucially we also bring progressives together in a range of ways including our regular high-profile progressive governance events, an annual academic conference in Oxford and frequent gatherings of ministers and advisers allowing for a genuine free flow of ideas.

Central to Policy Network’s mission is providing a platform for the exchange of ideas and experience. Even the most exciting ideas can only fly if they connect with the widest possible audience. So we work to constantly renew and expand our network, with an eye to the next generation of progressive political and thought leaders. We aim to play a leading role in the public debate by engaging with the media and disseminating our work as widely as possible, taking full advantage of social media.

Our work is driven by a global network of progressive politicians, policymakers, business leaders, public service professionals, and academic researchers who work on long-term issues relating to public policy, political economy, social attitudes, good governance and international relations. This insight is complemented by the expertise and research excellence of Policy Network’s international in-house team.

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3. WHY WE HOLD AND PROCESS PERSONAL DATA

We keep data for the furtherance of our aims and network building as described in ‘what we do’.

We hold and process personal data for a number of reasons:

• To keep a record of our subscribers and their subscriptions.
• To invite people to become involved in our work, projects and events.
• To send our subscribers marketing information about our work, projects and events where we have their consent or are otherwise allowed to.
• To ensure we do not send unwanted information to subscribers or members of the public who have informed us they do not wish to be contacted.

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4. YOUR CONSENT AND NOTICES OF CHANGES

If you engage with us including through use of our websites, you consent to this Privacy Policy, including our Cookies Policy.

If you engage with Policy Network including through our websites, you consent to the collection, use and sharing of your personal data under this Privacy Policy (which includes our Cookie Policy and any other documents referenced in this Privacy Policy). We provide you with choices that allow you to opt-out or control how we use and share your data.

This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time so you may wish to check it each time you submit personal information to Policy Network. The date of the most recent revisions will appear on this page. If you do not agree to these changes, please do not continue to use the Policy Network websites to submit personal information to Policy Network. If material changes are made to the Privacy Policy we will notify you by placing a prominent notice on the websites.

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5. INFORMATION WE COLLECT

You provide data to us when you attend our events, sign up to our mailing list, or use our websites.

We log your visits to our websites.

We receive data from your devices and networks, including location data.

If you communicate with us, we learn about that.

We are improving our websites and online presence, which means we get new data and create new ways to use data.

Attendance at Events or Involvement in our Projects: We gather information on those who participate in projects or attend our events including your name and e-mail address.

Websites Use and Social Media Interaction: We log usage data when you visit or otherwise or engage in our work such as when you view or click on content, or perform a search. We use log-ins, cookies, device information and internet protocol (“IP”) addresses to identify you and log your use. This helps us to understand engagement with our content, and the preferences of our subscribers. See also the profiling section at the end of the doc.

Your Device and Location: When you visit or leave our websites (including our plugins or cookies or similar technology on the sites of others), we receive the URL of both the site you came from and the one you go to next. We also get information about your IP address, proxy server, operating system, web browser and add-ons, device identifier and features, and/or ISP or your mobile carrier. If you use our websites from a mobile device, that device will send us data about your location. Most devices allow you to prevent location data from being sent to us and we honour your settings.

Messages: We collect information about you when you send, receive, or engage with messages in connection with our organisation. Messages are stored for up to three years and are accessed only if we receive a complaint or to perform an aggregated analysis of usage.

Other: Our work is dynamic and we often introduce new features, which may require the collection of new information. If we collect materially different personal data or materially change how we use your data, we will notify you and may also modify this Privacy Policy.

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6. HOW WE SHARE INFORMATION

Any content you post or social action (e.g. likes, follows, comments, shares) you take on our websites and online tools will be seen by others.

We may use others to help us with our websites and online tools.

We may need to share your data when we believe it’s required by law or to protect your and our rights and security.

Sharing of information: We do not share our data with third parties unless compelled to do so or in a strictly controlled way to certain Service Providers working on our behalf set out below.
Where other third party sharing takes place we will always seek permission from the data subject.

Service Providers: We use others to help us provide our work including our websites and other core online services including our events and mailing tools (e.g. for, maintenance, analysis, audit, payments, fraud detection, marketing and development), printing and distribution of our publications and other postal mailings. They will have access to your information as reasonably necessary to perform these tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for other purposes.

Legal Disclosures: It is possible that we will need to disclose information about you when required by law, warrant, or other legal process or if we have a good faith belief that disclosure is reasonably necessary to (1) investigate, prevent, or take action regarding suspected or actual illegal activities or to assist government enforcement agencies; (2) enforce our agreements with you, (3) investigate and defend ourselves against any third-party claims or allegations, (4) protect the security or integrity of our Service (such as by sharing with companies facing similar threats); or (5) exercise or protect the rights and safety of Policy Network.

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7. YOUR CHOICES AND OBLIGATIONS

We keep most of your personal data for as long as you are a subscriber.

We keep some of your data even after you end your relationship with us.

You can access or delete your personal data. You have many choices about how your data is collected, used and shared.

Data Retention: We retain the personal data you provide as needed to carry out our work. If you are subscriber who receives mailings we keep your data to help us improve our work.
We retain your personal data even after a subscriber has stopped receiving mailings to comply with legal obligations (including law enforcement requests), meet our regulatory and financial requirements, resolve disputes, maintain security, prevent fraud and abuse, or fulfil your request to “unsubscribe” from further messages from us.

Rights to Access and Control Your Personal Data: You can access or delete your personal data. You have many choices about how your data is collected, used and shared which we manage through our mailings consent centre and speaking with us.

If you would like more information, or have any questions about this policy, please contact us by email at [email protected] or write to us at: 8/9 Well Court, London, EC4M 9DN, UK

To make a formal complaint about Policy Network’s approach to data protection or raise privacy concerns directly with our data protection team, please contact us by email at [email protected] or write to us at: 8/9 Well Court, London, EC4M 9DN, UK

You also have the right to make a complaint direct to the UK's data protection authority, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). The ICO can be contacted at: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/
Concerns can be also be logged via the ICO website.

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8. OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION

We monitor for, and try to prevent, security breaches. Please use the security features available through our online tools.

We are not responsible for the content of third parties including any personal data contained.

We store and use your data outside your country.

Our statements regarding direct marketing.

We target our communications using profiling based on the information we know about you.

Security: We implement security safeguards designed to protect your data, such as HTTPS. We regularly monitor our systems for possible vulnerabilities and attacks.

Content provided by Third Parties published on our websites: We often publish and link to reports, blogs and articles written by others not of Policy Network. We are not responsible for the accuracy of either the content or any personal data contained within such content.

Cross-Border Data Transfers: We process data both inside and outside of the United Kingdom. Where we transfer data we do so either within the EEA, under EU-U.S. and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield frameworks or through written contract terms.

Direct Marketing: We currently do not share personal data with third parties for their direct marketing purposes.

Profiling: Profiling is a common technique used in direct marketing and involves analysing data to improve the targeting of communications. Policy Network uses profiling techniques to help ensure our communications are relevant. Profiling allows us to target our resources effectively. The data may have been provided to Policy Network by our subscribers when responding to our marketing campaigns, or when using our websites, or social media sites such as Facebook. It may also have been provided by external organisations as described below.

When building a profile we may analyse geographic, demographic and other information relating to you, as well as your previous responses to our marketing campaigns. We do this in order to determine whether we believe a particular marketing campaign might be of interest. Some of the data is provided by external organisations and may be provided at an aggregate level (e.g. by postcode). Where it relates to you as an individual we check that you have provided your express consent to the relevant third party for this use of your data. This helps to maximise the effectiveness of our campaigns and to minimise the wastage that would result from sending marketing information where it is not of interest.

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9. EMAIL DISCLAIMER

The information in any e-mail (and/or document attached) sent by or on behalf of Policy Network is confidential and may be legally privileged and/or contain copyright material of Policy Network. This information is intended solely for the use of the named addressee. If you are not the named addressee of an email from Policy Network, please notify the sender immediately and do not disclose, copy or distribute the contents to any other person.

Any contractual representations contained therein on behalf of Policy Network must not be taken as final, and are entirely subject to contracts signed formally by an authorised representative of this organisation.

Whilst Policy Network takes all reasonable precautions to ensure that e-mails from us are virus free, no responsibility will be taken for viruses transmitted from its systems.