Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy

Our website (gcmscotland.com) places small data files called cookies on your computer or handheld device. By browsing and using the GCMSCOTLAND LTD website, you consent to cookies being used in accordance with our policy. If you do not consent, you must disable cookies or refrain from using the site.

A Cookie is a small text file stored on your computer given to you by a visited website that helps identify you to that site. Cookies are used to maintain state information as you navigate different pages on a website or return to that website at a later date.

Our recommendation would be that you allow the cookies set by the GCMSCOTLAND LTD website as they help us to provide a better service to you.

We may use both ‘session cookies’ (which expire once you close your web browser) and ‘persistent cookies’ (which stay on your computer until you delete them) to provide you with a more personal and interactive experience.

Please note: Cookies cannot be used to run code (run programs) or to deliver viruses to your computer.

If you decide do not want to receive cookies from the GCMSCOTLAND LTD website, select cookie settings under the privacy settings in your browser options, then add our domain to the list of websites you do not want to accept cookies from. You can also delete individual cookies or any cookies that your browser has already stored. How to do this will depend on the particular browser you use - further guidance can be found at: www.aboutcookies.org If you set your browser to refuse cookies, please be aware that some functionality on various websites may not work.

Cookies used by our website may use Google Analytics to collect information about how visitors use our site. This information is collected in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come to the site from and the pages they visited. This Google Analytics cookie is used to store information, such as what time the current visit occurred, whether the visitor has been to the site before, what pages are visited and what site referred the visitor to the web page. Analytics cookies allows us to enhance your user experience by adding new features and functionality based on what you require from our site.

GCMSCOTLAND LTD may also use the AddThis functionality to allow website users to bookmark & share content from our site with others through a variety of social networking sites. AddThis tracks the amount of shares and stores user preferences using cookies.

Session cookies may also be used to allow you to log into password-protected pages of this website.

GCMSCOTLAND LTD is committed to protecting your personal information.

Our Privacy Notice contains important information about what personal details we collect; what we do with that information; who we may share it with and why; and your choices and rights when it comes to the personal information you have given us.

We may need to make changes to our Privacy Notice so please check our website for any updated versions. This version of our Privacy Notice was last updated 31th August 2021.

We are Private limited Company GCMSCOTLAND LTD (company registration no. SC274096).

If you have any questions about our Privacy Notice or the information we collect or use about you, please contact:

Data Protection Team

GCMSCOTLAND LTD

1 Hamilton View, Uddingston,

Glasgow G71 6QB, Great Britain

Email: enquiries@gcmscotland.com

We use a variety of personal information depending on the nature of our business with you. In most cases we use only the information we require to meet our obligations under the contracts we agree with you or to meet our statutory requirements to provide information to government agencies.

Where we use your contact details to send you information about our company, we will either have a legitimate interest in doing so (e.g.: to update you with news about the company and our services) or we’ll ask for your permission to do this. In either event, we’ll stop this if you withdraw that consent.

Information about you that we collect and use includes:

• Information about who you are e.g.: your name, date of birth and contact details. In some circumstances we may ask for and subsequently hold some proof of identification.
• If we make payments to you, we may hold your bank account and VAT registration details.
• If you do work for us, we may hold your National Insurance number and your Tax Reference (UTR) so we can meet HMRC reporting requirements. We will also hold records of your qualifications, training and any relevant licenses and insurance policies you may hold.
• Information about your contact with us e.g.: meetings, phone calls, emails / letters.
• If you have a Growing Timber Insurance policy with us, we may hold a record of any historic criminal convictions or insolvencies you may have declared in accordance with the Insurer’s requirements.
• Information you may provide us about other people e.g.: joint applicants or beneficiaries for any Growing Timber Insurance policy you have with us.

We generally collect your personal information directly from you, from a variety of sources, including:

• enquiry form completed on our website
• phone conversations with us
• emails or letters you send to us
• meetings with one of our staff members

We may also collect personal information on you from places such as business directories and other commercially or publicly available sources e.g.: to check or improve the information we hold (like your address) or to give better contact information if we are unable to contact you directly.

We take your privacy seriously and we will only ever collect and use your personal information where it is necessary, fair and lawful to do so. We will collect and use your information only where:

• you have given us your permission [consent] to send you news and information about products and services offered by GCMSCOTLAND LTD;
• it’s necessary to provide the product or service you have requested or that we have been contracted to perform;
• it’s necessary for us to administer the contract we have agreed with you;
• it’s necessary for us to meet our legal or regulatory obligations;
• it’s in the legitimate interests of GCMSCOTLAND LTD e.g.: to verify your competence to work for us or to update you with news and service information;
• it’s in the legitimate interests of a third party e.g.: providing information required by the Insurance.

If you do not wish us to collect and use your personal information in these ways, it may mean that we will be unable to provide you with our products or services.

We don’t use systems to make automated decisions based on your personal information.

We may share your information with third parties for the reasons outlined in 'What we collect and use your information for.'

These third parties may include:

• Your adviser or agent.
• Companies we have chosen to support us in the delivery of the products and services we offer to you and other customers e.g.: consultancy or technology companies; or companies who can help us in our contact with you, for example an internet service provider.
• Our regulators and Supervisory Authority e.g.: the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Information Commissioner’s Office for the UK (the ICO).
• Our insurance brokers who may assist us in checking your insurance details if you work for us.
• Our clients, where you may be completing work on their properties.
• Law enforcement, credit, sanctions and identity check agencies for the prevention and detection of crime
• HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) e.g.: to meet our reporting obligations in relation to monitoring for tax avoidance.

We will never sell your details to someone else. Whenever we share your personal information, we will do so in line with our obligations to keep your information safe and secure.

In most cases your information is processed in the UK and European Economic Area (EEA).

However, some of your information may be processed by the third parties we work with outside of the EEA.

Where your information is being processed outside of the EEA, we take additional steps to ensure that your information is protected to at least an equivalent level as would be applied by UK / EEA data privacy laws e.g.: we will put in place legal agreements with our third-party suppliers and do regular checks to ensure they meet these obligations.

We take information and system security very seriously and we strive to comply with our obligations at all times. Any personal information which is collected, recorded or used in any way, whether on paper, online or any other media, will have appropriate safeguards applied in line with our data protection obligations.

Your information is protected by controls designed to minimize loss or damage through accident, negligence or deliberate actions. Our employees also protect sensitive or confidential information when storing or transmitting information electronically.

Our security controls are aligned to industry standards and good practice guidance.

We will keep your personal information only where it is necessary to provide you with our products or services while you are a customer or while you do work for us.

We may also keep your information after this period but only where required to meet our legal or regulatory obligations. The length of time we keep your information for these purposes will vary depending on the obligations we need to meet.

You have several rights in relation to how we use your personal information.

They are:

• Right to be informed - You have a right to receive clear and easy to understand information on what personal information we have, why and who we share it with – we do this in our Privacy Notice.
• Right of access - You have the right of access to your personal information. If you wish to receive a copy of the personal information, we hold on you, you can make a data subject access request.
• Right to request that your personal information is corrected - If your personal information is inaccurate or incomplete, you can ask us to correct this.
• Right to request erasure - You can ask for your information to be deleted or removed if there is not a compelling reason for GCMSCOTLAND LTD to continue to have it.
• Right to restrict processing - You can ask that we block or suppress the processing of your personal information for certain reasons. This means that we are still permitted to keep your information – but only to ensure we don’t use it in the future for those reasons you have restricted.
• Right to data portability - You can ask for a copy of your personal information for your own purposes to use across different service providers.
• Right to object - You can object to GCMSCOTLAND LTD processing your personal information where: it’s based on our legitimate interests, for direct marketing and if we we’re using it for scientific/historical research and statistics.

We will always strive to collect, use and safeguard your personal information in line with data protection laws. If you do not believe we have handled your information as set out in our Privacy Notice please let us know, providing some details to GCMSCOTLAND LTD’ Data Protection Team at:

enquiries@gcmscotland.com

Data Protection Team
GCMSCOTLAND LTD
1 Hamilton View
Uddingston
Glasgow G71 6QB
Great Britain

T: +44 7412 006767

If you are still unhappy, you can complain to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO). Their contact can be found at the following web address: https://ico.org.uk