Privacy & Cookies
At Advantage West Midlands, we are committed to protecting your privacy. We recognise the need for the protection and management of any information you share with us.
You can visit the majority of our website without revealing any personal information about yourself. However, there are times when we need to collect information so we can provide the services that you request. We may keep this information in a database. If you choose not to provide the information you request you may still visit the majority of our website but you may be unable to access certain content or services.
How we collect personal information
1) Use of “cookies”
Cookies are small files which are sent to your web browser and stored on your computer’s hard drive to “remember” who you are. The majority of web browsers accept cookies, but you can usually change the browser settings to restrict or block all cookies if you wish. However, please be aware that if you do, some functionality may be lost when you use this website.
2) Completion of online forms
We collect information about you when you register through our website eg for our e-newsletter and when you complete any of our online forms, respond to poll or surveys or provide us with feedback. The information we require from you will be indicated on the form as mandatory. It helps us if you provide the other information we ask for but you are under no obligation to do so.
3) Website analytics
We collect anonymous information on our website visitors from the web log files. This is for statistical purposes and includes information such as IP addresses, types of browsers used to access our site, referring sites, most popular pages, path analysis, geographical and demographic information. The information collected is not linked to any personally identifiable information.
How we use personal information
We use your personal information for the following purposes:
- to deliver the information you request
- to enable you to easily register for events, e-newsletters or other marketing activities
- to provide you with further information from Advantage West Midlands that you may be interested in.
We will not sell or disclose any personal information such as your email address to third parties without your prior consent.
Any details you supply us that are personally identifiable will be held and processed in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and Principles within the Act.
Cookies we set
| Service | Cookie name(s) used | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Birmingham Science City | PHPSESSID, cookie_dismiss | Tracking the logged in user of the website, and whether you have dismissed the cookie message that appears when you first visit this website |
| Google Analytics | __utma, __utmb, __utmc, __utmz | Anonymous gathering of usage statistics, eg unique visitors, how often users return etc. |
| AddThis | __atuvc, ssh, sshs, atgotcode, uvc, uid, uit, ssc, loc, di, dt, uvc, pcs | Social media sharing buttons and usage tracking |
Disabling Cookies
Modern browsers will allow you to disable cookies per site using via their options/preferences settings, the following links detail the available cookie settings for all major browsers:
Cookie settings in Internet Explorer
Cookie settings in Firefox
Cookie settings in Chrome
Cookie settings in Safari web and iOS
If you would like to opt out of the cookies used for targeted advertising by our social media sharing platform (AddThis), you can do so here
To find out more information about cookies and how to manage them, http://www.allaboutcookies.org/cookies/ is a site produced by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), an industry body.
Opting out
If you no longer wish to receive communications from Advantage West Midlands, you can opt out of receiving them. You can do this in a number of ways:
- check the unsubscribe instruction on any newsletter you receive
- Send us an email to webmaster@advantagewm.co.uk
- Telephone us on 0121 380 3500 asking for the e-Communications Team
- Write to the e-Communications Team at Advantage West Midlands, 3 Priestley Wharf, Holt Street, Aston Science Park, Birmingham B7 4BN, stating your full name and contact details.