"MEAN - The Midlothian Employment Action Network

The following statement explains our policy regarding the personal information we collect about you.

1. Statement of intent
2. Information on visitors
3. What is a cookie?
4. Submitting personal information
5. Access to your personal information
6. Direct marketing and user surveys
7. Users under 18

1. Statement of intent
From time to time, you will be asked to submit personal information about yourself (e.g. your name and email address, etc.) in order to receive or use services on our website. Such services include responses to requests for information or contact from us.

By entering your details in the fields requested, you enable MEAN to provide you with the services you select. Whenever you provide such personal information, we will treat that information in accordance with this policy. Our services are designed to give you the information that you want to receive. MEAN will act in accordance with current legislation and aim to meet current Internet best practice.

2. Information on visitors
During the course of any visit to the MEAN website, the pages you see, along with something called a “cookie”, are downloaded to your computer (see point 3 for more details). Most websites do this, because cookies allow the website publisher to do useful things like find out whether the computer (and probably its user) has visited the site before. This is done on a repeat visit by checking to see, and finding, the cookie left there on the last visit.

Any information that is supplied by cookies can help us to provide you with a better service and assists us to analyse the profile of our visitors.

3. What is a cookie?
When you enter a website, your computer will automatically be issued with a “cookie”. Cookies are text files that identify your computer to our server. Cookies in themselves do not identify the individual user, just the computer used. Many sites do this whenever a user visits their site in order to track traffic flows.

Cookies themselves only record those areas of the site that have been visited by the computer in question, and for how long. Users have the opportunity to set their computers to accept all cookies, to notify them when a cookie is issued, or not to receive cookies at any time. The last of these, of course, means that certain personalised services cannot then be provided to that user.

NB: Even if you haven't set your computer to reject cookies you can still browse our site anonymously until such time as you register for MEAN services.

4. Submitting personal information
When you supply any personal information to MEAN we have legal obligations towards you in the way we deal with that data. We must collect the information fairly; we must let you know how we will use it; and we must tell you in advance if we decide to pass the information on to anyone else. We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as you use the service you have requested, and remove it in the event that the purpose has been met. We will ensure that all personal information supplied is held securely, in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.

5. Access to your personal information
You have the right to request a copy of the personal information that MEAN holds about you and to have any inaccuracies corrected.

6. Direct marketing and user surveys
As MEAN services expand; there will be additional opportunities to enhance the services provided to you. From time to time we may send you details of other services and products that may be of interest to you and offer you