This statement covers the services provided by the PTSC website: www.ptsc.co.uk

The purpose of this statement is to inform users of the PTSC website, which is managed by the PTS Consortium, about what information is collected about them when they visit this site, how this information is used, if it is disclosed and the ways in which we protect users' privacy.

Confidentiality and security

Any information you provide will be held securely and in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. Your personal details will not normally be disclosed to third parties. In some circumstances however we may need to disclose your personal details to a third party so that they can provide a service you have requested, or fulfil a request for information. Any information about you that we pass to a third party will be held securely by that party, in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998, and used only to provide the services or information you have requested.

You have a right to request a copy of your personal details at any time to check the accuracy of the information held. If you wish to do this, please write to the:

Information we collect from visitors

We collect several kinds of information from visitors to ptsc.co.uk depending on the part of the site being visited: feedback, register service, discussion forum, site usage information and, in a few cases, personal details such as your name and postal details if you order publications.

1. Feedback

If you provide feedback on the PTSC website through our contact us page, we will only use this information to develop and improve the site.

2. Comments and questions

If you send an enquiry by e-mail to a specific contact on the PTSC website it may not always be possible for PTSC to provide the information requested directly. In such circumstances we may pass your enquiry to another department so that they can fulfil your information request.

3. E-mail alert services sign up

If you sign up to receive e-mail alerts we will use the information you give us to provide the service(s) you have requested. We may occasionally contact e-mail alert subscribers to help us evaluate and improve the service that we offer.

If you have used an on-line form on PTSC website to sign up for an e-mail alert service, you can correct, update or remove any personally identifiable information directly, via our Internet pages.

4. Site usage information

Cookies are pieces of data created when you visit a site, and contain a unique, anonymous number. They are stored in the cookie directory of your hard drive, and do not expire at the end of your session. Cookies do not contain any personal information about you and cannot be used to identify an individual user. If you choose not to accept the cookie, this will not affect your access to the majority of facilities available on our website.

Although your browser may be set up to allow the creation of cookies, you can specify that you be prompted before a site puts a cookie on your hard disk, so that you can decide whether to allow or disallow the cookie. Alternatively, you can set your computer not to accept any cookie.

Log files allow us to record visitors' use of the site. PTSC puts together log file information from all our visitors, which we use to make improvements to the layout of the site and to the information in it, based on the way that visitors move around it. Log files do not contain any personal information about you.

Linking to another site from PTSC website

Our website contains links to other sites, mainly those of other government departments, but also to those of other third parties. PTSC is not responsible for the privacy practices within any of these other sites. You should be aware of this when you leave the ptsc.co.uk site and we encourage you to read the privacy statements on other websites you visit.

Changes to this privacy policy

If this privacy policy changes in any way, we will place an updated version on this page. Regularly reviewing this page ensures that you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we will share it with other parties.