Introduction

Trovex needs to gather and use certain information about individuals.

These can include customers, suppliers, business contacts, employees and other people the organisation has a relationship with or may need to contact.

This policy describes how this personal data must be collected, handled and stored to meet the company’s data protection standards — and to comply with the law.

Why this policy exists

This data protection policy ensures Trovex:

• Complies with data protection law and follow good practice

• Protects the rights of staff, customers and partners

• Is open about how it stores and processes individuals’ data

• Protects itself from the risks of a data breach

Data protection law

The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 describe how organisations
must collect, handle and store personal information.

These rules apply regardless of whether data is stored electronically, on paper or on other materials.

The UK GDPR is underpinned by seven key principles. These say that personal data must be:

1. Processed lawfully, fairly and transparently

2. Collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner incompatible
   with those purposes

3. Adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary (data minimisation)

4. Accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date

5. Kept for no longer than is necessary (storage limitation)

6. Processed securely, with appropriate protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing, loss, destruction
   or damage (integrity and confidentiality)

7. The controller must be able to demonstrate compliance with all principles (accountability)

Policy scope

This policy applies to:

• The head office of Trovex

• All branches of Trovex

• All staff and volunteers of Trovex

• All contractors, suppliers and other people working on behalf of Trovex

• It applies to all data that the company holds relating to identifiable individuals, even if that information technically falls outside of the Data Protection Act 1998.

This can include:

• Names of individuals

• Postal addresses

• Email addresses

• Telephone numbers

• …plus any other information relating to individuals

Data protection risks

This policy helps to protect Trovex from some very real data security risks, including:

• Breaches of confidentiality.
  For instance, information being given out inappropriately.

  
  

• Failing to offer choice.
  For instance, all individuals should be free to choose how the company uses data relating to them.

  
  

• Reputational damage.
  For instance, the company could suffer if hackers successfully gained access to sensitive data.

Responsibilities

Everyone who works for or with Trovex has some responsibility for ensuring data is collected, stored and handled appropriately.

People, risks and responsibilities

Each team that handles personal data must ensure that it is handled and processed in line with this policy and data protection principles.

However, these people have key areas of responsibility:

• Kevin Dunham, Managing Director of Trovex is ultimately responsible for ensuring that Trovex meets its legal obligations.

  Kevin Dunham is responsible for:

  • Keeping the board updated about data protection responsibilities, risks and issues.

  • Reviewing all data protection procedures and related policies, in line with an agreed schedule.

  • Arranging data protection training and advice for the people covered by this policy.

  • Handling data protection questions from staff and anyone else covered by this policy.

  • Dealing with requests from individuals to see the data Trovex holds about them (also called ‘subject access requests’).

  • Checking and approving any contracts or agreements with third parties that may handle the company’s sensitive data.

    
    

The Managing Director, is responsible for:

• Ensuring all systems, services and equipment used for storing data meet acceptable security standards.

• Performing regular checks and scans to ensure security hardware and software is functioning properly.

• Evaluating any third-party services the company is considering using to store or process data. For instance, cloud computing services.

The Managing Director, is also responsible for:

• Approving any data protection statements attached to communications such as emails and letters.

• Addressing any data protection queries from journalists or media outlets like newspapers.

• Where necessary, working with other staff to ensure marketing initiatives abide by data protection principles.

General staff guidelines

• The only people able to access data covered by this policy should be those who need it for their work.

• Data should not be shared informally. When access to confidential information is required, employees can request it from their line managers.

• Trovex will provide training to all employees to help them understand their responsibilities when handling data.

• Employees should keep all data secure, by taking sensible precautions and following the guidelines below.

• In particular, strong passwords must be used and they should never be shared.

• Personal data should not be disclosed to unauthorised people, either within the company or externally.

• Data should be regularly reviewed and updated if it is found to be out of date. If no longer required, it should be deleted and disposed of.

• Employees should request help from their line manager or the data protection officer if they are unsure about any aspect of data protection.

These rules describe how and where data should be safely stored.

Questions about storing data safely can be directed to Kevin Dunham.

When data is stored on paper, it should be kept in a secure place where unauthorised people cannot see it.

These guidelines also apply to data that is usually stored electronically but has been printed out for some reason:

• When not required, the paper or files should be kept in a locked drawer or filing cabinet.

• Employees should make sure paper and printouts are not left where unauthorised people could see them, like on a printer.

• Data printouts should be shredded and disposed of securely when no longer required.
  When data is stored electronically, it must be protected from unauthorised access, accidental deletion and malicious hacking attempts:

Data storage

• Data should be protected by strong passwords that are changed regularly and never shared between employees.

• If data is stored on removable media (like a CD or DVD), these should be kept locked away securely when not being used.

• Data should only be stored on designated drives and servers, and should only be uploaded to an approved cloud computing services.

• Servers containing personal data should be sited in a secure location, away from general office space.

• Data should be backed up frequently. Those backups should be tested regularly, in line with the company’s standard backup procedures.

• Data should never be saved directly to laptops or other mobile devices like tablets or smart phones.

• All servers and computers containing data should be protected by approved security software and a firewall.
  
  

  Personal data is of no value to Trovex unless the business can make use of it. However, it is when personal data is accessed and used that it can be at the greatest risk of loss, corruption or theft:

• When working with personal data, employees should ensure the screens of their computers are always locked when left unattended.

• Personal data should not be shared informally. In particular, it should never be sent by email, as this form of communication is not secure.

• Data must be encrypted before being transferred electronically. The IT manager can explain how to send data to authorised external contacts.

• Personal data should never be transferred outside of the European Economic Area.

• Employees should not save copies of personal data to their own computers. Always access and update the central copy of any data.
  The law requires Trovex to take reasonable steps to ensure data is kept accurate and up to date.
  
  

Data accuracy

The more important it is that the personal data is accurate, the greater the effort Trovex should put into ensuring its accuracy.

It is the responsibility of all employees who work with data to take reasonable steps to ensure it is kept as accurate and up to date as possible.

• Data will be held in as few places as necessary. Staff should not create any unnecessary additional data sets.

• Staff should take every opportunity to ensure data is updated. For instance, by confirming a customer’s details when they call.

• Trovex will make it easy for data subjects to update the information Trovex holds about them. For instance, via the company website.

• Data should be updated as inaccuracies are discovered. For instance, if a customer can no longer be reached on their stored telephone number, it should be removed from the database.

• It is the marketing manager’s responsibility to ensure marketing databases are checked against industry suppression files every six months.

All individuals who are the subject of personal data held by Trovex are entitled to:

• Ask what information the company holds about them and why.

• Ask how to gain access to it.

• Be informed how to keep it up to date.

• Be informed how the company is meeting its data protection obligations.

If an individual contacts the company requesting this information, this is called a subject access request.
Subject access requests from individuals should be made by email, addressed to the data controller at [kevin.dunham@trovex.com].

The data controller can supply a standard request form, although individuals do not have to use this. The data controller will aim to provide the relevant data within one month. The data controller will always verify the identity of anyone making a subject access request before handing over any information.
      

Subject access requests

Disclosing data for other reasons

In certain circumstances, the Data Protection Act allows personal data to be disclosed to law enforcement agencies without the consent of the data subject.

Under these circumstances, Trovex will disclose requested data. However, the data controller will ensure the request is legitimate, seeking assistance from the board and from the company’s legal advisers where necessary.

Trovex aims to ensure that individuals are aware that their data is being processed, and that they understand:

• How the data is being used

• How to exercise their rights

To these ends, the company has a privacy statement, setting out how data relating to individuals is used by the company.

Cookies and Website Tracking

What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files placed on your device when you visit our website. They help us understand how
visitors use our site and improve your experience.

Cookies we use

When you visit our website, we use the following cookies (subject to your consent):

Analytics Cookies

Google Analytics (GA4)

• Purpose: Tracks page views, user journeys, and form submissions to help us understand how visitors use our site

• Provider: Google LLC

• Cookies: _ga, ga*

• Duration: Up to 2 years

• Data collected: Pages visited, time on site, device type, approximate location (country/city level)

Microsoft Clarity

• Purpose: Records anonymised user sessions and creates heatmaps to help us improve our website usability

• Provider: Microsoft Corporation

• Cookies: _clck, _clsk, CLID

• Duration: Up to 1 year

• Data collected: Mouse movements, clicks, scrolling behaviour, pages visited

How we use this data

We use analytics data solely to:

• Understand which pages are most useful to visitors

• Identify and fix usability issues

• Improve our website content and structure

• Monitor form submission success rates

Your choices

When you first visit our website, you will see a cookie banner asking for your consent. You can:

• Accept all cookies

• Reject non-essential cookies

• Customise your preferences by category

You can change your cookie preferences at any time by clicking the cookie settings icon on our website.

Managing cookies in your browser

You can also control cookies through your browser settings. Most browsers allow you to:

• View what cookies are stored

• Delete individual or all cookies

• Block cookies from specific or all websites

• Set preferences for certain types of cookies

Please note that blocking all cookies may affect the functionality of some websites.

Third-party data transfers

Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity may transfer data outside the UK/EEA. Both providers have appropriate
safeguards in place:

• Google: EU-US Data Privacy Framework and Standard Contractual Clauses

• Microsoft: Standard Contractual Clauses

For more information, see:

• Google Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy

• Microsoft Privacy Statement: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/privacy/privacystatement

Contact

If you have questions about our use of cookies, contact us at kevin.dunham@trovex.com