Website Privacy Policy

Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) is a Public Authority and we have a number of legal responsibilities to provide services to you.  These services include the Fire Service, waste collection and disposal and commissioning of services for victims.

GMCA collects certain information or data about you when you visit manchesterfire.gov.uk and any other websites that include ‘manchesterfire.gov.uk’ in the address.

Information we collect

When you visit this site we will collect information on how you use the site, this includes but is not limited to:

  • the resolution of your screen
  • the browser you use
  • which pages you are looking
  • time you spend on the site

This information is collected through Google Analytics. This is anonymised and we use IP masking (opens in a new tab) to further protect your privacy.  

We may also collect:

  • any information you provide to us via email
  • your email address and subscription preferences when you sign up to our newsletter
  • how you view our newsletter - for example if you open them and which links you click on

This data can be viewed by authorised people in GMCA and shared with partner agencies, councils and contracted suppliers. We do this to:

  • gain analysis into the performance of our content and campaigns
  • ensure our site meets the technical needs of those accessing it
  • respond to your feedback
  • provide tools to present content from social media platforms
  • send our email newsletter to you

Tools we use

We use five tools to perform the above actions:

  • Umbraco – to build the site and store content.
  • Mailchimp – to collect your details in order to share our newsletters.
  • Twitter – to embed Tweets from the Twitter social media platform.
  • Facebook - to embed videos from Facebook
  • Google Analytics – to analyse how our site is used and to make sure the site meeting the needs of those using it.  

Google Analytics

We don’t allow Google Analytics to use or share our analytics data, User-ID is turned off and our data retention rate is set to 14 months. 

You can use this browser Add-on to opt out of Google Analytics (opens in a new tab) 

Cookies

Like most websites we use cookies to collect anonymous statistics about how people use the site, and to help us keep it relevant for the user. Cookies remember bits of information from your visit to the site.

A cookie is a simple text file that's stored on your computer or mobile device by a website's server. Only that server can retrieve or read the contents of that cookie. Each cookie is unique to your web browser. So if we put a cookie on your computer, it can't be read by any other website.

How we use cookies to collect statistics

To improve our service we collect anonymous web statistics using Google Analytics.

This stores several cookies on users' computers or mobiles devices to tell us how many people have visited each web page, how they got there, and where they navigated to from there. The data collected is completely anonymous and does not store any personal details.

Changing your cookie settings

You can change your computer settings at any time to accept all cookies, to notify you when a cookie is issued, or not to receive cookies. How you do this depends on your web browser.

Find out more at aboutcookies.org (opens in a new tab)

Where your data is stored

The European Union (EU) will adopt the same Data Protection safeguards as the United Kingdom. It’s by exception that data would be sent outside the EU. You can find out more on the European Commission Justice website (opens in a new tab).

Most personal information we collect is stored on electronic systems in the UK. However, there are some occasions when your information may leave the UK, some personal information may be stored on computer services located in the European Economic Area (EEA). For example, if it needs to be transferred to another organisation, which may be based outside of the UK or that uses systems which store information outside of the UK.

Generally, personal information in our control will not be sent outside EEA, unless stored within cloud based computer services. If we transfer your information beyond the EU, we will make sure that it’s protected in the same way as if it was being used in the EU and have appropriate procedures and technologies in place to maintain the security of all personal information processed outside of the EEA.

Google Analytics (opens in a new tab)

MailChimp (opens in a new tab)

Twitter (opens in a new tab)

Facebook (opens in a new tab)

Keeping your data secure

Sending information over the internet is generally not completely secure, and we can’t guarantee the security of your data while it’s in transit.

Any data you send is at your own risk.

We have procedures and security features in place to keep your data secure once we receive it.

Disclosing your information

We may pass on your personal information if we have a legal obligation to do so.

We won’t share your information with any other organisations for marketing, market research or commercial purposes, and we don’t pass on your details to other websites.

Your rights

You can find out what information we hold about you (opens in a new tab), and ask us not to use any of the information we collect.

If you’ve signed up for email alerts, you can unsubscribe or change your settings at any time by selecting the unsubscribe link that appears in every email.

Links to other websites

www.manchesterfire.gov.uk contains links to other websites.

This privacy policy only applies to www.manchesterfire.gov.uk, and doesn’t cover other websites or services that we link to.