Northern Ireland Assembly Commission: Research Matters Cookie Statement and Privacy Notice
This Privacy Notice sets out how the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission uses and protects the information we collect from you, or that you provide to us, in relation to the Research Matters blog, www.assemblyresearchmatters.org. Please read this notice to understand our views and practices regarding personal data and how we will treat it.
For the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998, the ‘data controller’ is:
The Northern Ireland Assembly Commission, Parliament Buildings, Ballymiscaw, Stormont Estate, Belfast, BT4 3XX.
What we collect
This notice applies to information we collect, hold and manage in relation to:
- Research Matters email subscribers;
- Contact form for enquiries about Research Matters content, and
- Use of ‘cookies’ on the Research Matters website
Why are you processing my personal information?
Email subscribers
Users can sign up to receive an email each time a new post is published on the blog. This is done via an application within the WordPress platform. During the process of signing up, users must indicate their consent via a confirmation email which is sent to them. Their email address is then held within the system only for the purposes of an automated email being sent to notify of new content; email addresses will not be used for any other purpose. A list of email addresses (but no other personal data) is accessible to a small number of staff working for the Northern Ireland Assembly via a password login.
Users are provided with the opportunity to unsubscribe to email updates within a message at the footer of every email. Alternatively, users can also visit the WordPress subscription management page and enter their email address, to be able to change their subscription options.
Contact form
Users of Research Matters can send feedback to the blog administrators via a contact web form. Emails received by the blog administrators within the Northern Ireland Assembly will only be held for the period of time it takes to answer the query and will then be deleted. No personal data will be gathered from these emails.
Cookies
Users of Research Matters are asked via an automated message if they consent to cookies being collected. We collect information via cookies so that we can find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. We collect this information in a way which does not identify anyone. We do not make any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting any part of Research Matters. We will not associate any data gathered from this site with any personally identifying information from any source. If we do want to collect personally identifiable information through our website, we will be up front about this. We will make it clear when we collect personal information and we will explain what we intend to do with it.
The Northern Ireland Assembly Commission is committed to safeguarding your personal information. Whenever you provide such information, we are legally obliged to use your information in line with all laws concerning the protection of personal information, including the Data Protection Act 1998 and the General Data Protection Regulation.
The information below explains the cookies we use and why.
Essential Cookies
| Cookie Name | Description | Duration for which the cookie is retained |
| CookieControl | This cookie is used to remember your choice about cookies on assemblyresearchmatters.org. | 90 days |
Analytics Cookies
The Northern Ireland Assembly Commission uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google. Google Analytics sets cookies on the Research Matters website on its behalf in order to compile reports for us on user activity. These cookies enable Google to determine whether you are a returning visitor to the site, and to track the pages that you visit during your session. They are set only after you have given us consent to use analytical cookies.
Google may transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. By using the Research Matters website and consenting to the collection of cookie data (by toggling Analytical Cookies ‘on’ in the cookie banner), you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above. If you would like more information about the cookies used by Google Analytics, as well as information on how to opt-out, please see the Google privacy policy.
| Cookie Name | Description | Duration for which the cookie is retained |
| PHPSESSID | To identify the unique session of each user on our website | session |
| SESS | To ensure that a user is recognised when they move from page to page within the site and that any information they have entered is remembered. | session |
| _utma | ID used to identify users and sessions | 2 years |
| _ga | ID used to identify users | 1 year |
| _ga_* | Used to identify and track an individual user session. | 2 years |
| _gat | Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests when using Google Tag Manager | 58 seconds |
| _gat_* | Used to set and get tracking data | 1 hour |
| _gid | ID used to identify users for 24 hours | 24 hours |
| _utmb | Used to distinguish new sessions and visits. This cookie is set when the GA.js javascript library is loaded and there is no existing __utmb cookie. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to the Google Analytics server. | session |
| _utmc | Used only with old Urchin versions of Google Analytics and not with GA.js. Was used to distinguish between new sessions and visits at the end of a session. | session |
| _utmz | This keeps track of where the visitor came from, what search engine was used, what link was clicked on, what keyword was used, and where the user was in the world when they accessed a website. This cookie is how Google Analytics knows to whom and to what source / medium / keyword to assign the credit for a Goal Conversion or an Ecommerce Transaction. | 6 months |
Video cookies
YouTube embedded player
| Example cookies | Purpose | Expires |
| AEC, APISID, HSID, NID, SAPISID, SID*, SSID, SOCS _Secure*, PREF, VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE, VSC | We embed videos from our official YouTube channel. We have recently starting using YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode. You can read about YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode on YouTube’s embedding videos information page. If you visit a page containing a YouTube video and are logged in to a YouTube or Google account, Google may use cookies for security purposes, remember your preferences, and receive information about the videos you watch for analytics and advertising purposes cookies and collect data linked to your Google account. For more information, see the Google Privacy Policy. | Between 180 and 400 days |
Vimeo embedded player
| Example cookies | Purpose | Expires |
| _cf*, _ga*, _gid, _uet*, _builderSessionid, language, Optanon*, sd_client_id, vimeo*, vuid | We embed videos from our official Vimeo channel. We have recently started embedding these videos using Vimeo’s Do Not Track setting. You can read about this on Vimeo’s embedding videos page. Vimeo may use cookies to enable the video to play, remember your preferences and maintain the security of its service. If you visit a page containing a Vimeo video and you are logged in to your Vimeo account or if you’ve visited the Vimeo website before the assemblyresearchmatters website, Vimeo may use cookies eg to keep you logged in, for analytics and advertising purposes, and collect data linked to your Vimeo account. For more information, see the Vimeo cookies policy. | Between 0 and 400 days |
* indicates various cookies that contain additional letters, numbers or characters in their name.
Power BI data visualisation cookies
In the ‘Data Visualisations’ section of the website, we embed interactive visualisations created using the Microsoft Power BI platform. These visualisations are embedded using iframes.
When a Power BI report is embedded, it is hosted on the Power BI service. The Power BI service does use cookies to track user sessions and to store user preferences.
If a site viewer has set their browser to accept only strictly necessary cookies, they may still be able to view the embedded Power BI report. However, some features of the report may not work as expected. For example, if the report relies on cookies to store filter selections or user preferences, these may not be retained if the viewer has disabled all cookies except for strictly necessary ones.
It is important to note that the use of cookies by the Power BI service is governed by Microsoft’s privacy policy. You can find more information about how Microsoft uses cookies at the following link: https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement#cookies
Addthis.com
The uvc cookie is one of the cookies used to track usage of the Addthis.com service. It allows a user to share a webpage with many social sites. It expires after one day.
Use of cookies and how to control and delete cookies
The Northern Ireland Assembly Commission will not use cookies to collect personally identifiable information about you.
None of the cookies collected by Research Matters are used as ‘targeting cookies’, that is, cookies designed to collect information about your browsing habits in order to make advertising relevant to you and your interests.
While locational information derived from your IP address is collected, it is not possible for the administrators of Research Matters to identify your precise IP address. We would not be able to discover your exact location and would not seek to do so.
However, if you wish to restrict or block the cookies which are set by the Research Matters blog, or indeed any other website, you can do this through your browser settings. The Help function within your browser should tell you how. Alternatively, you may wish to visit www.aboutcookies.org which contains comprehensive information on how to do this on a wide variety of browsers. You will also find details on how to delete cookies from your computer as well as more general information about cookies. For information on how to do this on the browser of your mobile phone you will need to refer to your handset manual. Please be aware that restricting cookies may impact on the functionality of the website.
Cookies set by third party sites
When you visit a page with content embedded from or that links to, for example, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube or Twitter, you may be presented with cookies from these websites. The Northern Ireland Assembly Commission does not control the dissemination of these cookies. You should check the relevant third party website for more information about these. We would urge you to review these as they will govern the use of information you submit or which is collected by cookies whilst visiting these websites.
To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org
To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites download the Google Analytics opt-out tool.
What is the lawful basis for processing my personal information?
Article 6 (page 36) of the General Data Protection Regulation sets out the legal basis for legitimate processing of personal data. In the case of Research Matters, the legal basis is as follows:
‘(a) the data subject has given consent to the processing of his or her personal data for one or more specific purposes’.
Do you share my personal data with anyone else?
As referred to above, subscriber email addresses are held within our WordPress account but can only be accessed by the Research Matters administrators via a password. These email addresses will not be shared with anyone else. Automattic, the parent company responsible for WordPress, has created a page setting out how it intends to meet the requirements of GDPR, including how it handles data on behalf of others.
As the Research Matters website uses a WordPress platform, the email addresses of subscribers may be transferred to a WordPress server for storage. Further details of WordPress compliance with data protection legislation are available on their website. A wider privacy policy from WordPress is also available.
Contact information supplied via the Research Matters contact form will not be shared with any other service. Depending on the nature of the enquiry, it may be necessary to share the substance of a contact email with other Assembly staff in order to respond to the enquirer with the correct information.
Cookie data is processed by Google Analytics. As referred to above, Google Analytics has its own privacy policy.
How long do you keep my personal data?
Email subscribers
Email addresses will be held for as long as the subscriber wishes to keep being informed of new blog content; subscribers can unsubscribe at any time and will be provided with the option of doing so at the footer of every notification email.
Contact information
Contact information supplied via the contact webform will only be retained for as long as is required to answer the query; thereafter, it will be deleted immediately.
Cookies
Changes to this Privacy Notice
This Cookie Statement and Privacy Notice will be reviewed and updated regularly. It was last updated on 6 October 2024.
What rights do I have?
Under data protection law, you have rights including:
- Your right of access – You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.
- Your right to rectification – You have the right to ask us to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.
- Your right to erasure – You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.
- Your right to restriction of processing – You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
- Your right to object to processing – You have the the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
- Your right to data portability – You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.
You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.
Where can I obtain further information?
If you want to request information about this Privacy Notice, or if you would like to make an enquiry about personal information we may hold about you, please contact us at:
Data Controller Name: Northern Ireland Assembly Commission
Address: Parliament Buildings, Ballymiscaw, Stormont, Belfast BT4 3XX
Data Protection and Governance Officer: Donna-Marie Clark
Email: dpo@niassembly.gov.uk
Telephone: 028 90 521147
If you are still not happy, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO):
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Email: casework@ico.org.uk
Website: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/
Last updated: 06.10.2024
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