Privacy Policy

Who we are

Hospitality Industry Trust (HIT) Scotland are the charity partner for this event.  Our address is PO Box 14598, Milnathort, Kinross KY13 9WS and we are a registered charity SCIO number SC047053.  

Privacy

This Privacy Policy along with our Cookies Policy sets out how HIT Scotland uses and protects any information that you give when you use this website or interact with HIT Scotland.  HIT Scotland is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Should we ask you to provide certain information when using this website by which you can be identified, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement, and with any consent given by you.

HIT Scotland may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are happy with any changes.

The types of information we collect

We collect personally identifiable information, like names, companies, postal addresses, and email addresses, when voluntarily submitted by our visitors. The information you provide is used to fulfil your specific request, unless you give us permission to use it in another manner, for example to add you to one of our mailing lists.  If you contact us, we may keep a record of that correspondence.

How we may use the information collected - and how long we will keep it

We use this information to understand your needs and fulfil your request, and in particular for the following reasons:

  • Tourism and Hospitality Talent Development Programme

    • Application.  We will keep any personal data you provide secure, and will only use this for the purposes of this programme.  Information will be shared with the funders of the project via Skills Development Scotland (SDS) as part of the programme evaluation, but this will be kept secure and not used for any other purpose.  Your contact details are not shared with other participants, only your name will be visible during communication in the online training. We will keep a list of applicants for reference purposes.

    • Equalities and Diversity monitoring. This information will be shared with SDS for monitoring purposes, and will only be used in an anonymised form, so this cannot be linked to you personally. HIT will keep this data for evaluation purposes, but again, this will not be linked to you personally.

    • Evaluation.  We will not use your data in any way that will allow you to be identified. Your email,  name and administrative data will be collated alongside your response. We will retain this personal data until the results have been fully analysed, after which we will delete the data that allows you to be identified.

  • Mental Health and Wellbeing Training Development Programme

    • Application.  We will keep any personal data you provide secure, and will only use this for the purposes of this programme.  If you are not accepted on to the programme, your application information will be deleted. Information from successful applicants will be shared with the funders of the project via Skills Development Scotland (SDS) as part of the programme evaluation, but this will be kept secure and not used for any other purpose.  Your contact details are not shared with other participants. We will keep a list of applicants for reference purposes.

    • Equalities and Diversity monitoring. This information will be shared with SDS for monitoring purposes, and will only be used in an anonymised form, so this cannot be linked to you personally. HIT will keep this data for evaluation purposes, but again, this will not be linked to you personally.

    • Evaluation.  We will not use your data in any way that will allow you to be identified. Your email,  name and administrative data will be collated alongside your response. We will retain this personal data until the results have been fully analysed, after which we will delete the data that allows you to be identified.

  • Contact us - If you contact us via the website contact form, we will use the information given to provide you with an answer to the question you have asked.  We will keep a note of this correspondence indefinitely as we need this as a record of who has been in touch and why.  Legal basis - there is a legitimate interest for us to keep this.

  • Scholarships - If you apply for a HIT Scotland scholarship, you must do this via our application form on our website. We will use the information provided to consider you for one of our scholarships, and to contact you about this. If you are successful, we will use the information to fulfill your scholarship (this may mean providing some details to the scholarship provider), and your information will be stored indefinitely, as a record that you received a scholarship. We need this information to possibly use for case studies and to be able to contact you for this purpose, and for future research about who applied for what. If you were unsuccessful in your scholarship application, the information will be stored indefinitely as a record that you applied for a scholarship. Legal basis - we have your consent to do this, and it is relevant that we keep a note of who applied for what, and the results.

  • Scholarship feedback - After you complete a scholarship we require your feedback on how it was, to allow us to improve scholarships going forward. We will keep all the information indefinitely. We need this for reference for future scholarships and for possible case studies, where we may then need to contact you. Legal basis - legitimate interest as we need this information to help us improve, and as a record of how the scholarship was.

  • Scholarship expenses - If you have expenses to claim for your scholarship, we will use the information provided to process your scholarship expense payment.  Any personal details submitted to HIT Scotland will be deleted from our system after one month.  Our accounts software keeps a record of the bank details to show where the money was paid, and our bank account keeps a record of where payments were made.  Legal basis - you have consented to provide this information to allow payment, and it is a legal requirement to keep bank and accounting records.

  • Event bookings - If you book tickets for an event, we will use the information to process event tickets bookings as required, or to provide to any third party events producers to process event ticket bookings on our behalf. We keep a record of your name, company, telephone and email indefinitely as a record that you booked and attended the event. Information will be retained within our accounts software. Legal basis - it is our legitimate interest to use this information to process your booking, we need to keep a record of bookers, and we have a legal obligation to keep payment information within our accounts software.

  • Event auction prizes - If you buy an auction prize at a HIT event and provide information so you can be invoiced and pay for the prize, your information will be used to fulfil the prize, and process the payment. This information will be kept indefinitely as a record that you bought this prize. Information will be retained within our accounts software. Any handwritten forms will be stored securely, scanned into the system as proof that you bought the item, and then shredded once dealt with. We do not write down or keep any card details. Legal basis - you have provided this information to allow us to process your payment, and we have a legal obligation to keep payment information within our accounts software.

  • Post event survey - If you agree to receive an email with a post event survey, your information will only be used to send that survey email.  Consent information will be stored indefinitely as proof that you agreed to receive this. Your information will not be used for anything else.  Legal basis - you have given consent for this.

  • Event photographs - HIT show a gallery of photos taken at their events. If you do not want your photograph to be used, you should make this clear to HIT Scotland or their event team, so they know not to use your picture. Photos will not be shown with names. If you want a photograph removed from the site, tell us and we will remove this. Legal basis - legitimate interest to show what happened at our events to encourage others to attend in future.

  • Foreign trips - If you are booking an event organised by us to a foreign country, or your scholarship involves a visit to a foreign country, then we will use the information provided by you to process and organise this trip. Passport information will be held until three months after you return from the trip and then will be deleted. Remaining personal data will be deleted after one year from the trip returning, leaving only your name, company and contact details which we will keep indefinitely as a record of you having been on the trip. Legal basis - we have your consent to do this.

  • Enewsletter mailing list - If you agree to be on HIT Scotland’s enewsletter mailing list, you will have provided specific consent for this, which we will keep a record of indefinitely. HIT uses Mailchimp (based in USA) and their technology tracks who opens and clicks an email to show what is being viewed to help us know what people are interested in, and so provide useful content. Subscribers can unsubscribe from this list at any time to stop receiving information via this automated system. This contact information will never be shared with anyone else, and will not be used for any other purpose. Legal basis - you have given consent to receive emails, and your information will be kept within the Mailchimp system until you ask to be removed.

  • Financial - We are legally required to hold some personal information to fulfil statutory obligations, for example for the collection of Gift Aid or to support certain financial transactions.

  • Contact database for business development - HIT Scotland keep a list of companies that we have spoken with, with notes of what we’ve discussed. This includes name, company, email and telephone contact details. Legal basis - it is in our legitimate interest to keep this information to allow us to track what we have done.

  • Improvements - We may use the information you provide to improve our scholarships, events and our website.  Legal basis - it is a legitimate interest to do this to help us improve our service.

  • Email archive - general email correspondence will be archived after dealt with, and deleted after 10 years.  Emails will be deleted every year in July.

  • We will not contact you again if you ask us not to.

  • If you send any content that we believe to be inappropriate or content in breach of any laws, such as defamatory content, we may use your personal information to inform relevant third parties such as your internet provider or law enforcement agencies.

Security

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites, not controlled by HIT Scotland.  They are not governed by this privacy statement, and we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites.  You should consult the privacy policy on any external website you link to before you submit any data to those websites.

Controlling your personal information

You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the following ways:

  • If you have previously agreed to be added to our mailing list, you may change your mind at any time by writing to or emailing us at info@hitscotland.co.uk or by unsubscribing via the link on all our email newsletters

  • If you have previously agreed to be contacted again by HIT Scotland, you may change your mind at any time by writing or emailing us at info@hitscotland.co.uk .

  • You have the ‘right to be forgotten’ whereby we will remove all personal information we hold on you.  Please contact info@hitscotland.co.uk with this request.

  • You have the right to find out what personal information we hold on you.  Please contact info@hitscotland.co.uk with this request.

  • We will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties.  We will only pass on personal information with your permission, or when we are required by law to do so.

If you believe that the information we hold on you is incorrect, please email info@hitscotland.co.uk and we will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect.

Credit cards

We do not store credit card details nor do we share customer details with any third parties.

Website

The HIT Scotland website is hosted by Square Space which is a company based in USA, but whose European clients are serviced via Ireland.  Visitors have the option of agreeing to Cookies for 30 days, or not. Saying no to Cookies means certain parts of the website will not function properly.

Contact

If you have any questions about this policy or would like to see the information we hold about you, please contact info@hitscotland.co.uk with “Data Protection” in the subject line, or write to HIT Scotland, PO Box 14598, Milnathort, Kinross KY13 9WS.

You must first provide proof of identification before any information will be removed or shared with you.