Welcome to Dementia Friendly East Lothian (“DFEL”, “we”, “our”, or “us”). We are committed to protecting and respecting your personal privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your personal information when you visit our website at Home or interact with our network.

If you have any questions about this policy or how we handle your data, you can reach us at:

• Email: sue@dfel.org.uk
• Phone: 07727883881

We may collect and process the following data about you:

• Contact Information: Such as your name, email address, or phone number when you voluntarily get in touch via email, phone, or sign up for our updates, events, or community gatherings.
• Website Usage Data: Information about your visit to our website, including your IP address, browser type, pages visited, and the times and dates of your visits, collected through standard web analytics and cookies.

We use the information we hold about you in the following ways:

• To respond to your inquiries, questions, or requests for support.
• To share information about our network, events, workshops, Gatherings & Events, and local stories (with your consent).
• To improve our website and ensure content is presented effectively for you.
• To manage our community network and coordinate community-led health and brain health initiatives.

We process your personal data under the following legal bases:

• Consent: Where you have explicitly agreed to let us use your data (e.g., subscribing to updates or registering for an event).
• Legitimate Interests: Where it is necessary for our legitimate organisational interests in running Dementia Friendly East Lothian, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights.
• Legal Obligation: Where we need to comply with a legal requirement.

Our website may use cookies to distinguish you from other users, helping us provide you with a good experience when you browse our site. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, though this may affect how parts of the website function.

We treat your personal information with strict confidentiality. We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal data to third parties. We may share your information only:

• With trusted service providers who assist us in operating our website (under strict data protection agreements).
• If required to do so by law or to protect the safety of our community members.

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to secure your personal data against unauthorised access, loss, or alteration. We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

Under data protection laws, 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 information you think is inaccurate.
• Your right to erasure: You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.
• Your right to withdraw consent: Where we rely on consent to process your data, you can withdraw it at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at sue@dfel.org.uk.

We keep this privacy policy under regular review. Any updates will be posted directly on this page.