Privacy policy

Who we are

The Coal Authority makes a better future for people and the environment in mining areas.

The Coal Authority is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

We are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

This policy sets out the basis on how any personal data we collect from you or you provide to us, will be processed.

By visiting this website, you are accepting and consenting to the terms of use and this will include collecting, storing and processing personal data that you provide by using any of these services.

Who is the Data Protection Officer?

Our Data Protection Officer (DPO) is Clare Wasteney, who can be contacted at dataprotection@coal.gov.uk if you have any questions about this policy.

The type of personal information we collect and how we collect it:

We currently collect and process the following information about you, most of the data we process comes from you:

information that you provide to us could include your name, address, phone number, email address or other personal information which forms communications with us relating to Subsidence Damage Claims, Hazards/Incidents, Mining Information, Property, Planning, Licencing, Permits, Stakeholder Engagement and Inspection programmes;
information you provide to us by means of a complaint or completing feedback forms and surveys;
attending our webinars or subscribing to our services;
recruitment and employment;
you may give us information about yourself by filling in forms on our www.groundstability.com or www2.groundstability.com website our recruitment portal and registering with our financial portal.

What do we use your personal data for?

We may use information held about you in the following ways:

to carry out our statutory obligations under the Coal Industry Act 1994 and the Coal Mining Subsidence Act 1991 and any other statutory obligations we have;
where we need to carry out a specific task which is in the public interest which is laid down by law i.e. our public task duties;
where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests;
to carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us and to provide you with the information, products and services that you request from us;
for internal record keeping;
to provide you with information about other goods and services we offer that are similar to those that you have already purchased or enquired about;
to provide you with recommendations, suggestions and information about goods or services we feel may be of interest to you;
only if you have opted in as an existing customer, will we contact you by electronic means (email or mailchimp with information about services similar to those, you have received from us previously. If you do not want us to use your data in this way for direct marketing purposes, you can unsubscribe using the link on www.groundstability.com or www2.groundstability.com
to notify you about changes to our service;
to administer our website and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes;
to improve our website to ensure that content is presented in the most effective manner for you and your computer;
as part of our efforts to keep our website safe and secure;
if you use our online mining reports service, we will occasionally email you service information about the availability of this service during planned maintenance windows;
You can unsubscribe from our services (Con29m webinars) at any time by using the link on www.groundstability.com or www2.groundstability.com

Do you have to provide your personal data?

In most cases, providing your personal data to us is optional. However, if you do not provide it, we may not be able to fulfil the service you have requested. For example if you order a product from our services, we will need details such as name, address and payment card details to be able to take payment and deliver your product to you. In other cases, you may have a choice as to whether we collect your personal data.

If you representing or acting on behalf of another person, before you disclose any personal information relating to another person(s) to us, you must ensure that the person consents or that you have legal powers to disclose it. Please ask them to read this policy to find out how we will process their personal information.

What are the legal grounds for processing your personal data?

UK GDPR and Data Protection law require us to tell you what legal basis we use for processing your personal data. We use your personal data for the following:

to carry out our statutory obligations under the Coal Industry Act 1994 and the Coal Mining Subsidence Act 1991and any other legislation which is applicable to us;
when the processing is necessary to perform a contract with you (i.e. the contract of sale and purchase of a product/service), or to take steps requested by you before entering into a contract;
the processing is in our legitimate interests, and these interests are not overridden by your interests or rights in the protection of your personal data;
the processing is necessary to meet a legal obligations which applies to us.

We may process your personal information for more than one lawful basis depending on the specific purposes for which we are using your information.

Recruitment

In the event that you use our website recruitment portal, we may use your personal information to:

allow you to access some of the services available on our website recruitment portal (e.g. enable you to apply for any of the jobs advertised on our website);
remember your search preferences (e.g. remember jobs you have previously searched for);
send you an email notification if a vacancy is published that matches your job alert criteria;
assist us in monitoring the effectiveness of our equal opportunities policy.

We will process additional personal information that you provide to us for recruitment and employment purposes. (for example: ethnic origin, gender, details of any disabilities, academic qualifications, employment history, memberships that are relevant to the position you are applying for, and nominated referees (including: name, address and email address) and any documents you supply such as your CV).

If you use our website recruitment portal to apply for a role with us and you are successful in the application process and accept a position with the Coal Authority, the data you entered at the time of the application stage (including attached documents such as CV’s and certificates) may be transferred to your employee record. If you are unsuccessful then your details will be erased after 12 months unless you make a request for deletion before this time.

When you use our website recruitment portal, you may provide us with information that the law considers to fall within special categories (for example, details of your ethnic origin or of any disabilities) in which case, we use one of the following grounds:

the processing is necessary to carry out our or your legal obligations and exercise our or your rights relating to employment law, social security and social protection law;
the processing is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

Data that we collect through the use by you of our website recruitment portal may be shared with third parties at appropriate times, e.g. for the purpose of background checks. Statistical information about our users may also be provided to third parties but this data will be minimised, aggregated or anonymised so the third party will not be able to identify any individual user.

Who do we share your personal data with?

We will not share your information with any third parties for direct marketing. We may share your information with third parties including:

business partners, suppliers, contractors and sub-contractors for the performance of any contract we enter into with them or you;
analytics and search engine providers that assist us in the improvement and optimisation of our site.

We may disclose your personal information to third parties without your knowledge:

if we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligations.

Data Security

We have put in place:

measures to protect the security of your information;
appropriate technical, physical and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect about you;
procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach and will notify you and the regulator of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so;
that our third-party service providers will only process your personal information on our instructions and with our agreement, and where they have agreed to treat the information confidentially and to keep it secure.

How long do we keep your personal data?

We may retain your information in order to comply with our legal and statutory grounds for processing your data. We aim to retain your personal information for only as long as it is necessary for us to do so for the purposes for which we are using it and in line with our retention and disposal policy.

International transfers

The Coal Authority will not process your personal data outside the UK and European Economic Area (EEA), or by an international organisation. However, it may be transferred and stored securely outside the European Union where it is shared with our data processor from our IT infrastructure for example Cloud service providers Where that is the case, it will be subject to equivalent legal protection through the use of contractual clauses.

Your data protection rights?

You have rights in relation to your personal data these include:

accessing your data;
correcting any mistakes;
having your data erased;
restricting the processing of your data;
objecting to the processing of your data;
data portability and
rights relating to automated decision making and profiling.

To exercise your rights please contact our Data Protection Officer

View further information on the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) website.

Contact and complaints

If you have any concerns about how we use your personal data please contact our Data Protection Officer Clare Wasteney at dataprotection@coal.gov.uk

If you are unhappy about how we are processing your data or how we have responded to a request, you have the right to make a complaint through the Coal Authority’s complaints policy this can be found at the following link Complaints procedure – Coal Authority – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

You have the right to make a complaint to the UK’s data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)

The ICO’s address:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Later
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Helpline: 0303 123 1113

ICO Website: https://www.ico.org.uk