Privacy Policy

Whitehouse Communications Privacy Policy

Whitehouse Communications is a UK and EU-based integrated communications, public affairs and public relations agency.

The Company’s Privacy Notice is designed to inform users of our practices relating to the collection, use and disclosure of personal information which may have been provided to us or collected from publicly available sources.

By consenting to this privacy notice, you are giving us permission to process your personal data specifically for the purposes identified.

Consent is required for Whitehouse Communications to process personal data, but it must be explicitly given. Where we are asking you for sensitive personal data, we will always tell you why and how the information will be used.

You may withdraw your consent at any time by emailing the company’s Data Protection Contact with your request.

  1. What information does Whitehouse Communications collect?

Under General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), personal data is defined as:

“Any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person”.

The personal data we may collect may include:

  • Name
  • Postal Address (either home or work), e-mail address and contact telephone number
  • Job title
  • Employment role
  • Age
  • Ethnicity
  • Nationality
  • Occupation
  • Place of employment
  • Work history
  • Other information you may have provided us with or which is in the public domain

We aim to not be intrusive and undertake to not ask any irrelevant or unnecessary questions. Moreover, the information you provide will be subject to rigorous measures and procedures to minimise the risk of unauthorised access or disclosure, with secure data systems scrutinised regularly senior members of staff.

We may collect and process data on:

  • Business-to- Business Contacts
  • Clients (and individuals associated with clients)
  • Members of Parliament and the House of Lords
  • Members of the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and Northern Irish Assembly
  • Members of the European Commission, Council and Parliament
  • Elected Representatives in Regional & Local Government
  • Senior Civil Servants
  • Journalists
  • Suppliers
  • Staff
  • Persons who supply us with their information
  • Shareholders of both our company and that of our clients
  • Visitors to our offices

The activities that we may use data for are:

  • Client work
  • Fundraising activities
  • Human resources
  • Informative emails
  • Invitations to events
  • Managing our relationship with you
  • Market Research
  • Marketing
  • Promoting our business or the business of our clients
  • Research

Whitehouse Communications will process personal data in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and PECR for all the time that it is still lawful and valid to do so. The Company will store the personal data for varying periods and this will be reviewed at least annually.

  1. What basis does Whitehouse Communications have for processing and collecting your personal data?

The Company will only process and/or collect personal data where we have a lawful and valid reason for doing so, such as:

  • The processing and or collecting is necessary for the performance of a contract you are party to or in order to take steps at your request prior to you entering into a contract;
  • The processing in necessary in order for us to comply with our legal obligations;
  • You have consented to us holding such data for purposes agreed with you; and/or
  • The processing or collection is necessary for the pursuit of our legitimate business interests
  1. Access to, and correction of, your personal information?

Whitehouse Communications will, at your request, confirm what (if any) information we hold about you and how this is processed. Where the Company does hold personal data about you, under certain circumstances you have the following rights:

  • To ask us to provide you, or a third party with your express consent, with copies of personal information we hold about you at any time, and to be informed of the contents and origin, verify its accuracy, or else request that such information be supplemented, updated or rectified according to the provisions of local law.
  • To request erasure, anonymisation or blocking of your personal information that is processed in breach of the law;
  • To object on legitimate grounds to the processing of your personal information and request that we desist in doing so. Where we may not be able to stop using your personal information, if that is the case, we’ll let you know why.
  • To withdraw consent – When personal information is processed on the basis of consent, an individual may withdraw consent at any time (this may apply to processing of special categories of personal information where you have instructed us to act on your behalf and includes the following: racial/ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs and trade union membership). In the event that you no longer want to receive any marketing material from us, please use the unsubscribe option (which is in our marketing e-mails to you), or contact our Company’s Data Controller as set out below.

To exercise such rights (bar withdrawing from marketing emails – as described above) and if you have any questions about how we collect, store and use Personal Data, then please contact us using the details as set out in the “Data Controller contact information” section below.

Any of the above requests will be forwarded on should there be a third party involved in the processing of your personal data.

  1. Cookies & Websites

Our website and websites we maintain on behalf of clients use cookies to collect information. A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

Our website uses traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about web page traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes and then the data is removed from the system.

Cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us. We do not use cookie technology to collect personal information about you.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. Please note that if you do this it may prevent you from taking full advantage of the functionality of the website.

We use Google Analytics 4 to understand how visitors interact with our website, to provide better user experiences, and to optimize our marketing efforts. Google may collect and use data through GA4 for its own purposes, subject to its privacy policy. We encourage you to review Google’s privacy policy for more information. https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest operated by third parties. However, once you have used these links to leave our website, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such websites and such websites are not governed by this privacy policy. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

The below list details the cookies used in our website.

You can at any time change or withdraw your consent from the Cookie Declaration on our website

Change Cookie Preferences

Your consent applies to the following domains: https://whitehousecomms.com/ 

  1. Sharing data with third parties

We may pass your personal data on to third-party service providers contracted to the Company in the course of our dealings with you. Any third parties that we may share your data with are obliged to keep your details securely, and to use them only to fulfil the service required. When they no longer need your data to fulfil this service, they will dispose of the details in line with the Company’s procedures. If we wish to pass your sensitive personal data onto a third party we will only do so once we have obtained your consent unless we are legally required to do so.

  1. Contact Details of Our Data/GDPR Controller

Sherina Lewis
Whitehouse Communications Ltd
London
10 Polperro Mews
London SE11 4TY

t: +44(0) 20 3855 5760
e: sherina.lewis@whitehousecomms.com

  1. Updates to this Policy

This Policy was last updated in March 2023. Please check back regularly to keep informed of updates to this Policy.

  1. Complaints

In the unlikely event that you feel that you need to complain about our use of your personal data, and we have not been able to resolve this internally, you have a right to complain to the Information Commissioners Office.

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

www.ico.org.uk
E-Mail: casework@ico.org.uk
Telephone: 0303 123 1113

What is this Privacy Policy for?

This privacy policy is for this website whitehousecomms.com and served by Whitehouse Communications Limited and governs the privacy of its users who choose to use it.

The policy sets out the different areas where user privacy is concerned and outlines the obligations & requirements of the users, the website and website owners. Furthermore, the way this website processes, stores and protects user data and information will also be detailed within this policy.

The Website

This website and its owners take a proactive approach to user privacy and ensure the necessary steps are taken to protect the privacy of its users throughout their visiting experience. This website complies with all UK national laws and requirements for user privacy.

Contact & Communication

Users contacting this website and/or its owners do so at their own discretion and provide any such personal details requested at their own risk. Your personal information is kept private and stored securely until a time it is no longer required or has no use, as detailed in the Data Protection Act 1998. Every effort has been made to ensure a safe and secure form to email submission process but advise users using such form to email processes that they do so at their own risk.

This website and its owners use any information submitted to provide you with further information about the products / services they offer or to assist you in answering any questions or queries you may have submitted. This includes using your details to subscribe you to any email newsletter program the website operates but only if this was made clear to you and your express permission was granted when submitting any form to email process. Or whereby you the consumer have previously purchased from or enquired about purchasing from the company a product or service that the email newsletter relates to. This is by no means an entire list of your user rights in regard to receiving email marketing material. Your details are not passed on to any third parties.

Email Newsletter

This website operates an email newsletter program, used to inform subscribers about products and services supplied by this website. Users can subscribe through an online automated process should they wish to do so but do so at their own discretion. Some subscriptions may be manually processed through prior written agreement with the user.

Subscriptions are taken in compliance with UK Spam Laws detailed in the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003. All personal details relating to subscriptions are held securely and in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. No personal details are passed on to third parties nor shared with companies / people outside of the company that operates this website. Under the Data Protection Act 1998 you may request a copy of personal information held about you by this website’s email newsletter program. A small fee will be payable. If you would like a copy of the information held on you please write to the business address at the bottom of this policy.

Email marketing campaigns published by this website or its owners may contain tracking facilities within the actual email. Subscriber activity is tracked and stored in a database for future analysis and evaluation. Such tracked activity may include; the opening of emails, forwarding of emails, the clicking of links within the email content, times, dates and frequency of activity [this is by no far a comprehensive list].

This information is used to refine future email campaigns and supply the user with more relevant content based around their activity.

In compliance with UK Spam Laws and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 subscribers are given the opportunity to un-subscribe at any time through an automated system. This process is detailed at the footer of each email campaign. If an automated un-subscription system is unavailable clear instructions on how to un-subscribe will by detailed instead.

External Links

Although this website only looks to include quality, safe and relevant external links users should always adopt a policy of caution before clicking any external web links mentioned throughout this website.

The owners of this website cannot guarantee or verify the contents of any externally linked website despite their best efforts. Users should therefore note they click on external links at their own risk. This website and its owners cannot be held liable for any damages or implications caused by visiting any external links mentioned.

Social Media Platforms

Communication, engagement and actions taken through external social media platforms that this website and its owners participate on are custom to the terms and conditions as well as the privacy policies held with each social media platform respectively.

Users are advised to use social media platforms wisely and communicate / engage upon them with due care and caution in regard to their own privacy and personal details. This website nor its owners will ever ask for personal or sensitive information through social media platforms and encourage users wishing to discuss sensitive details to contact them through primary communication channels such as by telephone or email.

This website may use social sharing buttons which help share web content directly from web pages to the social media platform in question. Users are advised before using such social sharing buttons that they do so at their own discretion and note that the social media platform may track and save your request to share a web page respectively through your social media platform account.

Shortened Links in Social Media

This website and its owners through their social media platform accounts may share web links to relevant web pages. By default, some social media platforms shorten lengthy URL’s [web addresses] (this is an example: http://bit.ly/zyVUBo).

Users are advised to take caution and good judgement before clicking any shortened URL’s published on social media platforms by this website and it’s owners. Despite the best efforts to ensure only genuine URL’s are published many social media platforms are prone to spam and hacking and therefore this website and its owners cannot be held liable for any damages or implications caused by visiting any shortened links.