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Privacy and Terms of Use

West Lothian Council uses reasonable efforts to include comprehensive and up-date information on this website. It does not however, make any representation as to its accuracy or completeness. West Lothian Council, its suppliers and other parties involved in creating and delivering this website's contents are not liable for any damages arising from use of this site.

Privacy statement 

West Lothian Council are committed to protecting the privacy of those using our website and the confidentiality of any personal information which is provided to us.

We will always ensure that your personal information is kept accurate and secure, in line with data protection legislation, and we will only collect the minimum information necessary to fulfil a particular purpose; when we don't have a need to keep information about you, it will be disposed of in a secure manner.

We will never share your personal information with third parties for commercial or marketing purposes, without your explicit consent.

Note that this privacy policy does not cover links within this site to other third party websites.

Information and service requests

If you request information or a service via email, letter or telephone, we may need your personal details to process that request.

Online forms

There are a range of online forms to allow you to make comment or request particular services. Some forms are available to fill in anonymously, where others require you to provide your details. A privacy notice is displayed with the form provided by the service who will deal with your request. This will provide information on any personal information collected and how it will be used.

If you are required to provide personal information we will use it only to process your request and thereafter in accordance with the data protection legislation for the services provided.

Your rights

If you do not wish certain information about you to be shared within the council or other agencies, you can request that this does not happen by contacting customer.service@westlothian.gov.uk (opens new window).

Further Information

For more information, visit Data Protection and GDPR

Copyright

Copyright of the content of the council website - consisting of design, text, graphics, images, source code and other materials - remains at all times the property of the council or with associated third parties.

The council grants permission to electronically copy, and print to hard copy, and otherwise to use information from this website only for private or educational use, and in terms of the legislation on the re-use of public information..

The Council will use its best endeavours to refrain from using material in which the copyright belongs to another party except where permitted by law or with the consent of the copyright holder. Where appropriate, the council will acknowledge copyright belonging to third parties in relation to any such material used.

Paying online

Capita, as electronic payment processing service provider, confirms that it has achieved Level 1 PCI-DSS accreditation status and all its procedures adhere to PCI-DSS requirements. Capita acknowledges that it is responsible for the security of cardholder data which it possesses.

As  PCI DSS level 1 accredited provider this ensures that all card processing on behalf of the council is managed and audited in line with payment card industry security standards and the council's requirements.

Social Media

You can now connect with West Lothian Council through a variety of social media channels:

Site Use Policy for West Lothian Council Social Media Channels

The council accept that those using these Social Media Channels have a right to free speech. However, the Council reserves the right to remove posts and any part of their contents comments without notification, including those which:

  • bully, harass or intimidate any individual, group of individuals or organisation
  • are unlawful, libelous, defamatory, abusive, threatening, harmful, obscene, profane, sexually oriented or racially offensive
  • infringe or violate someone else's rights
  • breach the law
  • discuss ongoing legal proceedings which may result in allegations of contempt of court
  • may result in the council breaching the legal restrictions on using council resources to produce or facilitate party political publicity, especially in periods immediately prior to elections and referenda
  • are spam
  • advertise products or services
  • are irrelevant or off-topic
  • are disruptive
  • are repetitive.

The council will also remove or block any user who:

  • continues to post comments such as those listed above
  • uses offensive images as their profile picture, for example, sexually explicit images
  • has an offensive user name.

These lists are not exhaustive and will be updated as necessary. 

The council reserves the right to report any user to the police or other appropriate authority in relation to anything done in breach of its Site Use policy. 

The council's Facebook page is not a customer service channel - if you have an urgent query, please email customer.service@westlothian.gov.uk (opens new window) or phone 01506 280000.