The Met Office takes the privacy of its customers very seriously. This privacy policy explains how we use any personal information we collect about you when you use this website www.metoffice.gov.uk and all associated Met Office micro-sites linked to this website (collectively "Our Site").  We also comply fully with the Data Protection Act 1998 (the "Act").

For the purposes of the Act, the data controller is the Met Office, FitzRoy Road, Exeter, Devon, EX1 3PB.  The Met Office is an Executive Agency of the United Kingdom's Department for Business, Innovations and Skills. The Met Office is registered under the Data Protection Act 1998 (in the name of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills), Registration No. Z1839175.

Find out about:

• Personal information we may collect from you
• How we will use information about you
• Where we store and process your personal information
• Disclosure of your information
• Security of payment transactions
• Cookies
• Access to your information and correction
• Other websites
• Changes to our privacy policy
• How to contact us

Personal information we may collect from you

We may collect and process the following data about you:

• Information that you provide if you register on Our Site or place an order for data or data services together with the details necessary to administer your account.
• Information that you provide by filling in forms on Our Site and subscribing to the services available on Our Site.
• Information that you provide to us when you write to us (including by email and fax) or when we speak to you by telephone.
• Information that you provide to us by completing surveys or participating in competitions.
• Details of your visits to Our Site and the resources you access to enable us to monitor and improve our service and to know which parts of Our Site are of most interest to our customers and visitors to Our Site.

How we will use information about you

We may use information about you in the following ways:

• Registration details and customer information will be used to administer your account, to keep a record of which services you have subscribed to and to deliver the services you have requested.
• To provide you with information about Met Office offers and services that you request from us or which we believe may be of interest to you, where you have consented to be contacted for such purposes. You have the right to ask us not to process your personal information for marketing purposes and if at any time you wish to opt out of such use then you may contact opt-out@metoffice.gov.uk.
• To ensure that content from Our Site is presented in the most effective manner.
• To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us.
• From time to time we may also permit selected third parties to use your data to provide you with information about goods and services which may be of interest to you, provided that you have consented to third parties contacting you in this way. You have the right to ask us not to process your personal information for marketing purposes and if at any time you wish to opt out of such use then you may contact opt-out@metoffice.gov.uk.

We do not sell or rent out personal information to any other organisations.

We do not disclose information about identifiable individuals to our advertisers, but we may provide them with aggregate information about visitors to Our Site. For example, we may provide our advertisers with an anonymous summary of the demographics of visitors to Our Site or with statistics relating to site usage.

If you do not want us to use your personal information in one or more of the ways mentioned above, please contact opt-out@metoffice.gov.uk. You can also manage your preferences in some services at any time by logging in and accessing your account information.

Where we store and process your personal information

The Met Office is responsible for the processing of your personal information.

Our technology services providers or other contracted service providers, may also have access or store data for us, but solely for use on behalf of the Met Office in accordance with our instructions and under our control. Secure credit card and payment authorisation is handled by our payment provider, DataCash.

By submitting your personal information, you agree to this transfer, storing and/or processing. We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your information is treated securely and in accordance with this privacy policy.

Your information will not be transferred abroad, but you may be able to access your own registration details over the Internet from locations abroad. This privacy policy covers just processing by the Met Office and does not cover any processing which may be carried out by your Internet service provider.

You may also access your registration details through the relevant customer administration page, using your customer password. Access is strictly controlled and password protected. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access certain parts of Our Site, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential.

Disclosure of your information

We may disclose your personal information to third parties:

• If we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal information in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our Website Terms of Use and/or other agreements; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of us, our customers, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations, such as credit reference agencies and fraud prevention agencies, for the purposes of fraud protection and prevention, credit risk reduction and to pursue debtors.
• In any other manner mentioned elsewhere in this policy.

Security of payment transactions

The Met Office takes great care to ensure the security of this site and your personal information. Where credit card information is collected, we use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or equivalent secure technology with 128-bit encryption.

SSL is the industry standard method of encrypting personal information and credit card details so that they can be securely transferred over the Internet. This means that you can purchase online with complete peace of mind.

Cookies

We collect all information that is sent to us as configured within your web browser including, where available, your IP address, operating system and browser type and may use this information to report aggregate information to our advertisers and any relevant third parties. This information is stored and managed anonymously and independently from your personal details. This information is statistical data about our users' browsing actions and patterns and does not identify any individual.

Like many other websites, we use cookies on Our Site to obtain information about your general Internet usage. A cookie is a small piece of data that your Internet browser stores on your hard drive and is used when you visit the site to tailor your viewing and provide you with customised information. Only the information that you provide, or your preferences while visiting a website, can be stored in a cookie. For example, Our Site cannot determine personal details, such as your email address, unless you choose to submit them.

For pages which require registration, cookies need to be enabled. You can set your browser to either accept cookies or to prompt to accept cookies so that you can access these pages. The browser you are using should have specific instructions on how to control the acceptance of cookies and also how to delete unwanted cookies from your hard drive.

Please note that our advertisers may also use cookies, over which we have no control.

Cookies

Access to your information and correction

Access to personal information which we may hold about you can be requested in writing to the Data Protection Officer at the address below or by sending an email to dataprotection@metoffice.gov.uk. We may require proof of identity in relation to any such request and may also make a small charge for this service.

Data Protection Officer
Met Office
FitzRoy Road
Exeter
Devon
EX1 3PB
United Kingdom

We want to make sure that your personal information is accurate and up to date. You may ask us to correct or remove information you think is inaccurate.

Other websites

Our Site contains links to other websites.  If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that they have their own privacy policies and we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies.

Changes to our privacy policy

This privacy policy may occasionally be updated or amended therefore we advise you to revisit this page regularly. This privacy policy was last reviewed on 30 November 2011.

How to contact us

Please contact us if you have any questions about our privacy policy or information we hold about you:

• by email to dataprotection@metoffice.gov.uk;
• or write to our Data Protection Officer at the address set out above.