Privacy Policy
Hansard Social (hansardsocial.co.uk) is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and your rights.
1. Who We Are
Hansard Social is an independent website that presents UK parliamentary debates in an accessible, social-media style format. Our content is sourced from the official UK Parliament Hansard record, which is published under the Open Parliament Licence.
2. Information We Collect
We do not require you to create an account or provide personal information to use Hansard Social. However, the following data may be collected automatically:
- Usage data: Pages visited, search terms entered, time spent on pages, and browser/device type — collected via analytics tools to help us understand how the site is used and improve it.
- Cookies: Small text files stored on your device. See Section 4 for details.
- IP address: Collected automatically by our web server and analytics providers. This is not linked to any personally identifiable information.
3. How We Use Information
Information collected is used to:
- Operate and improve the Hansard Social website
- Understand how visitors use the site (analytics)
- Display relevant advertisements (see Section 5)
- Ensure the security and performance of the site
We do not sell, rent, or share your personal data with third parties for their own marketing purposes.
4. Cookies
Hansard Social uses cookies for the following purposes:
- Functional cookies: Used to remember your preferences such as dark mode and display settings. These are stored locally in your browser and are not transmitted to third parties.
- Analytics cookies: We may use analytics services to understand site traffic and usage patterns. These services may set cookies to track visits over time.
- Advertising cookies: We use Google AdSense to display advertisements. Google AdSense uses cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website and other websites. Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads based on your visit to our site and/or other sites on the internet.
You may opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google's Ad Settings, or you can opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page.
5. Advertising
Hansard Social is a participant in the Google AdSense programme. Google AdSense is an advertising service provided by Google LLC. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads on our site. Google's use of the DoubleClick cookie enables it and its partners to serve ads to our users based on their visit to our site and/or other sites on the internet.
For more information on how Google uses data when you use our site, please visit: How Google uses data when you use our partners' sites or apps.
For more information about Google's privacy practices generally, see the Google Privacy Policy.
6. Data Sources
Parliamentary debate content displayed on Hansard Social is sourced from the official UK Parliament Hansard record and related open data sources. This data is published under the Open Parliament Licence. Member of Parliament biographical data is sourced from publicly available parliamentary records.
7. Third-Party Services
Hansard Social may use the following third-party services, each of which has its own privacy policy:
- Google AdSense — advertising: Google Privacy Policy
- Google Analytics (if applicable) — analytics: Google Privacy Policy
8. Your Rights (UK GDPR)
Under UK data protection law, you have the right to:
- Access any personal data we hold about you
- Request correction of inaccurate data
- Request deletion of your data
- Object to processing of your data
- Lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk
As we collect minimal personal data, most requests will be straightforward to fulfil. To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details on our Contact page.
9. Data Retention
Any usage data or analytics data is retained only as long as necessary for the purposes described above, typically no longer than 26 months. Functional preferences stored in your browser remain until you clear your browser data.
10. Children's Privacy
Hansard Social is an educational resource suitable for use in schools. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe we have inadvertently collected such information, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.
11. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The date at the top of this page indicates when it was last revised. Continued use of the site following any changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
12. Contact
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, please visit our Contact page.