Terms and conditions of use

This website is maintained by Sunderland City Council (the council) for information and communication purposes. Access to the site is subject to the following terms and conditions and, by accessing the site, users are bound by them.

The council may at any time revise these terms and conditions by updating this page and so users should revisit this page when using the site.

Accuracy of information

Whilst every effort is made to ensure that the information contained within the website is correct and up to date, the council makes no warranties or representations as to its accuracy and accepts no liability or responsibility for any loss due to any errors or omissions in the content of the site or caused by reliance on this information. It is advised that users check any information before acting or relying on it.

• The council's responsibility
  Users browsing the website do so at their own risk. The council is not liable for any loss whether in contract, or tort, arising out of the users access to, or inability to access, the site. The council also accepts no responsibility for any damage to, or viruses that may infect, computer equipment, data or other property on account of a users access to the site or the downloading of any material from the site.
• Links to other websites
  The council does not accept any responsibility for information contained in other websites to which this site links. Linking to any of these other websites is, therefore at the user's own risk.
• Areas of website accessible to the general public
  The council does not claim ownership of content submitted or made available to the publicly accessible areas on the website. ie those areas on the website accessible to the general public (for example message boards, bulletin boards, postings or community chat rooms).

Although the council takes reasonable care to ensure that inappropriate material is not published and once alerted to such material will take steps to resolve the situation, the council assumes no responsibility or liability arising from the content of any publicly accessible areas nor for any error or omission contained in any information published by users in these areas.

Internet privacy policy

Sunderland City Council respects and protects the privacy of individuals that use the websites operated and owned by the council. The following discloses the information gathering and dissemination practices for the websites operated and owned by the Sunderland City Council.

Use of personal information provided by the user

Where an individual provides personal information (for example name, address or telephone number) to the council via its website for whatever purpose (for example registration, survey or feedback), it is made clear to the individual what the information collected will be used for and who it will be provided to. The council will only use the information collected for the stated purpose.

At the current time, personal information provided, is only used by the council. The council does not sell, trade, provide or rent personal information to third parties. Specific personal information will be released where the council is required to do so by law, e.g. court order. Transfer of data will be done so on the express permission of the supplying individual.

All data received by the council will be afforded protection, whether in a manual or electronic form in line with the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998 and British Standard 7799. When the data is no longer required or fit for purpose, it will be destroyed or expunged from system areas. Access to data supplied will only be used by relevant council staff; who will ensure that surreptitious viewing is prohibited to unauthorised individuals.

Cookies*

The council does not use 'Cookies' for collecting personal information from the sunderland.gov.uk website.

The following cookie types may be used by the site:

• Session - Where the cookie expires when you leave the site
• Permanent - Where the cookie remains on your machine for a certain period of time

Examples of permanent cookie use are our site statistics and user preferences.

*A message given to a Web browser by a Web server. The browser stores the message in a text file. The message is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server. The main purpose of cookies is to identify users and possibly prepare customized Web pages for them. For example, when you enter a website using cookies, you may be asked to fill out a form providing such information as your name etc. This information is packaged into a cookie and sent to your Web browser, which stores it for later use. The next time you go to the same website, your browser will send the cookie to the Web server. The server can use this information to present you with custom Web pages. So, for example, instead of seeing just a generic welcome page you might see a welcome page with your name on it.

Scope of this privacy policy

This privacy policy only covers the websites belonging to and operated by the City of Sunderland. Links within this site to other websites are not covered by this policy.

Changes to this privacy policy

Sunderland City Council may amend this policy from time to time. If substantial changes are made to the way in which the council obtains and uses your personal information the website will show prominently any announcement to this effect.

Questions/enquiries

If you have any questions or enquiries about this policy or personal data provided to the council via the website applications, you should contact us.