Privacy policy
Last updated 3-Jan-12
If you are a learner and under 18 years old, please click here to see our young people’s policy.
This privacy policy applies to our website at www.v-portfolio.com including our e-portfolio product, v-Portfolio, which is available to registered users of the site only. It tells you who we are, how we collect information about you, what we use it for, with whom we may share it, what rights you have and whether your information may be transferred outside the European Economic Area (‘EEA’).
Please read the policy carefully. If you do not agree with it, then please do not use our website.
Note that if you follow a link from our website to another site, this policy will no longer apply. We are not responsible for the information handling practices of third party sites and we encourage you to read the privacy policies appearing on those sites.
We will from time to time update and make changes to this policy. We recommend that you revisit this privacy policy frequently, and ideally each time you visit our website.
Who we are
We are Creating Careers Limited a company registered in England and Wales with company number 03885966 whose registered office is at 5 Horton Park, Berwick Hill Road, Seaton Burn, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE13 6BU, UK.
Please see the Contact Us link on our homepage for our contact information.
About you
If you are using this website, you may be a visitor interested in v-Portfolio or you may already be a registered user such as:
- A learner – you will be over 14 years old
- An assessor, teacher or tutor, or
- An internal or external verifier.
How we collect information
A centre (such as a school or college) signs up with us for a licence to use v-Portfolio. The centre will set up registered users by providing personal details – the user’s name, address, email address. These details are stored in v-Portfolio and accessible to us.
Registered users can alter those details in their personal profile pages.
If you are a learner, we will also collect and store coursework you provide for v-Portfolio which might contain information about you.
If you are an assessor, we will store comments you make on learners’ coursework. Please note that learners can publish your comments to third parties if they choose to do so.
If you are a verifier, we will store comments you make to assessors. Your comments are accessible to assessors but not normally to learners.
We may collect information about you if you contact us offline, for example by telephone, fax, email or post.
We keep a record of traffic data and site statistics about the use of our website, but we are not readily able to identify individuals from this information.
We also use cookies.
Cookies
IMPORTANT – PLEASE READ!
Cookies are small text files which are planted by this website on your computer's hard drive. They enable our site to "remember" who you are.
Cookies are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site.
We use cookies to identify and track users that register and log into our site (session cookies),
Please see the table below for details of the cookies we use on our website.
| Cookie | Name | Purpose | More information |
|---|---|---|---|
| www.v-portfolio.com | |||
| Session cookies set after login. Some cookies are set conditionally | |||
| Session cookie | usrID | Provides essential page functionality | |
| Session cookie | usrName | Provides essential page functionality | |
| Session cookie | usrRole | Provides essential page functionality | |
| Session cookie | colID | Provides essential page functionality | |
| Session cookie | admID | Provides essential page functionality | |
| Session cookie | evfID | Provides essential page functionality | |
| Session cookie | ivfID | Provides essential page functionality | |
| Session cookie | tutID | Provides essential page functionality | |
| Session cookie | stuID | Provides essential page functionality | |
| Session cookie | vwrID | Provides essential page functionality | |
| Session cookie | crsID | Provides essential page functionality | |
| Session cookie | colname | Provides essential page functionality | |
| Session cookie | evfname | Provides essential page functionality | |
| Session cookie | ivfname | Provides essential page functionality | |
| Session cookie | tutname | Provides essential page functionality | |
| Session cookie | vwrname | Provides essential page functionality | |
Consent
We need to obtain your consent to use cookies, unless they're strictly necessary for us to provide you with a service that you explicitly request. For example, when you log in to work on a v-portfolio, there is no way, other than by using cookies, we can keep a record of what pages you have looked at and to allow you to go back and forwards through the coursework.
We consider that all the cookies we use on this site fall into that "strictly necessary" category. However it still isn't clear what "strictly necessary" means, so if you read this policy and proceed to use the site, we will assume you agree to our use of cookies and therefore you have given consent to our use.
You can use appropriate browser settings to indicate consent as well.
How to turn cookies on and off using browser settings
Most browsers are automatically set to accept cookies but if you are using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple's Safari or Google Chrome, you should be able to configure your browser to restrict cookies or block all cookies if you wish. If you disable cookies you should still be able to login and use any secure areas of our site. However, you may find you need to re-enter your user details.
Adjusting cookie settings on a web browser is not very easy at the moment but the Government has promised that browser manufacturers will be making these settings more user-friendly, so they comply with new laws which came into force in May 2011.
In the meantime, more information about cookies, including some browser-specific instructions on how to restrict or block cookies may be found on the IAB’s website at http://www.youronlinechoices.com/. As at 3 January 2012, the relevant page for adjusting your browser settings is at http://www.youronlinechoices.com/five-top-tips.
Session cookies
We use session cookies, also called transient cookies, to identify and track users who enter any registered areas of our site. Session cookies are deleted when you close your browser. The session cookie is stored in temporary memory and is not retained after the browser is closed. Session cookies do not collect information from your computer. Typically, they will store information in the form of a session identification that does not personally identify you.
What we use your information for
We will use your information for administrative reasons. We send all new users a confirmatory email for example. We will also email you about system issues, and to remind you when your user account is coming to an end.
If you agree (tick the relevant box in your personal profile page), we will use your email address to let you know about new developments and features in v-Portfolio, and, if you are a learner, we will tell you about additional products and services we can offer you on completion of your qualification, such as a showcase of your work for prospective employers.
With whom we may share your information
We will not share your information with any other organisation except in the following circumstances:-
- If you are a registered user, any personal information you provide will be accessible by your centre. Please contact your centre direct for details about how they will use your information.
- If you are a learner, your coursework will be shared with assessors and verifiers who are authorised by your centre to view, assess and verify your work. Please note that v-Portfolio contains profiling tools so that learners stay in control of sharing their coursework, including any personal information, with prospective employers and other third parties.
- We may share your information within our group companies (including Vision2learn Limited) to the extent that they are involved in the delivery of any part of the v-Portfolio service.
- We may allow third party providers and contractors (who supply services to us, or who process information on our behalf), incidental access to your information. We will ensure that they keep your information secure and do not use it for their own purposes.
- We may share your information with another organisation which buys our company or our assets, or to whom we transfer our agreement with you and in the course of any negotiations which may or may not lead to such a transfer or sale.
- We will disclose your information to enforcement authorities if asked to do so, or to a third party in the context of actual or threatened legal proceedings.
Your Rights
You have the right to see any information we hold about you on payment of a statutory fee, which is currently £10.
You have the right to rectify any errors in information we hold about you and to change or correct any details you have already given us. Please inform us about changes to your details so that we can keep our records accurate and up to date.
You have the right to opt out of receiving any marketing material from us at any time.
To exercise your rights please contact us using the details below (Further Information).
Security of information
We will keep your information secure by taking appropriate technical and organisational measures against its unauthorised or unlawful processing and against its accidental loss, destruction or damage.
Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access v-Portfolio, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your username and password with anyone.
Transfers outside the EEA
We will not transfer your information outside the EEA unless you are based outside the EEA or ask us to do so. The EEA comprises certain countries within Europe (including the EU) which have similar laws on data protection. Other countries outside the EEA may not give the same level of protection to your information.
Further Information
If you have any queries about the information we hold on you, or would like to exercise your rights set out above, please contact us by email on support@v-portfolio.com
Creating Careers Limited is entered in the Register of Data Controllers with registration no. Z4805424.
Further information about data protection issues including the online Register of Data Controllers can be found on the Information Commissioner’s site at www.ico.gov.uk.
