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Personal information charter

You can read the Forestry Commission’s personal information charter on gov.uk.

Information we collect

We collect certain information or data about you when you use our website. This includes: 

  • questions, queries or feedback you leave, including your email address if you send an email to FORESTRESEARCH.GOV.UK
  • your IP address, and details of which version of web browser you used
  • information on how you use the site, using cookies and page tagging techniques to help us improve the website
  • details to allow you to access our services and transactions e.g. an email address (you’ll always be told when this information is being collected, and it will only be used for the purpose you provide it for).

This helps us to: 

  • improve the site by monitoring how you use it
  • respond to any feedback you send us, if you’ve asked us to
  • provide you with information about our services if you want it
  • request sensitive permissions like accessing the camera, microphone, contacts or data on your phone.

Cookies

When we provide services, we want to make them easy, useful and reliable. Where services are delivered on the internet, this sometimes involves placing small amounts of information on your device, for example, computer or mobile phone. These include small files known as cookies. They cannot be used to identify you personally.

These pieces of information are used to improve services for you through, for example:

  • enabling a service to recognise your device so you don’t have to give the same information several times during one task
  • recognising that you may already have given a username and password so you don’t need to do it for every web page requested
  • measuring how many people are using services, so they can be made easier to use and there’s enough capacity to ensure they are fast
  • recognising which people are visiting our web pages through social media sites, to make it possible to use targeted advertising

You can manage these small files yourself and learn more about them through “Internet browser cookies – what they are and how to manage them

If you’d like to learn how to remove cookies set on your device, visit ‘Our use of cookies

Forest Seedlings

The Forest Seedlings application uses your location to record the location when a new Field Note is made. Our location permissions are:

  • Access precise location (GPS)

The Forestry Commission does not collect anonymous information on the use of Forest Seedlings.

The development of the app is handled in coordination with third party developers. No personal information is made available to these organisations.

Tree Alert

Our Tree Alert application uses session cookies. These are stored for the duration of the session, and are used to associate the servers session with the connected user.

Cookie Name: _ga
Duration: 2 years
Purpose: To distinguish users

Cookie Name: _gat
Duration: 10 minutes
Purpose: Used to throttle request rate.

Google Analytics

Our website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses cookies -text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyse how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google uses this information to evaluate your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet use. Google may transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google.

By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above.

You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website.  We follow the ICO privacy and electronic communication regulations.

Google Analytics sets cookies to help us accurately estimate the number of visitors to the website and volumes of usage. This to ensure that the service is available when you want it and fast.

CookieTypical contentDuration
_utmarandomly generated number2 years
_utmbrandomly generated number30 minutes
_utmcrandomly generated numbersession
_utmzrandomly generated number + info on how the site was reached (e.g. directly or via a link, organic search or paid search)6 months


For further details on the cookies set by Google Analytics, please refer to the Google Code website.

Google Maps

CookieTypical contentDuration
PREF 2 years
NID 6 months
SNID 6 months

How to control and delete cookies

We will not use cookies to collect personally identifiable information about you.

However, if you wish to restrict or block the cookies which are set by our website, or indeed any other website, you can do this through your browser settings. The ‘Help’ section within your browser should tell you how.

Alternatively you may wish to visit www.aboutcookies.org which contains comprehensive information on how to do this on a wide variety of browsers. You will also find details on how to delete cookies from your machine as well as more general information about cookies.

Please be aware that restricting cookies may impact on the functionality of our website.

If you wish to view your cookie code, just click on a cookie to open it. You’ll see a short string of text and numbers. These numbers are your identification card, which can only be seen by the server that gave you the cookie. To do this on the browser of your mobile phone you may need to refer to your handset manual.

To opt-out of third parties collecting any data regarding your interaction on our website, please refer to their website for further information.

Disclosing your information

We may need to pass on your personal information if we have a legal obligation to do so, or if we have to enforce or apply our website policies and other agreements.

When using this site you may access an online service or transaction that is delivered by another government department or agency, or by a commercial supplier. Each of these services will have its own privacy policy and terms and conditions or end user licences that apply only to that service. Users of any service should make sure they have read the relevant terms and conditions before completing that transaction.

We do not pass on any personal information you have given us to any other site.

Access to your information and contacting us

You can change your registration information by contacting us. If you wish to see our records of any correspondence you have sent to us, or if you have a query or complaint about this privacy policy or about the site, you can contact us:

e-mail: Communications@forestresearch.gov.uk

Digital Communications Manager

Forest Research

Northern Research Station

Roslin, EH25 9SY

United Kingdom

If this privacy policy changes in any way, we will update this page. Regularly reviewing this page ensures you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we will share it with other parties.

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