Professional development and community for the literature sector in Scotland

Privacy policy

At Literature Alliance Scotland (collectively “LAS” “we”, “us” and “our”) we take your privacy very seriously. When the new GDPR laws came into force from 25 May 2018, we updated our Privacy Policy so you know how we collect, store, use and disclose information about you when you interact with us, in any manner, via our website and/or our services. We gather various types of information, including information that identifies you as an individual (“Personal Information”) as explained in more detail below.

WHAT INFORMATION DOES LAS COLLECT?

Information you provide to us:

As a SCIO, we are required by OSCR to keep a register of Members and Trustees of LAS, which includes personal data such as your name, your organisation, address, the date you registered (and ceased) to be a member.

The LAS website uses GravityForms to provide an online form on the contact page and the membership page. We collect the personal information that you provide to us, for example your name, your email address, your telephone number and your company name. When a form is completed the submitted data is stored on the website and emailed to the administrator’s email. This data is NOT used for any marketing purposes and will be deleted from both the website and the email after 1 year.

Information we automatically collect:

When you use our website, we collect information via cookies. Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer’s hard drive through your Web browser (if you allow). These cookies enable the site to recognise your browser and, if you have a registered account, associate it with your registered account.

LAS uses cookies to understand and save your preferences for future visits and compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interaction so that we can offer better site experiences and tools in the future

You have the ability to accept or decline cookies by modifying the settings in your browser. You can also manually remove cookies from your system. For more information on disabling and enabling cookies visit aboutcookies.org.uk

How do we use the information we collect?

We use the information we collect via our website

  • for administration and reporting purposes including (but not limited to) troubleshooting, performance analysis, statistical analysis and testing
  • to improve our website to ensure that content is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your device;
  • to fulfil your request for information or to respond to enquiries and comments about our services
  • as part of our efforts to keep our website safe and secure.

We may also use the information you send to us via our website and/or services, to communicate with you via email regarding services and events we think may be of interest to you.

Emails to our membership and trustees

We use the email addresses that our registered Members, Network Associates and Trustees have provided us with for general communication and correspondence, and to send regular e-bulletins about LAS and sector news and activity, including upcoming events, as part of the membership package.

Events

We use a third-party provider, Eventbrite, to manage our events. For more information, please see Eventbrite’s privacy notice.

Web analytics

We use a third-party provider, Google Analytics, to analyse our web traffic. Google Analytics uses cookies to tell us how many people visit our site, what pages they’re reading and the types of browsers and devices they use to visit the site.

For more information, please see Google’s privacy notice.

Third party links

We include third party links on our site. These third party sites have separate and independent privacy policies. We therefore have no responsibility or liability for the content and activities of these linked sites. Nonetheless, we seek to protect the integrity of our site and welcome any feedback about these sites.

Surveys

We use third-party provider, Survey Monkey, to periodically conduct sector research online. The identities of respondents and their answers will be anonymous and treated as confidential and will only be used for research purposes, unless the correspondent expressly requests or permits otherwise. We may occasionally carry out market research with our members and non-members regarding the member services and benefits we currently offer or may wish to offer in future.

The purpose(s) of the survey will be stated on the questionnaire and participation for all online surveys is voluntary at all times. We will use the survey functionality of Survey Monkey, which might include optional boxes for your name and email. However, it is likely the site will collect their own information e.g. anonymous usage information about what you are doing. Survey Monkey’s privacy notice is here.

What are your rights?

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing this information are: (a) Your consent. You are able to remove your consent at any time. You can do this by contacting us.

Under the UK GDPR, you have rights including:

  • Your right of access – You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.
  • Your right to rectification – You have the right to ask us to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.
  • Your right to erasure – You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information.
  • Your right to restriction of processing – You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information.
  • Your right to object to processing – You have the right to object to the processing of your personal information.
  • Your right to data portability – You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you.

You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.

Please contact us if you wish to make a request.

How do we share and disclose the information to third parties?

LAS will not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally identifiable information.

We may contract with third-party service providers to assist us in better understanding our site visitors. These service providers will only receive anonymised data and are not permitted to use the information collected on our behalf except to help us conduct and improve the site.

LAS will do everything it reasonably can to avoid disclosing user information to any legal authorities. This will include: reviewing all legal requests for jurisdiction and validity; challenging the breadth of requests wherever possible; notifying you within 48 hours of any requests being made; and only providing the minimum information legally required if compelled to do so.

Your consent

By using our site, you consent to this privacy policy and our terms of service.

Data removal request

In line with the General Data Protection Regulation, you have the right to contact us and request we remove your personal information from our systems.

Reasons we might have your data:

  • You filled in a form on our website
  • You joined our mailing list
  • You communicated with us via email

If you would like to see what data of yours we hold, or remove your data from our systems, you do not have to tell us why, you just need to complete the simple form on our website, and we will act on your request within 28 working days.

Will LAS change this policy further?

We may change this policy from time to time by updating this page and will notify our members. This policy was last updated: 15th July 2026..

Contact us

If you have a query regarding this Policy, or if you would like to exercise your rights, please send a detailed message via our Contact Form at this link.