Web and Cookie Notice

This notice is to explain what information we collect on our website and what cookies we use.

View the main Walsall Council Privacy Notice.

To make this site simpler, we sometimes place small data files on your computer. These are known as cookies. Most big websites do this too.

Our cookies help us:

make our website work as you'd expect
improve the speed/security of the site

We do not use cookies to:

collect any personally identifiable information (without your express permission)
collect any sensitive information (without your express permission)
pass data to advertising networks
pass personally identifiable data to third parties
pay sales commissions

We collect web statistics automatically about your visit to our site. This information is used to help us follow browsing preferences so that we can improve our website. These statistics do not contain personal data and cannot be traced back to an individual.

We do not use cookies to store personal data or link non-personal information stored in cookies with personal data about specific individuals. Our cookies aren’t used to identify you personally. They’re just here to make the site work better for you. Indeed, you can manage and/or delete these small files as you wish.

Granting us permission to use cookies

If the settings on your software that you are using to view this website (your browser) are adjusted to accept cookies we take this, and your continued use of our website, to mean that you are fine with this. Should you wish to remove or not use cookies from our site you can learn how to do this below, however, doing so will likely mean that our site will not work as you would expect.

Website Function Cookies

Our own cookies

These help our website to work well. There is no way to prevent these cookies being set other than to not use our site.

Managing Cookies

Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set, visit the About cookies or All about cookies website.

Find out how to manage cookies on popular browsers:

To find information relating to other browsers, visit the browser developer's website.

To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites, visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

How we use cookies

The following cookies are used by this website:

Cookie	Usage
dnn_isMobile	Is user using a mobile device or requesting mobile layout
language	What is the user's preferred language
_RequestVerificationToken	Anti-forgery token, makes sure that the person filling in the form is the submitter
.ASPXAnonymous	This cookie is issued by ASP.NET and is necessary for site functionality.
ASP.NET_SessionId	This cookie is issued by ASP.NET and is necessary for site functionality.
_RequestVerificationToken	This cookie is issued by ASP.NET and is necessary for site security.
JCS_INENREF	Anti-spam
JCS_INENTIM	Anti-spam
PHPSessionID	Session cookies are used to store temporary information while you browse the site and are necessary for site functionality.
EDNViewNNN	Used by EasyDNN Modules for functionality. Deleted when browser closes.
JSessionID	Session cookies are used to store temporary information while you browse the site and are necessary for site functionality.

Personal information collected via online forms

Our policy is to respect and protect the privacy of anyone who visits our website. Where we ask you for personal information via an online form, this information will only be used for the purpose indicated and will be held in a secure manner. It will not be used for any other purpose without your permission and will not be kept for longer than necessary. If you are concerned about providing your personal information online please contact us and we will arrange alternative means for you to provide this information.

Use of IP addresses and cookies

We collect IP addresses only for the purposes of system administration and to audit the use of our site. We do not link IP addresses to anything personally identifiable, which means that while your user session will be logged you will remain anonymous to us.

External links

This site contains links to other sites. Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of these sites nor do we endorse any externally linked sites.

Security

This site has security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under our control.

Contacting us

If you have any questions about this privacy statement or data protection issues generally, you can contact us by email.

Measuring website usage (Google Analytics)

We use Google Analytics to collect information about how people use this site. We do this to make sure it’s meeting its users’ needs and to understand how we could do it better.

Google Analytics stores information about what pages you visit, how long you are on the site, how you got here and what you click on. We do not collect or store your personal information (e.g. your name or address) so this information cannot be used to identify who you are.

The following cookies are set by Google Analytics and are classed as ‘persistent’ as they are stored for a considerable time on your computer, but they only track your visits to walsall.gov.uk and not any other sites you visit before or after:

Name	Purpose
_utma	Tracks number of visits to the site and times of first and last visits
_utmb	Timestamps entry to a site
_utmc	Timestamps exit from a site
_utmt	Optimiser
_utmz	Stores information on how the site was reached (e.g. direct or via a link, organic search or paid search)
_ga	Identifies unique users
_gat	Throttles the request rate
_gid	Distinguishes users

For more information about Google Analytics, visit Google Analytics

Measuring website usage (Hotjar)

We use Hotjar to collect information about how people use this site. We do this to make sure it’s meeting its users’ needs and to understand how we could do it better.

We use Hotjar in order to better understand our users’ needs and to optimise this service and experience. Hotjar is a technology service that helps us better understand our users’ experience (e.g. how much time they spend on which pages, which links they choose to click, what users do and don’t like, etc.) and this enables us to build and maintain our service with user feedback. Hotjar uses cookies and other technologies to collect data on our users’ behaviour and their devices. This includes device screen size, device type (unique device identifiers), browser information, geographic location (country only), and the preferred language used to display our website.

Name	Description
_hjClosedSurveyInvites	This cookie is set once a visitor interacts with a Survey invitation modal popup. It is used to ensure that the same invite does not re-appear if it has already been shown.
_hjDonePolls	This cookie is set once a visitor completes a poll using the Feedback Poll widget. It is used to ensure that the same poll does not re-appear if it has already been filled in.
_hjMinimizedPolls	This cookie is set once a visitor minimises a Feedback Poll widget. It is used to ensure that the widget stays minimised when the visitor navigates through your site.
_hjDoneTestersWidgets	This cookie is set once a visitor submits their information in the Recruit User Testers widget. It is used to ensure that the same form does not re-appear if it has already been filled in.
_hjIncludedInSample	This session cookie is set to let Hotjar know whether that visitor is included in the sample which is used to generate funnels.
_hjShownFeedbackMessage	This cookie is set when a visitor minimises or completes Incoming Feedback. This is done so that the Incoming Feedback will load as minimised immediately if they navigate to another page where it is set to show.
_hjid	This cookie is set when the customer first lands on a page with the Hotjar script, unique to that site on the browser. This ensures that behaviour in subsequent visits to the same site will be attributed to the same user ID.

Opt out of Hotjar cookies on all websites

Displaying advertisements

We use cookies to collect information so we can show you personalised advertisements.

We do not collect or store your personal information (e.g. your name or address) so this information cannot be used to identify who you are.

We only apply the cookies if you "accept all cookies" on our consent management banner which pops up when you first visit our site.

If you would like to prevent these cookies being set and personalised advertisements, you can select "reject all cookies" on our consent management banner.

You can read more about our ads and CAN digital on our advertising page.

The following cookies are set when you click to accept:

Cookie	Usage
__gads	Targeting/Advertising
__gpi	Targeting/Advertising
__qca	Targeting/Advertising
_ga	Performance
_gat_CANTracker	Performance
_gat_gtag_UA_71520058_1	Performance
_gid	Performance
_pbjs_userid_consent_data	Functionality
ad-id	Targeting/Advertising
ad-privacy	Targeting/Advertising
audit	Targeting/Advertising
bcookie	Performance
cpSess	Functionality
cref	Targeting/Advertising
dsp_pubmatic	Targeting/Advertising
dsp_TTD	Targeting/Advertising
euconsent-v2	Targeting/Advertising
IDE	Targeting/Advertising
KADUSERCOOKIE	Targeting/Advertising
khaos	Targeting/Advertising
lang	Targeting/Advertising
li_gc	Targeting/Advertising
lidc	Performance
mc	Targeting/Advertising
TDCPM	Targeting/Advertising
TDID	Targeting/Advertising
D	Targeting/Advertising
DSID	Targeting/Advertising
dsp_app_nexus	Targeting/Advertising
dsp_id5	Targeting/Advertising
dsp_smart_ad_server	Targeting/Advertising
__Secure-ENID	Targeting/Advertising
CONSENT	Targeting/Advertising
AEC	Targeting/Advertising
OTZ	Targeting/Advertising
DV	Targeting/Advertising
NID	Targeting/Advertising
SOCS	Targeting/Advertising

Essential cookies

We use cookies to collect information so we can run our chat bot (WALIS).