Privacy Policy – Improvement Academy

From time to time we gather information from our audiences and visitors to our website for various purposes and this policy sets out what information we hold, how we keep it safe and how we use it.

We appreciate the trust you place in us when sharing your personal information. We will treat it with respect and store it securely.

We will use the personal information you provide to provide our services, such as: administering event participation, grants and donations; communicating sector news and opportunities; and for the continued improvement and development of our work.

We will never sell your personal information, and will only ever share it with organisations we work with where necessary to deliver our services. We will ensure the information is stored securely and that it is not stored for longer than necessary.

This privacy notice explains what information we collect, how we use it and how we keep it safe.

It also explains what rights you have with regard to your personal information and how you can exercise those rights.

Who we are

The Improvement Academy was established in 2013 as part of the Bradford Institute for Health Research to support innovation and improvement in delivery of health care services. We are hosted within the NHS by Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Our registered address (for mail only) is:

If you have questions about how we process personal data, or would like to exercise your data subject rights, please contact us by email at academy@yhia.nhs.uk, by phone on 01274 383966 or at the above address.

The type of personal data we process

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

The personal information we collect may include personal details such as your name, email address and preferences.

We do not normally process sensitive personal information (e.g. relating to health) about our audience. However, there are occasional, specific situations where this may happen, such as gathering health information for people attending our events. We do this so that we can meet your needs at our events. The information will be stored securely and will not be stored for longer than necessary.

Who we share your information with

We will only share personal information with subcontractors or suppliers as is necessary to provide our services (examples include our website developers Out of Place Studio, e-newsletter management, SurveyMonkey for evaluation and feedback, or Eventbrite for event ticket management); where disclosure is required or permitted by law (examples include government bodies or law enforcement agencies).

We will never sell your personal information.

How we protect and store your information

We use a variety of physical and technical measures to keep your data safe and to prevent unauthorised access to, use of, or disclosure of, your personal information.

Electronic data and databases are stored on secure computer systems and we control who has access to information (using both physical and electronic means).

The Improvement Academy is based in the UK and we store our data within the European Union. Some organisations which provide services to us may transfer personal data outside of the EEA, but we will only allow them to do this if your data is adequately protected.

How long we keep your information

We will only use and store your personal information for as long as it is needed for the purposes it was collected for. We continually review what information we hold and delete what is no longer required.

If you choose to subscribe to our e-newsletter, we will keep your information until you opt out. Every newsletter will have an unsubscribe link in its footer and you are welcome to unsubscribe whenever you want.

Cookies

The information below explains which cookies are being used and why on our website.

Your rights

We want to ensure you remain in control of your personal data and so we want to make sure you understand your legal rights under data protection law. These are:

• the right to confirmation as to whether we have your personal data and, if we do, to ask for copies of the personal information we hold (this is known as a subject access request);
• the right to ask us to erase your personal data (though this will not apply where it is necessary for us to continue to use the data for a lawful reason);
• the right to ask us to correct personal data you think is inaccurate;
• the right to object to your personal data being used for direct marketing purposes.

If you would like to exercise any of your rights please email academy@yhia.nhs.uk or write to us at Improvement Academy, Bradford Institute for Health Research, Temple Bank House, Duckworth Lane, Bradford, BD9 6RJ and we will respond within one month.

Making a complaint

You can make a complaint to the Improvement Academy about an issue concerning your data protection and privacy rights by emailing us at academy@yhia.nhs.uk or writing to us at Improvement Academy, Bradford Institute for Health Research, Temple Bank House, Duckworth Lane, Bradford, BD9 6RJ.

If you are unhappy with our response or if you need advice you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) which regulates and enforces data protection law in the UK. Details of how to do this can be found at https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/raising-concerns/ or you can contact the ICO directly at https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or by phoning 0303 123 1113.

Copyright

All images on our website are copyright Improvement Academy unless otherwise stated. Where images have been provided by or are copyrighted to other individuals or organisations, this should be clearly stated on the website. Artists’ copyright lasts throughout their lifetimes and for 70 years from the date of death. When displaying artwork images, we have made every effort not to infringe copyright, and only to display works in copyright if we have permission from artists or their estates. If we have made a mistake, please tell us and we will remove the image(s) from the site immediately.

Changes to our Privacy Notice

We will update this Privacy Notice from time to time to ensure that it accurately reflects how and why we process your personal information. The current version of our Privacy Notice will always be posted on our website.

Last updated April 2025