Privacy Policy

01Who we are

AspireHer Consultancy CIC (“AspireHer”, “we”, “us”) is a Community Interest Company that empowers women — especially women from underrepresented backgrounds — to grow in tech, leadership and business. We are the UK chapter of the Technovation Girls programme (Her Code).

We are the data controller for the personal information described in this policy. This policy explains what we collect through aspireher.co.uk, our forms, programmes and events, and how UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018) protects you.

02Information we collect

We collect information you give us directly, and a small amount of technical information when you use our website.

Photos and videos

We sometimes take photos or film at our events to share our work. We’ll always tell you beforehand, and you can ask not to be included. We will only publish identifiable images of children with written consent from a parent or guardian.

03Sensitive information

Some information is given extra protection by law (“special category data”). We collect it only where it’s needed and explain why at the point we ask:

• Ethnicity and gender (mentor applications) — to understand who our programmes reach and support our mission of increasing opportunity for underrepresented women. We report this only in anonymous, combined form.
• Access or support needs (project and event registrations) — only so we can make sessions accessible to you.
• DBS status — we ask mentors whether they hold a valid enhanced DBS certificate because they may work with young people. We don’t ask you to share the contents of your certificate through our website.

We rely on your explicit consent for this information, and on the substantial public interest conditions for equality monitoring and safeguarding children set out in the Data Protection Act 2018. You can withdraw your consent at any time.

04Children and young people

Her Code (Technovation Girls) is open to girls aged 8 to 18. Because of this:

• We ask for a parent or guardian’s details for every student, and contact them about the programme.
• For children under 13, a parent or guardian must complete or approve the registration.
• We collect only what we need to run the programme safely and keep it to a minimum.
• Adults who work with young people on our behalf are expected to hold an enhanced DBS certificate and follow our safeguarding approach.

Students who compete in Technovation Girls also create an account with Technovation on its own platform. That account is controlled by Technovation under its own privacy policy.

05How we use your information and why

The law requires us to have a valid reason (“lawful basis”) for using your information. Here’s how that works for us:

We do not use your information for automated decision-making or profiling that has legal or similarly significant effects on you. If we ever want to use your information for a new purpose, we’ll tell you first.

06Who we share your information with

We never sell or rent your personal information. We share it only with trusted organisations that help us run AspireHer, under contracts that require them to keep it safe and use it only on our instructions:

We may also share information with:

• Programme partners such as Technovation, schools or employers — only what’s needed to run a programme you’ve joined.
• Funders such as Bolton Council — usually in anonymous, combined form. Where a funded project needs to confirm eligibility, we’ll say so on the registration form and ask for your agreement.
• Authorities — if the law requires it, or to protect someone from harm.

07International transfers

Some of our service providers (for example Google and Automattic) store data outside the UK, including in the USA. When this happens we make sure it’s protected — for example by using providers covered by the UK’s data adequacy regulations (including the UK–US Data Bridge) or by the UK’s approved contract terms.

08How long we keep your information

We keep personal information only for as long as we need it:

After that, we securely delete your information or make it fully anonymous.

09Keeping your information safe

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your information, including encrypted connections (HTTPS), security software and spam protection on our website, regular backups, and limiting access to people who need it. No website is completely secure, but if something goes wrong we’ll act quickly and tell you and the ICO where the law requires it.

10Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to:

• Access — ask for a copy of the information we hold about you.
• Rectification — ask us to correct anything that’s wrong or incomplete.
• Erasure — ask us to delete your information.
• Restriction — ask us to limit how we use your information.
• Objection — object to us using your information based on legitimate interests, and to direct marketing at any time.
• Portability — ask for your information in a format you can take elsewhere.
• Withdraw consent — at any time, where we rely on your consent. This doesn’t affect anything we did before.

To use any of these rights, email aspireherco@gmail.com. It’s free, and we’ll reply within one month. We may need to confirm your identity first. A parent or guardian can make a request on behalf of a young child.

11Concerns and complaints

If you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled your information, please tell us first at aspireherco@gmail.com. We’ll acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and let you know the outcome without undue delay.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s data protection regulator: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or 0303 123 1113.

12Changes to this policy

We review this policy regularly and update it when our activities or the law change. The date at the top of the page shows when it was last updated. If we make significant changes, we’ll highlight them on our website or tell you directly.