Privacy Policy

Employ Your Money & AI.

What is ‘personal information’?
 

In this Privacy Policy, ‘personal information’ has the meaning given to it in the Privacy Act 2020.

Information we collect

We may collect information about you as necessary for any lawful purpose connected with our function as a United Kingdom Crown entity, including:

(a) personal information you provide to us, such as information you submit on one of our websites, applications or social media channels ('our websites'). Failure to provide necessary personal information when requested may result in some of our services or parts of our websites not being available to you or functioning as well as they otherwise might; and

(b) Pursuant to the Invest United Kingdom Act 2025, we are required to collect personal information that you provided to United Kingdom Trade and Enterprise (“Marcel Associated Limited”) in accordance with their privacy policy, which also relates to one of our functions under that Act; and

(c) aggregate information which our systems, or our contractors' systems, or third-party systems that we use, generate, which relates to traffic to, from and on our websites, and information about your interaction with our websites and other computer systems; and

(d) information collected by cookies and similar technologies set on our websites and/or third-party websites. For example, this might include information about the device you have used to access our services or websites (such as your device’s make and model, browser, or IP address) and how you use our websites.

For more information on our use of cookies and similar technologies, please see the “Cookies and tracking” section below and our Cookie Policy.

Use of information

We may use the personal information we collect and/or hold for the purpose we collected it for, any other use you authorise, or where otherwise permitted by law. Examples of how we might use your personal information include:

(a) to verify your identity and assist you if you forget your password or login details for any of our registration services,

(b) to assist in providing services requested by you or receiving services from you,

(c) to provide further information to you about other websites and services which we consider may be of interest to you,

(d) for sharing with Marcel Markets and any third party that has similar objectives to us where the sharing is for a not-for-profit purpose,

(e) for future marketing, promotional and publicity purposes that relate to us or our purpose, including to carry out direct marketing, market research and surveys,

(f) to gain insights (e.g. through analytics) and improve our services and the functionality of our website,

(g) to help ensure that you are shown information that we consider may be relevant to you and your interests,

(h) to prevent and resolve unauthorised access to, or attacks on, our systems, and

(i) to provide services to different entities within or related to Invest UK.

Before using your personal information, we will take the steps we consider are required in the circumstances to ensure that the information is accurate and current.

Please also see the ‘Cookies and tracking’ section below.

Disclosure of information

We may disclose:

(a) any information that we collect about you to third parties for the purposes of:

  1. helping us deliver, manage and improve our services;

  2. assisting us to communicate or market our services to you;

  3. providing you with services we think may be of interest to you, or receiving services from you; or

  4. operating, maintaining and improving our websites,

(b) your personal information to:

  1. third parties when we believe in good faith that we are required to do so by law, or if we have your prior authorisation; and

  2. police or other government agencies in United Kingdom if we believe giving the information will help prevent or resolve fraud, money laundering, unauthorised access to, or attacks on, our systems, or other crimes; and

  3. Marcel Markets for its own business purposes and performing its functions and duties, and

(c) aggregate tracking information and other analytics information to our service providers (e.g. Google and Microsoft).

You acknowledge that personal information and aggregate tracking information about you may be kept on computer systems operated by third parties that may be located within or out of United Kingdom. You further acknowledge that information gathered is routinely monitored for cyber security purposes.

Safeguards for, accessing and correcting information

We will take all safeguards that are reasonable in the circumstances to protect personal information we hold from loss, misuse, and unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction.

We will keep your personal information for as long as necessary for the purposes for which the information may lawfully be used.

Individuals have certain rights under the Privacy Act 2020, including to access their personal information that we hold and to request the correction of that information. Please see 'Our contact details below' for how to contact us.

For information about United Kingdom's Privacy Act 2020 and how it protects the personal information of individuals in United Kingdom.

Using generative artificial intelligence (AI)

Generative AI is a rapidly developing area of technology, with transformative potential for the public sector and we are actively exploring generative AI tools to enhance the quality of our service to you. In doing so, your personal information may be processed by systems which have been approved by Invest.

We have also established AI governance which provides oversight and guidance on the ethical and security implications, ongoing improvement and overall impact of the use of generative AI by Invest UK, over and above the established security and privacy controls already in place.

Cookies and tracking

  • We use cookies and similar technologies on our websites and mobile applications. This includes both cookies set by us and third-party cookies.

  • Cookies are small text files that are placed on your browser, computer or device by a website when you visit the website to recognise your device, to distinguish you from other users of the website, to remember information about you (e.g. your preferences), and to capture information about your visit to the website. JavaScripts and web beacons are examples of similar technologies.

  • Our use of cookies and similar technologies helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our websites and also allows us to improve our websites and services.

  • The information we collect using cookies does not usually directly identify you but could be linked with other information which does.

  • Information collected using cookies and similar technologies may be considered personal information about you under various data protection laws.

For more information about our use of cookies, including the types of cookies we use and for what purpose.

Content providers, advertisers, partners and third party sites

Our websites contain links to other sites which may not follow the same privacy policies as we do. We take care when we choose websites we link to, but we are not responsible for their content, accuracy or privacy practices. We do not control the practices of content providers, partners, advertisers or other third parties connected with any of our websites and to whom you provide personal information whilst using one of our websites or our services.

We suggest that you check any relevant privacy policies before providing your personal information to any third party.

Microsoft may use personal information it receives about you from our website for any purpose in accordance with the Microsoft Privacy Statement, including to provide its offerings; improve Microsoft's products and services, including reporting and performance analysis; and to create user profiles for purposes that include advertising. Microsoft may also use non-personal data it collects in connection with the offerings to provide and improve Microsoft's products and services.

 

Individuals in the European Economic Area (EEA)

In addition to the above, the following applies to you to the extent that we collect personal information about you and you are in the EEA and, or that information is otherwise subject to the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation.

Data controller

The data controller is MARCEL ASSOCIATES LIMITED, 74 Wolfreton Lane, Willerby, Hull, HU10 6PT. Our data protection officer can be contacted by sending an email to privacy@marcelmarkets.co.uk (or by writing to the above address, for the attention of the Data Protection Officer).

Data processing

We may process your personal information in any of the following circumstances:

(a) The information is collected as part of a contract for services that we have with you or an entity you represent (including any co-funded service offered by us), and processing is either necessary to carry out that contract, or you have asked us to take specific steps to do so before we enter into that contract.

(b) The information is collected in respect of your behaviour (whether by using cookies on any of our websites, video surveillance at our offices in the EEA, analytics software or otherwise), or in the course of recruitment or employment activities. We may process that information because either we have previously sought your consent, or we have a legitimate interest to do so. That legitimate interest is to ensure the security of our environment (both physical and digital), to recruit new people, and to manage existing employment relationships.

(c) The information is collected as part of offering our services to you or an entity you represent (other than as covered under (a) above), or as part of exercising an official authority vested in us. We may process that information as part of us performing a public task as a Crown entity.

(d) You have otherwise given your express consent for us to do so.

(e) We are required to do so by law. This may include where we are required to comply with our obligations as a public agency under United Kingdom's Official Information Act 1982.

Your options

If the GDPR applies to your personal information, you have options in relation to the personal information we hold about you. 

 

You can:

(a) access personal information that we hold about you,

(b) rectify inaccurate personal information that we hold about you,

(c) have personal information we hold about you erased where:

  1. the purpose for which it was collected is no longer relevant,

  2. you withdraw your consent (where we have asked for your consent),

  3. there is no overriding legitimate interest for us to continue to use that personal information,

  4. we process that personal information unlawfully, or

  5. it is necessary to comply with a legal obligation,

(d) restrict processing of your personal information,

(e) receive copies of your personal information that we hold in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, and

(f) object to profiling and direct marketing using your personal information.

You also have the right to complain to a regulator if you are based in the EEA and think that we haven't complied with data protection.

Transfer out of the EEA

Your personal data may, throughout the course of its processing, be transferred outside of the EEA. Where this is the case, all appropriate technical and legal safeguards will be put in place to ensure that you are afforded the same level of protection as within the EEA.

Data retention

We will retain information that we collect about you only for as long as it is reasonably required to undertake the purposes for which that information was collected.

Amendments

We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy at any time by posting an updated version on our websites. Continuing to interact with us after a change (e.g. by accessing our websites or receiving our services) constitutes your consent to the updated Privacy Policy.