About us
About Devon Community Directory (DCD),
and Data Protection Statement - Fair Processing of Your Data
About The Devon Community Directory
The Devon Community Directory is owned by Devon County Council (DCC).
If you would like to know more about the Directory or wish to provide feedback and suggestions for improving it, please contact us.
The Directory:
a) aims to provide an information directory for use by the public and DCC staff working on behalf of the public, on individuals and organisations who provide local services to assist the people of Devon in meeting their needs.
b) helps to meet DCC's statutory responsibilities under the NHS and Community Care Act 1990, ensuring the citizens of Devon have access to adult health and social care related advice and information to help them make informed decisions about the services available to meet their health and social care related needs.
c) offers organisations and individuals the opportunity to publish globally information about the services they operate in Devon, how these can be accessed, in what quantities, where, when and by whom.
The Directory's priority is to hold information on organisations/individuals providing local services. A local service is one that:
- is provided within Devon
- is based in Devon or within an adjoining county or unitary authority (Cornwall, Somerset, Dorset, Plymouth and Torbay)
- does not provide a nationwide service
The term 'Devon' is the local authority area as managed by Devon County Council.. Torbay Council also uses the directory via the Torbay Library for services provided within Torbay.. Plymouth operates its own directory and is not covered by the term 'Devon'.
The Directory will not exclude national organisations and services though it will not gather them as a priority, as these can be found freely, e.g.phone books, web search engines and websites.
The Directory may exclude information, where DCC believes comprehensive information is already available from another source, but will endeavour to refer directory users to that alternative source rather than hold the information as well - e.g.
Refer users to:
- 'Active Devon' for physical activity and sport:
http://www.activedevon.org/ - Family Information Directory for childcare and other services for children, young people and parents:
http://devon.childrensservicedirectory.org.uk/ - Yell.com or other sources for general trades and trades people that are NOT in short supply (for example: plumbers, electricians, builders, gardeners, hairdressers) and/or do NOT offer discreet adult health and social care services such as community alarm providers, care & repair services, charity run and/or accredited gardening or hairdressing schemes or clubs.
The Directory may 'harvest' (copy) data from other websites or receive regular data updates from other organisations, presenting such data in the Devon Community Directory, where DCC believes that including it would add value to users, e.g. Care Quality Commission data in relation to personal care and care home providers. NHS Choices data on GPs and Pharmacists.
Data Protection Statement - Fair Processing of Your Data
The Devon Community Directory is a Devon County Council owned database. Devon County Council is registered under the Data Protection Act.
Data provided by individuals and organisations (data providers) for inclusion in the Directory will be held and, when required, destroyed by Devon County Council in a secure way. Data providers, who no longer want their data to be included on the Directory, must notify DCC and the data provided will then be destroyed in a secure way.
The data provided will be made publicly available via DCC staff and/or through various mediums and channels of communication - e.g. directly via public web-site(s), publications and other printed materials, email or phone.
The data may be shared with DCC's partners and other Government agencies as well as other private and voluntary organisations for the purposes of providing and improving the data available on individuals or organisations providing services in Devon.
The data may be published in printed and electronic formats, including the DCC website and those of its partners.
To help improve services, Devon County Council may consult with individuals and organisations that have provided data for inclusion in the Directory.
Data providers will be contacted at a regular interval and given the opportunity to check the accuracy of their data and to have the data updated. Providers may also be given information to enable them to check and amend the data themselves.
DCC retains the right to edit any data held on the Directory to ensure the format and content are consistent:
- 1) with the purposes of the Directory
- 2) with the other data records held
DCC retains the right to suspend or delete a data record if it considers:
- 1) the provider or data provided by the provider no longer supports the purpose of the Directory or:
- 2) the provider or data provided by the provider compromises DCC's and/or the Directory's reputation as a provider of information or:
- 3) the provider or data provided by the provider poses a possible health and/or safety risk to a user of the Directory.
DCC retains the right to exclude data from the Directory.
Statistical Analysis
Currently, the Directory system has an analysis tool which helps us to monitor the performance and effectiveness of content across the Directory. This allows us to better understand which content is popular, effective and has a high engagement level. Access to this aggregated data allows us to improve our overall directory performance, helping us to ensure that content is relevant, up-to-date and provides value to directory users. At the same time, we are also trialling the use of Google Analytics to assess if it adds further value to our continous improvement of the directory data.
