Who we are

The SPA Event is organised by the Hakim Group. We arecommitted to protecting your personal information and being transparent about how we use it.

What information do we collect?

Depending on your registration and participation in the event, we may collect:

• Full name
• Email address
• GOC number
• Practice name and address
• Professional qualifications
• Information relating to your attendance and CPD
• Dietary requirements
• Dietary requirements

Why do we use your information?

We may use your information to:

• Register you for the event and manage your attendance
• Administer and evidence CPD attendance and certificates
• Communicate with you about the event
• Facilitate discussions about career and employment opportunities
• Facilitate discussions about potential practice sales or acquisition opportunities
• Invite you to future events and provide relevant communications
• Produce photographs, videos and other promotional content relating to the event
• Meet our regulatory and professional obligations including providing relevant information to the General Optical Council (GOC) where required for CPD purposes.

Photographs, video and recordings

Photography and video recording will take place during the event. Images and recordings may include attendees and may be used for promotional and communications purposes, including on social media, websites, magazines, publications and other marketing materials.
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You will be informed before the event that photography and filming will take place at the event.
If you do not wish to be photographed or filmed, please inform a member of the video team when you at any point during the event. The video team will respect these requests and take reasonable steps to avoid deliberately recording individuals who have indicated that they do not wish to be filmed or photographed.
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Please be aware that, due to the nature of an event involving many attendees, it may not always be possible to prevent an individual from appearing incidentally in a wide-angle photograph or recording of the event. We will nevertheless take reasonable steps to respect requests not to be photographed or filmed.

Who may receive your information?

Your information may be shared where necessary with:

• Relevant teams within the Hakim Group including the Professional Advancement and Governance, Marketing, Social Media and Mergers & Acquisitions teams
• Service providers supporting the event
• The General Optical Council where information is required for CPD purposes

We will only share information where there is an appropriate lawful basis and where it is necessary for the relevant purpose.

Our lawful basis for using your information

We use different lawful bases under the UK GDPR depending on the purpose for which your information is being processed. These may include:

• Contract – Where processing is necessary to manage your registration and participation
• Legitimate interest – Where processing is necessary for purposes such as event administration, business activities, recruitment and practice acquisition opportunities, where our interests are not overridden by your legal rights and interests
• Legal or regulatory obligations – Where we are required to retain or provide information to meet our legal regulatory obligations including CPD requirements
• Consent – Where we ask for and rely on your consent for a particular sue of your information

Where is your information stored?

‍Your information may be stored and processed using systems and services including Microsoft 365, SharePoint and the event registration platform.

Information used for promotional purposes may also be processed through social media and publishing platforms including LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and other relevant platforms.

We user appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your information including restricted access, secure storage and encryption where appropriate.

How long do we keep your information?

Event registration and CPD records may be retained for up to 10 years where necessary to meet CPD audit and regulatory requirements.

Photographs and recordings used for promotional purposes may also be retained for up to 10 years where they continue to be required for the purposes for which they were collected.

Information will be securely deleted or otherwise disposed of when it is no longer required.

Marketing and future communications

As you have registered for the SPA Event, we may use the contact details you provide to contact you about future events, newsletters and other relevant communications relating to our services and activities.
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Where permitted by applicable electronic marketing rules, we may rely on the soft opt-in to send these communications. We will only use this approach where the relevant legal requirements are met.
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You can opt out of future marketing and promotional communications at any time. Each electronic marketing communication will provide a clear and simple way to unsubscribe, or you can contact us at pag@hakimgroup.co.uk.
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Opting out of marketing communications will not affect your registration for or attendance at the SPA Event.

Your rights

Depending on the circumstances and the lawful basis for processing you may have rights to:

• Request access to the personal information we hold about you
• Request correction of inaccurate information
• Request deletion of your information
• Object to certain processing
• Request restriction of processing
• Withdraw consent where we rely on consent toprocess you information

Please note these rights are not absolute and may not apply to all circumstances.

To exercise your rights or ask a question about how your information is used please contact pag@hakimgroup.co.uk.

‍You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) if you believe your personal information has been handled unlawfully.