Some of the language used in privacy notices can be specialised. The Information Commissioner's website provides a useful introduction to key terms and concepts.
Purposes of the processing
Your views and expertise are essential to the working of the Scottish Parliament. When you provide information to the Parliament, we will use this as evidence to help make decisions and recommendations on how the Parliament operates. Individual submissions will be summarised into a report.
We will also process the contact information (e.g., your name and email address) which you provide with your submission as this will be used by the Parliament to contact you about your response or to provide you with further information about the work you are interested in.
Categories of information processed
If you make a submission, we will process your name, email address or mailing address (for submissions received by mail), together with any information that you share with us. This is considered to be standard or normal category personal data.
Depending on what views and experiences you decide to share, the content of your submission may include special category personal data.
Special category personal data includes information revealing an individual’s:
- race
- ethnic origin
- political or religious views
- sex life or sexual orientation
- trade union membership
- physical or mental health
- genetic or biometric data
Collecting and holding personal data
The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) processes any personal data you send to it in line with the requirements of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA).
Personal data consists of data that relates to an identified or identifiable living individual who can be identified either directly from the information or indirectly from that information in combination with other information.
Your submissions
The Scottish Parliament uses Citizen Space, a third-party digital tool, to collect and analyse your submissions. Personal data is provided directly to the Scottish Parliament when you submit your views to the Scottish Parliament using Citizen Space.
You will be asked to confirm that you have read and understood the content of this privacy notice before adding any information to Citizen Space.
Your submission may be included in the summary that will become part of the public record.
Find out more about the terms and conditions of using Citizen Space in its Privacy Notice
Sometimes the Scottish Parliament may accept submissions which have not been submitted through Citizen Space. This may be as a Word or paper document. Once this information is in an accessible format, it will be uploaded to Citizen Space and saved to the Parliament’s digital records.
Format of your submission
One of the founding principles of the Scottish Parliament is to be open and accessible. If you would prefer to provide your submission in a form other than a written submission, we can accept submissions provided as video or audio files. This includes submissions provided in British Sign Language (BSL) or a language other than English. If you require any assistance in doing so, please contact [email protected].
If you choose to provide your submission as an audio or video file, we will create a written transcript/translation of it to assist the Scottish Parliament in considering it. This transcript together with your original submission will be handled as one submission in accordance with this privacy notice, unless requested otherwise. We will hold your video or audio content and the written translation/transcription in a secure electronic format. The SPCB may share the content you provide to us with our third-party translation or transcription service provider (as appropriate) in order to obtain the translation or transcription of your video or audio.
Legal basis for processing
Data protection law states that we must have a legal basis for handling your personal data. The legal basis for collecting, holding and sharing your personal data is that the processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest (for normal category data) or substantial public interest (for special category data). This is in accordance with Article 6(1)(e) UK GDPR and section 8(d) DPA (for normal category data) and Article 9(2)(g) UK GDPR and section 10(3) and paragraph 6(1)(b) of Part 2 to Schedule 1of the DPA (for special category data).
This means that if you decide to provide us with any personal information in your submission, we have a legal basis to use that information and do not require your consent to do so.
The content of your submission may become a public record and be transferred to the National Records of Scotland. The legal basis for processing in these circumstances is that it is necessary for archiving purposes in the public interest in accordance with Article 6(1)(e) UK GDPR and section 8(d) DPA (for normal category data) or Article 9(2)(j) UK GDPR, and section 10(2) and paragraph 4 of Schedule 1 to the DPA (for special category data).
Publishing your views
The views you provide will be considered by Scottish Parliament staff and used to inform the development of the SPCB’s BSL Plan. Individual responses will not be published. Instead, responses will be summarised into an anonymised report which will be published on the Parliament’s website.
Retention and sharing of personal data
The report consisting of summaries of the submissions received will form part of the public record and will help create the evidence base upon which the Scottish Parliament makes decisions.
Public records will be retained in accordance with the Scottish Parliament records management policy and may be transferred to the Scottish Parliament archive at National Records of Scotland (NRS) where it will be publicly available.
Personal Information submitted using Citizen Space will be retained on the digital platform for one month after the call for views consultation is closed or until the conclusion of the inquiry being undertaken.
Your name and contact details may be added to a contact list so that you can be kept informed of the outcome of the Parliament business you contributed to. This will be retained until you have been signposted to the summary report, after which your name and contact information will be securely deleted.
Children and young people safeguarding and child protection
In line with the principles underlying the National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland (2014), published by the Scottish Government, our staff may report a concern to the relevant authorities if they come across an issue during their work which causes them to think that a child up to the age of 18 may be at risk of abuse or harm.
Your rights
Data protection law sets out the rights which individuals have in relation to personal data held about them by data controllers. Applicable rights are listed below, although whether you will be able to exercise data subject rights in a particular case may depend on the purpose for which the data controller is processing the data and the legal basis upon which the processing takes place.
The following rights may apply
Access to your information
You have the right to request a copy of the personal information about you that we hold.
Further information on how to make a data protection 'subject access request'.
Correcting your information
We want to make sure that your personal information is accurate, complete, and up-to-date and you may ask us to correct any personal information about you that you believe does not meet these standards.
Objecting to how we may use your information
Where we use your personal information to perform tasks carried out in the public interest then, if you ask us to, we will stop using that personal information unless there are overriding legitimate grounds to continue.
Restricting how we may use your information
In some cases, you may ask us to restrict how we use your personal information. This right might apply, for example, where we are checking the accuracy of personal information about you that we hold or assessing the validity of any objection you have made to our use of your information. The right might also apply where there is no longer a basis for using your personal information, but you do not want us to delete the data. Where this right is validly exercised, we may only use the relevant personal information with your consent, for legal claims or where there are other public interest grounds to do so.
Please contact us in any of the ways set out in the contact information and further advice sections below if you wish to exercise any of these rights.
Changes to our privacy statement
We keep this privacy statement under regular review and will place any updates on this website. Paper copies of the privacy statement may also be obtained using the contact information below.
This privacy statement was last updated on 25 June 2024.
Complaints
We seek to resolve directly all complaints about how we handle personal information but you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office online at: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.
Or by phone at: 0303 123 1113
Contact information and further advice
If you have any further questions about the way in which we process personal data, or
about how to exercise your rights, please contact the Head of Information Governance
at:
The Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh
EH99 1SP
Telephone: 0131 348 5281
(Calls are welcome through the Text Relay service or in British Sign Language through contactSCOTLAND-BSL.)
Email: [email protected]
Please contact us if you require information in another language or format