The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) processes any personal data you send 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 from which a living individual is identified or is identifiable. The SPCB will only use your personal data for the purposes set out in this privacy notice and for which it was collected and in line with the legal basis for which it is being processed.
Further information about how the Scottish Parliament processes personal data
We will process your personal data in order to invite you to the Opening Ceremony and facilitate your attendance at the event. We will record, broadcast and use footage and photographs from the Opening Ceremony to promote the work of the Scottish Parliament, all as more fully explained below.
If you are invited by a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP), your MSP will use Microsoft Forms, a third-party survey tool, to upload information about you including your name.
The form also asks for accessibility and disability requirements so that we can support you, if required, during the event.
Read more privacy information about Microsoft forms
Contact details captured through Microsoft Forms will also be held securely on Parliament IT systems and only kept for the purposes of communicating with you about the event and then deleted thereafter. These details may be shared internally with other business areas within the Parliament.
All other attendees will be invited directly via email.
CCTV is also recorded in and around the building which may capture your personal data.
Read our specific Privacy Notice relating to CCTV
We will collect information about you including your name.
We may also receive and temporarily store *special category data about you such as information about your health including any accessibility and dietary requirements, to assist you during the event.
*Special category data consists of information revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, and the processing of genetic data, biometric data for the purposes of uniquely identifying a natural person, data concerning health or data concerning a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation.
The information we receive about you is provided by the inviting Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP).
Personal data may be shared internally where necessary with other departments and employees of the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body.
All guests who attend the Opening Ceremony may be part of the live broadcast of the event which may be shown on national television.
The SPCB will film the Opening Ceremony in full and the video footage may be streamed live on our social media accounts and on Scottish Parliament TV (“SPTV”). It will then be kept as on demand footage which will be publicly available on SPTV thereafter. We will also capture video snippets/short extracts during the event which may be used on social media, the parliament’s website and other material promoting the Opening Ceremony and work of the Scottish Parliament.
Photographs of the Opening Ceremony will be used for promoting the role of the Scottish Parliament in educational material, on the Scottish Parliament’s website and social media accounts. They may also be issued to the media. Video footage may be used on the Scottish Parliament’s other platforms including social media. We will also capture video snippets/short extracts during the event which may be used on social media, the parliament’s website and other material promoting the Opening Ceremony and work of the Scottish Parliament.
Read our privacy notice on broadcasting and photography
Special category data for any accessibility or dietary requirements will be destroyed within 28 days of the event taking place.
Significant events such as the Opening Ceremony will go on to form part of the public record. Personal information contained within a public record 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, where it will be publicly available at a point when any applied restrictions have expired.
Data protection law states that we must have a legal basis for handling your personal data.
The legal basis for processing personal data for your attendance at the Opening Ceremony is for the purposes of a task carried out in the public interest (Article 6(1)(e) of the UK GDPR and section 8(e) of the DPA). The public interest is for the purposes of facilitating the event to mark the Opening Ceremony of the Seventh Session of the Scottish Parliament and associated promotion of the event in order to promote democratic engagement.
If you provide us with any health-related information in relation to your attendance at the event, the processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest (Article 9(2)(g) and paragraph 6 of Part 2 to Schedule 1 of the DPA). The substantial public interest is compliance with statutory equality requirements in terms of section 29(7) of the Equality Act 2010.
For the transfer of personal data to the National Records of Scotland, the legal basis is that it is necessary for archiving purposes in the public interest (Article 6(1) and section 8(d) of the DPA.) For the avoidance of doubt, this does not apply to personal data obtained for the purposes of criminal history checks which will be destroyed within 28 days of the event taking place.
In line with the principles underlying the National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland, 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 may be at risk of abuse or harm.
You have the right to request a copy of the personal information about you that we hold.
Request personal information about you that we hold
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.
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.
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. 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.
Paper copies of the privacy statement may also be obtained using the contact information below.
This privacy statement was last updated on 21 May 2026.
If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your personal information you can make a complaint to the Information Governance Team of the Scottish Parliament at the following address: [email protected].
We will respond to your complaint without undue delay and your complaint will be acknowledged within one month. If, having made a complaint, you are still unhappy with the way that your personal information has been handled, you can make a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office.
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 and Data Protection Officer at:
The Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh
EH99 1SP
Email: [email protected]