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.
The Scottish Parliament is carrying out in person surveys over a period of three years from June 2025 to obtain feedback from individuals visiting the Scottish Parliament. The surveys will ask for feedback from visitors about their views and experience in relation to their visit to the parliament. This information will help improve the services and facilities we provide. In addition, we will gather feedback from exhibitions and events held at the parliament during the period of the surveys. The surveys will be undertaken by a contractor, Jump Research, on behalf of the Scottish Parliament. For the purposes of carrying out the surveys Jump Research will be processing personal data on behalf of the Scottish Parliament.
Further information on the privacy notice for Jump Research
The data received from the in-person surveys will be used by Jump Research to produce a series of anonymised reports.
The surveys are for people over the age of 16 years. You are not required to complete the survey, and you do not need to answer every question.
If you take part in the survey as a visitor to the Scottish Parliament the survey does not ask for your name or contact information. It asks for opinions on your experience, your knowledge of the Scottish Parliament, your age, sex, the name of your town/city including postcode, and special category data about ethnicity and disability status.
Since there is also an option to provide free text responses to some of the questions, we realise this may result in us capturing your personal data. This is not data we are seeking or need, and this privacy notice explains how we will remove it from what we store and use.
Special category data as defined by the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) applies to personal data revealing:
Information is provided directly by visitors to the Scottish Parliament who choose to participate in the surveys.
Data protection law states that we must have a legal basis for handling your personal data.
As participation in the survey is voluntary, the legal basis for the processing of personal data is that it is carried out with your consent in terms of Article 6 (1)(a) of the UK GDPR and (for special category data) explicit consent in terms of Article 9(1)(a) of the UK GDPR. The survey software program used by Jump Research will ask you to indicate your consent and explain your right to withdraw your consent.
Anonymised survey responses will be shared with the Scottish Parliament and Jump Research.
Data is retained until the project is complete and the final output signed off. Information will then be securely erased, leaving only the anonymised aggregate data e.g. data tabulations. The project is due to be completed by June 2028 at which point all data will be deleted.
In line with the principles underlying the National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021 - updated 2023 - gov.scot, 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 or adult may be at risk of abuse or harm.
Data protection legislation sets out the rights which individuals have in relation to personal data held about them by data controllers. Applicable rights are listed below. You can exercise your data subject rights in particular circumstances depending 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:
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'.
You have the right to ask us to correct the personal data we hold about you. 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.
The right to object to the processing of personal data does not apply where the data subject has consented to the processing, subject to the right to withdraw consent.
You have the right to ask us to delete personal information about you where:
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 don't 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.
Where we use your personal information with your consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time and we will stop using your personal information for the purposes for which consent was given.
Please contact us in any of the ways set out below if you wish to exercise any of these rights.
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 13 June 2025.
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.
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]