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Mentoring Programme Participants

This privacy statement explains how we collect and use personal information for the purpose of delivering the Interparliamentary Mentoring Programme.

Collecting and holding personal data

The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) processes any personal data you send in line with the requirements of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (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

The purposes of the processing

We collect and use your personal data to design, deliver and evaluate the mentoring programme.

We use your information to:

  • assess suitability for participation
  • match mentors and mentees based on experience, professional background, preferences and development needs
  • support communication and the mentoring relationship
  • administer and coordinate the programme, including training and evaluation

Categories of information processed

We collect and process normal category personal data such as

  • name
  • job title and grade
  • organisation
  • work contact details
  • business area
  • length of service (including length of time at current grade) and experience
  • professional area and business function
  • mentoring preferences and areas of interest or expertisefree text responses about motivation, development needs and participation preferences including whether you have *additional needs

Your name will be anonymised prior to sharing the data with other parliaments.

*As the free text responses ask for information about additional needs such as accessibility requirements this may result in processing of special category data about health and accessibility requirements.We also collect equality information such as sex, age, including special category data about disability and ethnic group for monitoring and evaluation purposes. This information is optional.

Special category data is personal data which reveals:

  • an individual’s race or ethnic origin
  • political or religious views
  • sex life or sexual orientation
  • trade union membership
  • physical or mental health
  • genetic or biometric data.

Source of the information

We collect personal data directly from you when you apply to participate in the programme and during programme delivery.

Legal basis for data processing

Data protection law requires us to have a legal basis for processing your personal data. The legal basis for processing your personal data in relation to participating in the mentoring programme is for the purposes of a task carried out in the public interest (Article 6(1)(e) UK GDPR). The public interest task is for delivery and management of a mentoring programme that supports learning and development.

For the processing of equal opportunities data this is a requirement under public sector equality duty in terms of section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. Complying with this duty is in the substantial public interest.

Data sharing

We share relevant personal data with other parliaments involved in the mentoring programme where this is necessary to enable matching and communication between participants.

Programme coordinators may use identifiable information such as your name and contact details to administer the programme and confirm mentoring arrangements.

Information used for cross organisation matching will be shared in summarised form without direct identifiers such as names or contact details wherever possible. We only share the minimum amount of information required and ensure appropriate safeguards are in place when working with partner organisations.

For programme reporting and evaluation, data will be anonymised so that individuals cannot be identified.

Retention of data 

We retain your personal data only for as long as necessary to deliver the programme and complete any follow up activity. After this, we will securely delete your personal data or anonymise it.

Anonymised data may be retained for a longer period for reporting and evaluation purposes, as it cannot be linked to identifiable individuals.

Transferring your data outside the UK

We do not intend to transfer personal data outside of the UK and Ireland (for the Irish Parliament), or to any international organisation, for the processing envisaged by this Privacy Statement.

Child protection

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. 

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. 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 withdrawn consent.

Deletion of your information

You have the right to ask us to delete personal information about you where:

  • you consider that we no longer require the information for the purposes for which it was obtained
  • Our use of your personal information is contrary to law or our other legal obligations

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. 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.

Changes to our privacy statement 

Paper copies of the privacy statement may also be obtained using the contact information below. 

This privacy statement was last updated on 25 June 2026.

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 and Data Protection Officer at:

The Scottish Parliament

Edinburgh

EH99 1SP 

Email: [email protected]

Complaints

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. 

 

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