The Scottish Parliament publishes biographical data about MSPs on the Parliament’s website to inform the public about their elected representatives. For the purposes of monitoring the demographics of MSPs, this includes publishing information about the sex and trans status of MSPs. The Parliament also publishes aggregated biographical data about MSPs in relation to sex and trans status. The publication of this information is required to ensure that the Scottish Parliament has accurate and transparent information on diversity, including female representation at Holyrood. The publication of information relating to sex and trans status alongside current MSP website profiles also assists constituents to identify appropriate representatives for them to consult.
In order to facilitate publication of this data on the website, and to enable demographical reporting to be carried out, this data requires to be held in digital parliamentary systems that support these functions.
Normal category data such as names, sex and trans status.
Depending on the information provided together with other publicly available information, this may reveal special category data.
Special category data as defined by the UK General Data Protection Regulation.
Special category data applies to personal data revealing:
The information will be provided by MSPs who respond to our request for provision of this information.
Information about the sex and trans status of individual MSPs, together with aggregated biographical information about MSPs generally, will be published on the Scottish Parliament website.
Data which is published on our live website will be visible there for the duration of the parliamentary session and then removed. Information about the sex and trans status of MSPs together with aggregated biographical information may also be shared internally and externally for reporting requirements.
Our website is regularly captured and preserved by National Records of Scotland in accordance with our obligations under the Public Records (Scotland) Act 2011. This means that, even once removed from our live website, the published information will remain publicly available in the NRS archive as a permanent record.
Data protection law states that we must have a legal basis for handling personal data.
The legal basis for the processing of personal data including sex and trans status and aggreged biographical information about MSPs is that it is carried out with the consent of the data subject (the MSP) in accordance with Article 6(1)(a) of the UK GDPR.
For special category data, the legal basis for processing is explicit consent in terms of Article 9(2)(a).
For the capture and preservation of information on the Scottish Parliament website by National Records of Scotland, the legal basis for processing is that it is necessary for archiving purposes in the public interest in terms of Article 6(1)(e) of the UK GDPR and section 8(d) of the DPA or, for special category data, the conditions for processing are in terms of Article 9(2)(j) of the UK GDPR (which applies to archiving in the public interest), and Section 10(2) and paragraph 4 of Schedule 1 of the DPA.
The information collected from the survey will be retained for the length of the Parliamentary Session. Information about sex and trans status of MSPs and aggregated biographical information about MSPs that is captured by National Records of Scotland will become permanent records.
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. For further information, see 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.
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. 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. Where your consent is withdrawn, information relating to sex and trans status will be listed on your MSP website profile as ‘undisclosed’.
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.
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]
If you are unhappy with the way that 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 within one month. If, having made a complaint, you are still unhappy with the way your personal information has been handled, you can make a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office.