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 purpose of the processing
The Scottish Parliament is carrying out this survey in order to obtain feedback from visitors to the Parliament about their experience to help improve the services and facilities we offer, including our exhibitions.
You are not required to complete the survey and you do not need to answer every question.
We use the data received from the survey to create statistics which show only anonymised data.
Data Protection Principles
We will comply with data protection law, which says that the personal information we hold about you must be:
- Used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way.
- Collected only for valid purposes that we have clearly explained to you and not used in any ways that is incompatible with those purposes.
- Relevant to the purposes we have told you about and limited only to those purposes.
- Accurate and kept up to date.
- Kept only as long as necessary for the purpose we have told you about.
- Kept securely.
Categories of information provided
The survey does not ask for your name or contact information. It asks for opinions on your experience, your knowledge of the Parliament, your age and your local authority area.
Since there is also an option to provide free text responses to some of the questions, we realise this might result in us capturing 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.
The categories of personal data the SPCB processes include normal category personal data and special category personal data.
Special category personal data includes information about:
- 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.
The SPCB undertakes to handle this type of personal data in line with all data protection laws in a way that reflects the greater risk to individuals when special category personal data is handled.
Source of the information
Information is provided directly by individuals who choose to participate in the survey.
The legal basis for processing
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 the consent of the data subject in terms of Article 6 (1)(a) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and (for special category data) explicit consent in terms of Article 9(1)(a) UK GDPR. The survey software program will ask you to indicate your consent and explain your right to withdraw your consent.
If you are aged 12 years or under, we will ask your parent or guardian to confirm that they are happy for you to complete the survey.
How is your personal information collected
The data will be collected via Citizen Space, which is a third-party digital tool that enables the Scottish Parliament to collect and analyse survey information. The data collected is stored securely by Citizen Space in the UK or EU. Read more at delib.net/legal/privacy notice.
The data will be stored for 1 month before being deleted from Citizen Space.
When we take the data from Citizen Space and move it to the Parliament’s systems, we will remove any personal data and ensure all responses are anonymised. We will then retain the anonymised data for future statistical and analytical purposes.
Data sharing and data processing
Data collected by the online survey may be shared internally with the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe). Personal data is anonymised so any reports compiled from the survey will not identify any individual.
Responses in languages other than English may also be shared with our translators. Once the translated responses are received by the Parliament, we will anonymise and store them.
Retention of data
Survey responses will be collected and retained in anonymised form.
Data will be deleted from Citizen Space within 1 month of the survey closing.
Children and young people safeguarding and child protection
Sometimes consultation responses can raise child protection concerns. If we believe that you, or someone else, may be at risk of harm, we may report these concerns to the relevant authorities to keep the child safe.
Your rights
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, 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
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.
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.
- we are using that information with your consent and you have withdrawn your consent – see Withdrawing consent to using your information below.
- 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. 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.
Withdrawing consent to using your information
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.
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 27 July 2022.
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 6913
(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
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 at: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.
Or by phone at: 0131 348 5281