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.
In general, we process your personal information to:
The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) has a duty to record and archive all formal proceedings of the Parliament. Your role as adviser is likely to include attending public meetings of committees. These meetings are filmed, and the videos are publicly available on the Scottish Parliament website. A transcript of the meeting will be produced called “the Official Report” and this, alongside the video, forms part of the public record and will be transferred to the Scottish Parliament archive at National Records of Scotland.
Photographs of the meeting may also be taken. Further information on the photography and recording which may take place in the building is available in a separate privacy notice.
Where advisers are appointed to assist Scottish Parliament committees with their work, we make this publicly known in the interests of openness and accountability. Accordingly, we will publish your name on the Parliament’s website and your name may also be published in committee minutes, committee papers and reports and in the Official Report.
If the contract value is £10,000 or more, we will include information about the contract in the Contract Register published on the Parliament’s website; this will include your name, the value and duration of the contract, expenditure to date and an outline description of the services provided.
Normal category data, including names and contact details, addresses, professional history, CVs, bank account details and conflict of interest information.
Personal data is provided to us directly by you, the data subject, via a number of sources including email, post, verbally, and through access to an online portal/website.
Data protection law states that we must have a legal basis for handling your personal data.
In this case, the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party, or in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract (Article 6(1)(b) UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR)).
The personal data is retained for 5 years after contract expiry and destroyed in line with the SPCB Records Management Retention Schedule.
In line with the principles underlying the National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland (2014), published by the Scottish Government, 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.
Data protection legislation sets out the rights which individuals have in relation to personal data held about them by data controllers. 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.
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 this 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 15 January 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.
Or by phone at: 0303 123 1113
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: dataprotection@parliament.scot
Please contact us if you require information in another language or format