- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 30 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the findings in the report, The Ethical Basis of the Scottish Health and Wellbeing Census, 2021-22, by Lindsay Paterson, Emeritus Professor of Education Policy at the University of Edinburgh, which outlines ethical failings in how data was gathered, how it will give all children and families the right to request deletion of their data, and whether it will commit to deleting all data gathered, in light of the reported concerns that it is unfit to be used by ethical researchers.
Answer
The Scottish Government takes the privacy of citizen’s data very seriously and is committed to ensuring that the personal data we hold complies with the Data Protection Act and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).
The UK GDPR gives individuals the right to have personal data erased, and requests for deletion can be made to the data controller(s) of the personal data. However, the right is not absolute and only applies in certain circumstances.
The right to erasure does not apply if processing is necessary for some specific purposes, including for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority, or for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific research, historical research or statistical purposes where erasure is likely to render impossible or seriously impair the achievement of that processing.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 October 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 30 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the participation of disabled people in the economy is of significant benefit.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 30 October 2024
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 September 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 19 September 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported comments by Glasgow Disability Alliance that the Disability Equality Plan lacks the ambition, meaningful actions or commitments needed to improve disabled people's lives.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 19 September 2024
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 5 September 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide further details of its position on the re-introduction of peak fares on ScotRail trains.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 5 September 2024
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 July 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 9 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-19319 by Mairi McAllan on 11 July 2023, when the UK Dolphin and Porpoise Conservation Strategy will be finalised and adopted, and what it is doing to safeguard cetaceans in the meantime.
Answer
A public consultation on the UK Dolphin and Porpoise Conservation Strategy took place in 2021 and we are working on amendments to the strategy, in partnership with the other UK administrations and the working group, ahead of implementation in early 2025.
These amendments include the addition of a number of species of whale and dolphin that are regularly sighted in UK waters and updates to the evidence base and the areas identified where further action can be taken. In the meantime, the Scottish Government continues to take action to improve the conservation of UK cetaceans.
We recognise that bycatch and entanglement in fishing gear can pose a risk to our iconic marine life and remain committed to tackling this issue in our waters.
We are working in partnership with the UK Government and other administrations on implementing the bycatch mitigation initiative.
Through the Future Catching Policy, Scottish Ministers will be delivering on their obligations to minimise and, where possible, eliminate bycatch of sensitive species as part of wider efforts to ensure the sustainability of our fishing fleet.
As our first priority, we will take firm measures to increase selectivity by introducing additional technical measures to reduce unwanted catch and bycatch of sensitive marine species, working with stakeholders to explore and deliver solutions.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 July 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 9 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-25394 by Mairi Gougeon on 6 March 2024, whether it will provide an up-to-date timeline for introducing public consultations on proposed fisheries management measures within offshore and inshore marine protected areas that do not currently have measures in place.
Answer
Putting in place the remaining fisheries management measures remains a top government priority. We want to achieve this as soon as possible, however developing the evidence based and effective fisheries management measures for over 180 sites is a complex and challenging process.
We are working to put in place fisheries management measure for MPAs as quickly as possible and we plan to consult on fisheries management for offshore MPAs this summer. We are aiming to carry out the public consultation on fisheries management measures for inshore MPAs as soon as possible.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 18 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will commit to (a) reviewing and (b) deleting, if found to be infringing UK GDPR and/or ethical standards for health research, the data gathered from 134,000 children who participated in the Health and Wellbeing Census survey in 2022 reportedly without being informed of what the Information Commissioner’s Office has described as the "serious risks" of being able to identify individuals by using their Scottish Candidate Numbers as part of their email addresses.
Answer
The HWB Census underwent an Ethics Peer Review in line with the Scottish Government social research: protocols and guidance. Scottish Government social research: protocols and guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
In light of the ICO's recommendations, the Scottish Government is introducing enhanced technical and organisational measures to ensure that any data which contains the SCN and is processed for statistical and research purposes will have a pseudonym created. The SCN and the method of pseudonymisation will be held separately. These enhanced measures have been agreed with the ICO.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 18 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it still plans to add the data from 134,000 children gathered in the Health and Wellbeing Census to the Administrative Data Research Scotland system; what its position is on whether the data was captured ethically and legally, and whether it will implement measures to mitigate any risks of being able to link the data back to the respondents, in light of the Information Commissioner's Office advice to the Scottish Government in August 2023 that the arrangements for processing the data did not meet requirements of Article 4(5) of the UK GDPR around pseudonymisation, and Article 25 around Data Protection by Design and Default.
Answer
The Scottish Government is fully committed to making best use its data, including making this available for further statistical analysis and research, subject to data protection legislation. The 2021-22 Health and Wellbeing Census data was added to Administrative Data Research Scotland (ADR-S) in May 2024. Further information on ADR-S can be found here: ADR Scotland - ADR UK
The HWB Census underwent an Ethics Peer Review in line with the Scottish Government social research: protocols and guidance. Scottish Government social research: protocols and guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
Data provided into the ADR-S infrastructure does not include the Scottish Candidate Number (SCN). The SCN is replaced with a pseudonym for this purpose.
In light of the ICO's recommendations, the Scottish Government is introducing enhanced technical and organisational measures to ensure that any data which contains the SCN and is processed for statistical and research purposes will have a pseudonym created. The SCN and the method of pseudonymisation will be held separately. These enhanced measures have been agreed with the ICO.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 18 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government on what date its Statistics Public Benefit and Privacy Panel (SPBPP) reportedly granted a request by the University of Strathclyde to access data gathered from 134,0000 children in the Health and Wellbeing Census, and whether it will provide any documentation that shows for what reason any such request was granted, in light of the Information Commissioner's Office advice to the Scottish Government in August 2023 that the arrangements for processing the data did not meet requirements of Article 4(5) of the UK GDPR around pseudonymisation, and Article 25 around Data Protection by Design and Default, which created "serious risks" and put children at risk of "potential harms".
Answer
The Scottish Government has a robust process in place when it receives access requests to its data for statistics and research purposes: Scottish Government statistics: request our data - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .
This web page includes a list of projects that have been approved by the Statistics Public Benefit and Privacy Panel (SPBPP).
The request by the University of Strathclyde to access data gathered in the 2021-22 Health and Wellbeing Census did not progress to final approval and as such this data access request does not feature in the list of approved projects.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 18 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will implement a Scottish version of the UK Government's national school breakfast club programme, specifically with a view to tackling child poverty.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to developing plans to deliver free breakfasts to all primary and special school children.
Breakfasts are being provided across Scotland by a range of service providers including public, private and third sector. We are working with Local Authorities and key stakeholders to better understand and map existing provision. This work is ongoing and alongside learning from other approaches across the UK, will inform the development of a delivery strategy for breakfast provision, including how a future offer can support the Government's mission to eradicate child poverty.
