Some of the language used in privacy notices can be specialised. The Information Commissioner's website provides .
The Scottish Parliament is carrying out these surveys in order to obtain feedback from visitors to the Scottish Parliament about their visit to the Scottish Parliament. This is to help improve the services and facilities we provide.
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.
The survey will be conducted using smart survey.
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, sex, your local authority area, postcode, including *special category data such as ethnicity and disability status.
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.
*Special category data as defined by the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). Special category data applies to personal data revealing:
Information is provided directly by individuals who choose to participate in the survey.
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 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.
The data will be collected via Smart Survey 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 Smart Survey in the UK or EU.
The data will be retained on Smart Survey for a period of seven months.
When we take the data from Smart Survey 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.
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. 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:
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 at any time to require us to stop using your personal information for direct marketing purposes. In addition, 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.
You have the right to ask us to delete personal information about you where:
Please note that the right allowing for deletion or erasure of personal data (right to be forgotten) does not apply in cases where personal data is processed for the purposes of the performance of a task carried out in the public interest. The right of erasure and the right to object to processing of personal data do not apply where personal data is processed for the performance of a legal obligation. This will be considered on a case-by-case basis and depends on what personal data is involved and the risks further processing of that data could pose to you.
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.
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 12 September 2023.
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
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: .
Or by phone at: 0131 348 5281