Parental Involvement and Engagement Census privacy notice

First published

23 Mar 2023

Last updated

15 Aug 2024

Parental Involvement and Engagement Census privacy notice

Find out how Stirling Council uses personal data by checking the Council’s website at the following address:

https://www.stirling.gov.uk/privacy-statement/

Our website contains a Register of Data Processing which lists all the different ways
in which the Council uses personal data.

This Privacy Notice provides more information about just one of those processes.

Who do I contact about my personal information?

The Council has a Data Protection Officer to make sure it is complying with data protection laws.

They can be contacted at:

Data Protection Officer
Stirling Council
Old Viewforth
14-20 Pitt Terrace
Stirling
FK8 2ET

Email: dataprotection@stirling.gov.uk
Telephone: 01786 404040

Why does the Council process personal information?

To support school improvement and to monitor the progress of national policies.

The National Action Plan on Parental Engagement as well as the National Improvement Framework require evidence to ensure their aims are being delivered.

The PIE Census aims to rationalise the collection of Parental Involvement and Engagement data by providing a set of questions all local authorities will be invited to ask in their respective areas, which should result in comparable data being collected.

Further information can be found on The Scottish Government Education Analytical Services

The type of personal information we collect

Personal data including:

  • Gender
  • Age group
  • Postcode

Special category data including;

  • Ethnic group
  • Possible Health data captured

The data collected and processed by the Scottish Government will contain certain socio demographic information on parents/carers of children in Scottish schools but in the vast majority of cases this will not be sufficient to identify individual respondents.

What makes it lawful for the Council to process this personal information?

UK GDPR Article 6(1)(c) - processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject

Stirling Council is providing all data under this Agreement to the Scottish Government under section 199 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, which makes provision for every Local Authority to provide any information to the Minster, via the Scottish Government, that may be required.

UK GDPR Article 9(2)(j) - processing is necessary for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes in accordance with Article 89(1) (as supplemented by section 19 of the 2018 Act) based on domestic law which shall be proportionate to the aim pursued, respect the essence of the right to data protection and provide for suitable and specific measures to safeguard the fundamental rights and the interests of the data subject.

Where does the Council obtain personal information from?

Parental Involvement and Engagement Census.

The survey will be delivered via an online platform, which parents will be access using their personal computers, tablets or smartphones by clicking on a generic link provided to them. No unique identifiers will be used, and the Scottish Government will not receive any names or addresses of the respondents. Provision of any identifiable socio-demographic data will be optional and at the discretion of respondents. Postcode data will only be used to identify the SIMD quintile respondent’s household is in, once this information has been processed postcode data will be edited out of the main dataset.

There is also the option for participants to complete a
paper copy of the Census.

Where does the Council keep personal information?

Personal data collected through the responses to the PIE Census is securely kept electronically in the Smart Survey systems and centrally within password protected areas on Stirling Council’s secure servers. Once personal data has been submitted, either electronically or on paper returns by participants, only a small number of authorised Stirling Council employees will have access to it in order to input and analyse the information and general trends gleaned from the census returns. Schools do not have access to personal data submitted through the PIE Census. Responses to the PIE Census questions will remain confidential to protect all parents/carers and all responses shared with Scottish Government and any results will be published in a way that will not identify any individuals.

How long does the Council keep personal information?

Data Protection legislation states that personal data must be kept no longer than is necessary for the purpose for which it was originally collected. In this instance, the personal data collected from the PIE Census will be securely retained indefinitely so that the information from the returns can be compared on an ongoing basis with future PIE Censes in order to determine trends over subsequent years.

After this time, when we no longer require to process it for the tasks detailed in this Privacy Notice, the data will be securely deleted.

Who does the Council share personal information with?

The census data will be transferred between local authorities and Scottish Government shortly after each census is completed locally.

SmartSurvey - is a UK-based provider of digital survey solutions. This has been purchased by the Scottish Government’s Education Analytical Services division using the Cabinet Office’s G-Cloud 10 Framework.

The Scottish Government in turn may allow third party organisations, such as researchers or charities, access to this information.

Your rights

You have the following rights under data protection laws. If you have a request under any of these rights, you can make a subject access request.

Access to your information

You have the right to request a copy of the personal information that we hold about you. This is known as a subject access request and is free of charge.  We must respond within one month, although this can be extended to three months if the information is complex.

Correcting your information

We want to make sure that your personal information is accurate, complete and up to date. Therefore you may ask us to correct any personal information about you that you believe does not meet these standards.

Deleting your information

You have the right to ask us to delete personal information about you where:

  • you think that we no longer need to hold the information for the purposes for which it was originally obtained
  • we are using that information with your consent and you have withdrawn your consent - see the 'withdrawing consent to using your information' section below.  Please note that in general we do not rely on consent as the legal basis for processing your personal information
  • you have a genuine objection to our use of your personal information - see 'objecting to how we may use your information' below
  • our use of your personal information is contrary to law or our other legal obligations.

Objecting to how we may use your information

You have the right at any time to tell us to stop using your personal information for direct marketing purposes, profiling or research purposes. 

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 that we hold about you or we are assessing the objection you have made to our use of your information. 

This right might also apply if we no longer have a basis for using your personal information - but you don't want us to delete the data.  Where this right is realistically applied will mean that 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 use 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 purpose(s) for which consent was given.

Your request to transfer your data

If we are processing your personal information with your consent or as part of a contract with you, and it is held in an accessible and machine-readable format, you have a right to ask us to transmit it to another organisation. This is known as the right to data portability.

Our profiling or automated decision-making processes

We make some use of automated decision-making processes but very little use of profiling.  Where these techniques are used, this will be explained in the specific privacy statements relating to those functions, together with a description of the reason involved in any automated decision-making.

Complaints and comments

If you want to complain about or comment on how we have processed your personal information, you should email dataprotection@stirling.gov.uk

If you are still unhappy with how the council handled your complaint, you can contact the UK Information Commissioner's Office at:

The Information Commissioner,
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wilmslow,
Cheshire SK9 5AF

Phone: 0303 123 1113

You can find further information on the Information Commissioners Office website.

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