Scotlands Commissioner for Children and Young People

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Privacy and Cookies

The purpose of this privacy guide is to tell you what to expect when the Commissioner's Office collects personal information. We collect information about:

  • visitors to our website
  • people who subscribe to our e-newsletter
  • people who contact us with a question or a comment for the Commissioner (where we would want to get back in touch to provide you with an answer)
  • people who want to request a publication or resource from us
  • job applicants

The guide is split into the following 5 sections

Use of cookies by us

Cookies are text files containing small amounts of information which are downloaded to your computer or other device by websites that you visit. They are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the website you visit. 

The table below explains the cookies we use and why.

Cookie

Cookie File Name

Purpose

More Information

Google Analytic

_utma

-utmb

_utmc

_utmz

These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our site. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the site. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come to the site from and the pages they visited. Click here for an overview of safeguarding your data at Google
Session Cookie ASP.NET_SessionId This session cookie is used by the website to maintain the state of pages between page post-backs. It is also required for visitors using the commenting feature and switching the site into a  'Low Graphic Version'. This cookie is not linked to any identifiable user information stored in the site database and expires at the end of the session.
Content Management System (CMS) Cookie .ASPXAUTH This cookie is delivered only to CMS users when logged into the CMS. It is essential to the usage of the CMS. Only employees of the Commissioner are CMS users.
Poll Cookie pollld_X When a visitor votes in a poll on our website a cookie is saved on their computer registering that a vote has been placed.  The supplier of our CMS is rebuilding the poll feature to exclude this cookie.

 

Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. Due to their core role of enhancing/enabling usability or site processes, disabling cookies may prevent users from using certain websites. You can find more information about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them at : www.allaboutcookies.org

You can opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites by visiting http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

Keeping your personal information safe

The Data Protection Act 1998 is the law that tells organisations what they must do to keep people's personal details safe & secure. 


Organisations have a responsibility to make sure that your private information doesn't fall into the wrong hands or get used in a way that you're not happy with (e.g. that you sign up for a newsletter for one organisation, but then end up receiving lots of spam from a completely different organisation). 

You don't have to provide us with any of your personal details if you don't want to. You are free to say "no" at any time. If you don't want to provide us with your real name, you might decide to use a nickname instead.  For your safety, we won't publish your full name or e-mail address on the SCCYP website. We will also keep our firewall and security systems up to date to make sure that your details are kept safe at all times. 

Accessing your personal information

If we ever ask you to tell us any of your personal details, we'll  tell you:

  • why we're asking for it
  • what it will be used for

If you're not sure about what this means, please feel free to ask us about this at any time.

You have the right to see any of the information that SCCYP holds about you. You can find out more about how to do this by e-mailing us, writing to us or phoning us (see the "Finding Out More" section for details). 

If you find that any of the information we've got is wrong, then please tell us and we'll do our best to put it right as soon as possible. (There are a very few times when the law says we don't have to provide you with absolutely all the information we have - e.g. if providing you with that information means that we'd have to reveal personal information about another person). If we can't release all your information, though, we will tell you why. 

Sharing your personal information

We will normally only share your info with someone outside of SCCYP when we've asked your permission to do this. 

However, if we are worried about your safety - or the safety of someone close to you - we might have to pass your info on without your permission (although we would normally let you know we were doing this and why). 

Depending on the circumstances, this might involve us contacting the Children's Reporter, the local Social Work office or the Police.

Finding out more

If you have any questions about our privacy policy and how we look after your personal information, you can contact us in a number of ways.

By phone: Young Persons Freephone - 0800 019 1179

By e-mail: 

By writing to: Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young people, 85 Holyrood Road,  Edinburgh EH8 8AU