Privacy and cookies

The Scottish Law Commission is an advisory non-departmental public body created by the Law Commissions Act 1965. 

The Commission is sponsored by, but exercises functions under the 1965 Act independently from, the Scottish Ministers and the Scottish Government. 

The function of the Commission under the 1965 Act is to keep under review the law in Scotland, with a view to its systematic development and reform, and generally the simplification and modernisation of the law. 

For that purpose, we consult widely on proposed changes to the law, seeking views from members of the public and those who have a particular interest in any project. 

In particular, we work with legal practitioners, with academics and other experts, with Government at all levels, and with the Scottish and UK Parliaments. 

We make recommendations for law reform based on the views of consultees. We use personal information in line with our obligations under the UK General Data Protection Regulation. 

How we collect, use and remove personal data 

We collect and use personal data in order to carry out our work on law reform, and to meet our obligations to persons appointed to the Commission, or employed on our work. This includes data we collect and use about: 

• visitors to our website  
• people who work with us as we develop our proposals for law reform  
• people who ask to be kept informed about our work  
• people who provide us with services  
• past, current and future Commissioners and members of staff  enquiries and complaints 

We share personal data with some third parties as described in this privacy statement.  We do not use or share information for commercial or marketing purposes. 

We keep personal data only for as long as it is needed, after which it is destroyed. 

Please read on for more information about our processing. 

Lawfulness of processing 

We use the personal data of: 

• people who work with us, or wish to do so,  
• people who provide us with goods or services, or wish to do so only in so far as is necessary for the performance of an employment or other contract. 

We use the personal data of people who contribute to our reports and discussion papers only in so far as is necessary in order to carry out our work on law reform, which is a task in the public interest. 

We use the personal data of people who ask to be kept informed about our work with their consent, which can be withdrawn at any time by sending a request to info@scotlawcom.gov.uk. 

We do not ask for the personal data of people who visit our website. We use cookies in order to make sure that our website works properly, and (if agreed) to make searching the website more efficient. 

Keeping in touch 

If you ask to be kept informed about our work, or follow us through any social media channel, then we will collect and use your personal data for the purpose of keeping in touch with you. 

If you work with us, or want to 

Our Commissioners are appointed by the Scottish Ministers for a fixed term in office. 

Our project managers, legal assistants, and administrators are employed by the Scottish Government.  

If you apply, or are assigned, to work with us then we will collect and use your personal data as appropriate for the purposes of: 

• recruitment  
• effecting a transfer  
• employment. 

If you are unsuccessful we will keep your data for one year before destroying it. 

We will use data provided in the context of an unsuccessful application to provide feedback, to comply with diversity and equalities legislation, and to enable compliance with our duties as a public sector employer. 

If you work with us then we will collect and use your personal data for the purposes of our work, and of your employment.

That includes collecting and using personal data in order to meet statutory and regulatory obligations, and to administer reward (in the form of pay, pension, and other benefits). 

The Scottish Government provide payroll and human resources services. We share personal data with the Scottish Government for that purpose. That includes where appropriate information about racial and ethnic origin, about beliefs, and about sexual orientation. 

If you supply goods or services 

We may collect and use the personal data of suppliers and service providers, for the purpose of obtaining such supplies and services. 

We may share this data with other suppliers and service providers, but only where necessary for that purpose. 

Enquiries 

If you ask us for information about the Commission or our work then we will collect and use your personal data for the purposes of investigating and replying.  

You can find out if we hold any personal data about you by making a request under the UK General Data Protection Regulation, sometimes called a ‘subject access request’. 

If we hold data about you, we will describe what the data is, tell you why we have it, tell you who it may be disclosed to, and let you have a copy of the data in an intelligible form. 

You will not be asked to pay a fee for replying to a subject access request.   

You may be asked to pay a small fee to cover the cost of sending you further copies of any data we supply. 

Your other rights 

If we hold any inaccurate or incomplete data about you, you can also ask us to correct any mistake or complete the data. 

You can ask us to destroy data we hold if the data is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was collected. 

You can ask us not to use data without your consent if it is inaccurate, if we no longer need it (but you do), or if we have misused it but you do not want it destroyed. 

Sharing your data 

We will share personal data with other organisations for the purpose of our public task of law reform, where required by law, for the prevention or detection of crime, or for regulatory purposes. 

We may need to share data with those who help us to carry out our functions, including our IT and communications providers, and our legal advisors. 

Complaints If you make a complaint, then we will collect and use your personal data for the purposes of investigating and replying. 

A  cookie is a small file that is downloaded onto a device when the user opens a website.  A cookie is a text file, and not a programme.  They are widely used to make websites work or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the website. 

Cookies used on our website 

Our website uses two types of cookies: 

• Strictly Necessary cookies: these enable core functionality of our website. We do not rely on your consent to help place these cookies on your device. 
• Optional cookies: these include performance cookies and targeting cookies to help us to improve our website by collecting and reporting information on how you use it. The cookies collect information in a way that does not directly identify anyone. We rely on your consent to place these cookies on your device. You can withdraw your consent at any time through the cookies control box at the bottom of every page of the website. You may need to refresh the page for the updated setting to take place. 

The cookies we use and why is set out below:

The above cookies will only be accessed by us and the named third parties for the above purposes and will not be accessed by any other third party. 

Disabling or deleting cookies 

You may be able to change your Internet browser settings so that cookies (including necessary cookies) are not accepted. If you do this, you may lose some of the functionality of this website. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org. 

To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites, visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. 

Contact Us 

If you have a concern about these policies or how we hold or use your personal data please contact us at info@scotlawcomm.gov.uk. 

If you think we have not dealt properly with a request or complaint, then you can ask the independent Information Commissioner  to consider whether any action is needed.