Privacy Policy

The Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland is registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioner (Z9097121). This registration describes the kind of information we may hold about you, how it may be processed and with whom it may be shared.

You may want more details about how:

• we protect your personal information
• we decide when it might be necessary to share this information
• you can request copies of the data we hold about you

Find this information on our page About your personal information.

The Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland has a number of policies and procedures which explain how we process and protect your personal data to ensure compliance with data protection principles. These relate to information we collect about:

• callers to our advice line
• visitors to our website
• complainants and other individuals in relation to a data protection or freedom of information complaint or enquiry
• people who use our services, e.g. who subscribe to our newsletters or request publications from us
• job applicants, and our current and former employees

Collection of personal information

If you call our Advice Line and speak to one of our practitioners, details of your call will be recorded and held electronically. This allows us to access information should there be further contact between you and us, and to provide you with the best service we can.

In addition, we may also collect personal information from you when you correspond with us, for example when you contact us by e-mail or by letter.

We also collect certain information automatically about visitors to our websites, as described in the "About Cookies" section below.

National Fraud Initiative

Together with other Scottish public sector organisations, we are required to participate in the National Fraud Initiative. As part of this, we provide staff payroll information for data matching. Data matching involves comparing sets of data, such as the payroll or benefits records of a body, against other records held by the same or another body. Further information about the National Fraud Initiative is available from Audit Scotland.

Caldicott Guardian

Our Caldicott Guardian is responsible for ensuring that appropriate and effective controls are in place to protect the confidentiality of information that we hold. The Caldicott Guardian advises on, agrees, and reviews protocols governing the protection, use, and disclosure of information about, or that identifies, service users.

Any queries about how we manage personal information within the organisation can be sent in the first instance to our Information Manager who will confer with the Caldicott Guardian before responding to you.

Useful links: