Privacy notice - Live Chat

Privacy notice - Live chat

Who we are

We are a Local Authority established under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 and have our Headquarters at Newtown St Boswells, Melrose, TD6 0SA.

You can contact our Customer Advice and Support Service by email CustomerAdvice@scotborders.gov.uk or phone 0300 100 1800.

Our Data Protection Officer can be contacted using the contact details above or by emailing dataprotection@scotborders.gov.uk.

How we will use your information

We are investing in new digital technologies that will allow us to offer high quality, online services to our customers to improve customer experience whilst creating efficient customer query handling. As part of this work, we have introduced a live chat service to our website. Live chat will allow customers to communicate with Customer Advice and Support (CASS) staff through the our website.

As we will be using your information to enable us to deliver a number of our statutory duties, the legal basis is under the General Data Protection Regulation 2016, Article 6(1)(e) 'processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest'.

In order to begin a chat with CASS staff, you will be asked for:

  • your name
  • email address

If you do not provide the information we ask for, you will be unable to start a live chat.

Who we may share your information with

The information you provide when accessing live chat will be accessed by CASS staff for the purposes of answering your enquiry. Information may be shared with the service area that your query relates to.

Information is collected and processed through Enghouse (Exchange Communications) which is the software we use to facilitate our phone calls and live chat. Appropriate contracts are in place to ensure that we and our partners comply with the requirements of data protection legislation.

In general, we do not transfer personal data outside either the UK or the European Economic Area (EEA) and on the rare occasions when it does so we will inform you. We will only transfer data outside the UK and the EEA when it is satisfied that the party which will handle the data and the country it is processing it in will provide adequate safeguards for personal privacy.

How long do we keep your information for?

Your personal data captured during the live chat session will be retained for six months.

Your Rights

You have the right to request access to any personal data held about you by us. You can also request that we restrict the use of your information or even object to any further processing. You can do this by contacting the Data Protection Officer. We will respond to your request within 30 calendar days. For more information on your rights please visit our website or alternatively if you would like a hard copy of this information, please contact us.

How to raise a complaint

We aim to directly resolve all complaints about how we handle personal information. If your complaint is about how we have handled your personal information, you can contact our Data Protection Officer by email dataprotection@scotborders.gov.uk or phone on 0300 100 1800.

However, you also have the right to lodge a complaint about data protection matters with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), who can be contacted by

  • post: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
  • phone on 0303 123 1113
  • website

If your complaint is not about a data protection matter you can find details on how to make a complaint.