Privacy notice - cemetery, burial and memorial enquiries

Who we are

We are a local authority established under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 and have our headquarters at Scottish Borders Council, Newtown St Boswells, TD6 0SA. 

You can contact us by:

  • phone: 0300 100 1800
  • email: CustomerAdvice@scotborders.gov.uk

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

How we will use your information

We will use the information you provide, to contact you about your cemetery, burial or memorial enquiry and/or aim to resolve the issue you have raised.

We are collecting and using this information for the performance of a task which is carried out in the public interest, and where we have entered into a contract with you to provide a burial lair.

Who we may share your information with

Your information will be accessed by our staff who need to do so in order to provide the service described above. 

Your information may also be shared and analysed internally in order to provide management information, inform service delivery reform and similar purposes to meet our duty to achieve best value and continuous service improvement. 

If your enquiry is in regards to a lair, your information will be shared with Clearskies, the software company who administer the computer programme in relation to lair management.

We are legally obliged to share certain data with other public bodies such as HMRC, CSA, Police Scotland, Scottish Courts and the Public Services Ombudsman and will do so where the law requires this and it will be proportionate. 

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

Appropriate contracts are in place to ensure that we and our partners comply with the requirements to Data protection Legislation.

Decision making

We do not use automated decision-making processes. Some processes are semi-automated (such as anti-fraud data matching) but a human decision maker will always be involved before any decision is reached in relation to you.

Information you have given us about other people

If you have provided anyone else's details on this form, please make sure that you have told them that you have given their information to us. If they want any more information on how we will use their data they can email us dataprotection@scotborders.gov.uk

How long do we keep your information for?

The information you have provided will be retained for one year following the last action on your enquiry and will be destroyed in a secure manner.

However if the information you have provided is in regards to a lair, it will be retained without end date to ensure the correct administration.

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 visit our website  or if you would like a hard copy of this information, 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
  • phone: 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.
  • by phone: 0303 123 1113  
  • online 

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