Data controller and contact details
Scottish Borders Council (including your child’s school) is the Data Controller. We are responsible for ensuring your child’s data is handled safely.
- Address: Newtown St Boswells, Melrose, TD6 0SA
- Enquiries: 0300 100 1800 | customeradvice@scotborders.gov.uk
- Education Service
- Data Protection Officer (DPO): dataprotection@scotborders.gov.uk
Protecting your child’s identity
Before using any application, we assess if we can achieve our goals without using personal data:
For this programme, information should be limited to what is needed to identify eligible pupils, support safe mentoring, administer participation and evidence the impact of the programme.
- Access is restricted to people who need it for their role.
- Mentors should only receive the minimum information necessary to support a safe mentoring relationship.
- Staff involved in the programme must follow Council data protection, confidentiality and information security requirements.
Information we use and purpose
Scottish Borders Council Education is working with MCR Pathways to provide an in-school mentoring programme for secondary pupils. The programme is intended to connect young people with trained mentors and support aspiration, confidence, engagement, attainment and positive destinations.
We may use the following information where it is needed for the programme:
- Name
- Age or date of birth
- School attended
- Year group
- Additional Support Needs information, where relevant
- Health, medical or other support information, where strictly necessary
- Care-experience information, where relevant
- Attendance information
- Photos or images only if necessary and subject to separate arrangements where appropriate
We use this information to:
- Identify pupils who may benefit from mentoring
- Discuss participation with pupils and parents or carers where appropriate
- Enter agreed information into MCR Pathways systems
- Administer and coordinate mentoring support
- Record participation and progress
- Help Scottish Borders Council and MCR Pathways evidence the impact of the programme
Legal basis and safety measures
Our lawful basis for the core processing is that it is carried out as part of a public task. The DPIA identifies the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 as the legislation supporting this processing.
Some information may be sensitive, such as health information, ethnicity information, gender information or care-experience/contextual information. Where special category information is used, the DPIA records the condition as substantial public interest.
Safety measures include:
- Named school coordinator roles
- Written guidance for selecting pupils and entering information
- Staff data protection training and Council mandatory training
- MCR training for school staff
- Confidentiality expectations for mentors
- Incident and suspected breach processes
- Clear deletion and correction procedures
- Role-based access and minimum-information sharing
Technical measures, supplier assurance and hosting or transfer details should be confirmed with MCR Pathways and the Council's relevant technical and information governance teams before final publication.
Information will be kept while the young person participates in the mentoring programme. School staff and MCR coordinators will review records annually and delete information about pupils who are no longer part of the programme.
Data sharing and decision making
Information may be shared where needed to deliver and support the MCR Pathways mentoring programme. This may include:
- Relevant staff within your child's school
- Scottish Borders Council staff supporting the programme
- MCR Pathways staff supporting the programme
- Approved mentors, but only with the minimum information necessary
- Approved service providers or sub-processors where necessary and where appropriate safeguards are in place
Your rights and complaints
Depending on your child’s age and capacity (usually from age 12 in Scotland), they or their parent/guardian have the right to access their data or request corrections. They may also ask us to restrict processing or object in certain circumstances. For concerns or to exercise your rights, please contact the Headteacher or visit our Data protection and your rights webpage.
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
- Visit the ICO website
If your complaint is not about a data protection matter, visit our Making Complaints webpage for more information.