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Privacy policy

This page explains how www.parentclub.scot uses any information you give to the Scottish Government, and the ways in which we protect your privacy. 

Privacy policy

We don't use personal information (like email addresses) when you use parentclub.scot unless you choose to provide it to our email newsletter, or register for our Mealplanner.

Information collected in a form is only used to provide the service it relates to. If the data is used for anything else there will be a consent statement for you to read and agree before submitting the form.

We store your data on our secure servers in the UK, where it could be viewed by our staff or suppliers. By submitting your personal data, you agree to this.

We won't share your information with any other organisations for marketing, market research or commercial purposes.

Who we are

Parentclub.scot is produced by the Scottish Government. Our head office is located at 2 Regent Road, Edinburgh, EH1 3DG.

The Data Protection Act

Under current Data Protection laws, we have a legal duty to protect any information we collect from you. We use leading technologies to safeguard your data, and keep strict security standards to prevent any unauthorised access to it. We do not pass on your details to any third party or government department unless you give us permission to do so

What information do we collect?

We collect four kinds of information from visitors to this site:

  1. Site usage information from session cookies and log files
  2. Optional Personal details (name, email address and your child(ren’s) date of birth) if you choose to sign up for email marketing and communications.
  3. Your email address if you choose to sign up for a parentclub.scot user account.
  4. Information about where you have come to parentclub.scot from (e.g. online or social media advertising).

If you register for email marketing the information we collect is your name, email address and your child(ren)’s due date or date or birth. This information is stored to allow us to contact you in the future with emails with parenting tips on Parent Club and other information you may find useful as a parent. We collect your child(ren)’s due date or date of birth so we can send emails relevant to their age.

If you wish to unsubscribe from our email database you can either click the unsubscribe link in the emails we send you or request removal via email.

If you create an account on Parent Club, we collect your email address. This is used so that you can login to your Parent Club account. You can cancel your account from your ‘My Account’ page. This email address is only used for system messages such as resetting your password or verifying your account cancellation.

Email marketing

If you choose to join our email newsletter or give consent to receive information from Parent Club, the email address you provide will be forwarded to a third-party email marketing service (Union Digital and Dotdigital). We consider such services to be a third-party data processor as described below*.

The email address you provide will not be stored within this website's own database or in any of our internal computer systems.

Your email address will remain within the third-party email marketing service for as long as we continue to use this service for email marketing or until you specifically request removal from the list. You can unsubscribe by using the unsubscribe links contained in any email newsletters that we send to you or by requesting removal via email.

When requesting removal via email, please send your request to us using the email account that is subscribed to the mailing list.

* A third-party data processor is an entity that processes Personally Identifiable Information on behalf of a data controller (The Scottish Government). The data processor will not pass on the data or act upon the data without instruction from the data controller.

1. Security

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

2. Cookies

We collect anonymous information about how people use parentclub.scot so we can improve the site.

We use 'cookies', which are small files we place onto your computer to collect information about how you browse.

Find out how we manage cookies and measure site usage.

3. Facebook domain insights

We have access to anonymised data made available to us by Facebook. Information includes demographic data, shares and traffic volume. This information helps us to provide a better experience for users.

4. Your rights

You have the right to find out what information we hold about you. In addition, if you believe that the data we hold is inaccurate or incomplete you can ask us to update our records by contacting parentclub@gov.scot

To find out more about the rights you have over your personal data, please visit the ICO website

Parentclub.scot contains links to and from other websites. This privacy policy only applies to this website and doesn't cover other government services and transactions that we link to.

If you go to another website from this one, read the privacy policy on that website to find out what it does with your information.

5. Complaints

You can complain to the Scottish Government’s Data Protection Officer on any issue regarding our handling of your personal information.

You can do this by e-mail to DataProtectionOfficer@gov.scot or write to : 

Data Protection Officer
Victoria Quay
Commercial Street
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ

If you feel we have been unable, or unwilling to resolve your complaint, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Regulator for data protection in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO):

The Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Tel: 08456 30 60 60