The Scottish Government and its partners collect and use information about pupils through the Pupil Census to help to improve education across Scotland. This note explains why we need this information, how we use it and what we do to protect the information supplied to us.

Why do we need your data?

In order to make the best decisions about how to improve our education service, Scottish Government, education authorities and other partners such as the SQA and Skills Development Scotland need accurate, up-to-date data about our pupils.   We are keen to help all our pupils do well in all aspects of school life and achieve better examination results.  Accurate and up-to-date data allows us to:

• plan and deliver better policies for the benefit of all pupils
• plan and deliver better policies for the benefit of specific groups of pupils
• better understand some of the factors which influence pupil attainment and achievement
• plan and implement targeted approaches to reducing the poverty-related attainment gap
• share good practice
• conduct teacher workforce planning
• target resources better
• enhance the quality of research to improve the lives of young people in Scotland
• provide a window on society, the economy and on the work and performance of government by:
• https://www.gov.scot/publications/pupil-census-supplementary-statistics/

Data policy

Information about pupils’ education is collected through our statistical surveys in partnership between the Scottish Government and Local Authorities through the ScotXed Programme which aims to help schools and Local Authorities by supporting efficient collection, processing and dissemination of statistical information.  The Scottish Government then provides analysis of the data to support research, planning, management and monitoring of education services as well as to produce National Statistics publications.

Education data within Scottish Government is managed effectively by secure systems on secure servers and is exploited as a valuable corporate resource, subject to confidentiality restraints.  As part of its data policy, Scottish Government will not publish or make publicly available any information that allows individual pupils to be identified, nor will data be used by Scottish Government to take any actions in respect of individuals. Data is held securely and no information on individual pupils can or would be made publicly available by Scottish Government.

The individual data collected by Scottish Government through the Pupil Census is used for statistical and research purposes only.

Your data protection rights

Any sharing or linkage of data will be done under the strict control of Scottish Government, and will be consistent with their data policy and the National Data National Data Linkage Guiding Principles Guiding Principles.  Decisions on the sharing or linkage of data will be taken in consultation with relevant colleagues and individuals within and outwith Scottish Government as part of a Data Access Panel.  At all times the rights of the individual (children or adults) under the GDPR and other relevant legislation will be ensured.  Further information can be found on:

https://www.gov.scot/collections/scottish-exchange-of-data-scotxed/

Concerns

If you have any concerns about the ScotXed data collections you can email the Data Protection & Information Assets Team on dpa@gov.scot  or the Head of Education Analytical Services, Mick Wilson, at mick.wilson@gov.scot or by writing to Education Analytical Services, Area 2A-North, Victoria Quay, Leith, EH6 6QQ. Alternative versions of this page are available, on request from the ScotXed Support Office, in other languages, audio tape, Braille and large print.

Alternatively complaints may be raised with the Information Commissioners Office at casework@ico.org.uk.