Scottish Study of Early Learning and Childcare – How we use your information

Why is the data being collected?

The Scottish Study of Early Learning and Childcare is a Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland research project. In 2021, the funded early learning and childcare entitlement in Scotland doubled from 600 to 1140 hours a year. This change sought to support children’s development and support more parents into work, study or training. The information collected in the study will be used to explore whether children and parents benefit from the change, how they benefit and which groups benefit most. Fully anonymised findings will be shared with relevant stakeholders including Scottish Government, local authorities and early learning and childcare practitioners. A fully anonymised report of the findings will also be published on the Scottish Government’s website.

This is the sixth and final phase of the Scottish Study of Early Learning and Childcare, which commenced in 2018. Findings from four of the five phases carried out so far can be viewed online at Early learning and childcare expansion evaluation.

If you have any questions about the Scottish Study of Early Learning and Childcare, you can contact the research team at the Scottish Government using the details below:

Email: catriona.rooke@gov.scot

The Scottish Centre for Social Research (ScotCen) will be responsible for collecting information during the survey, securely storing it and using it to write a report for Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland. A selection of parents/carers in participating nurseries are being asked to complete a short questionnaire. If parents/carers are happy, we would also like a nursery staff member to complete a short questionnaire about how their child is doing. Taking part in this study is completely voluntary. There is no statutory or contractual requirement to participate or provide any personal details. There will be no consequences for you or your child or your relationship with your child’s nursery if you choose not to take part in some or all parts of the study.

What is the legal basis for processing the data?

For this project, the legal basis for processing personal data is “public task in the public interest” under the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 and Section 4 of the Public Health Scotland Order 2019. Some of the information you are asked to provide is sensitive personal data (special category data), for example questions on ethnicity and health. We ensure that processing of this data is proportionate and necessary for statistical research purposes under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (article 9, section (2)(j)), in accordance with Article 89(1) and Condition 4 of the Data Protection Act 2018, Schedule 1, Part 1. Processing is also necessary for reasons of substantial public interest and all additional processing conditions as stipulated in Article 9 (2) (g) of the UK GDPR will be adhered to.

Who is the data controller?

The Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland are Joint Data Controllers for this project. As Joint Controllers, they decide what personal data is collected from you as part of this study. Scottish Government’s website can be accessed here. The Public Health Scotland website can be accessed here and you can view the Public Health Scotland’s privacy notice here.

Scottish Government are the lead controller for enquiries and data subject rights requests.

Who is the data processor?

The Scottish Centre for Social Research (ScotCen) and its parent company, the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), is the “data processor” for this study, which means that they will be responsible for collecting information from you during the survey, securely storing it and using it to write a report on behalf of Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland.

If you have any questions about how ScotCen’s role in the study, please contact us on 0800 652 4569 or email your enquiry to: elc@scotcen.org.uk or write to Scottish Centre for Social Research, Scotiabank House (2nd floor), 6 South Charlotte Street, Edinburgh EH2 4AW.

What happens to the information you give us and who will have access to it?

Your answers are treated with care and with full respect for your privacy. The information is used for statistical and research purposes only and is dealt with in accordance with data protection legislation. We will not publish the research findings in a form that can reveal your identity (or that of your child).

ScotCen will have access to personal details, including: your and your child’s name; survey responses; and your contact details, if you provide them, and will hold them until at least 2026.

Data processing will be done with the support of a data capture agency (Adetiq Ltd) who will scan completed paper questionnaires. All sub-contractors working for ScotCen/NatCen come from their ‘Approved Supplier List’, which means that they have contracts and confidentiality agreements already in place with them. Your data will not be shared by these approved sub-contractors with anyone other than ScotCen/NatCen via a secure data transfer process.

A dataset containing the survey responses, with identifying information removed, will be produced for analysis after each phase of data collection and stored separately from the “key” with identifying personal information. This dataset will be shared with the Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland to facilitate further analysis.

If you take part in the study, we may link your survey answers to administrative data on your child’s health and education; this process is called data linkage. This will include information on things like your child’s early development and future education attainment. This data is held centrally by Public Health Scotland and the Scottish Government. By linking to this information, we don’t need to ask you questions about these issues – which will save you time – but we will still have a good picture of your child’s health and development, which makes the research more useful. For this linkage to happen, it will be necessary to share some of the personal details provided with Public Health Scotland (e.g. name, postcode, date of birth). Linkage will be done securely by specifically authorised NHS analysts working at Public Health Scotland. Public Health Scotland will only use your personal details for this purpose. Linkage of survey responses to other datasets is only done once the necessary approvals have been granted by the relevant NHS and/or Scottish Government research, ethics and governance groups.

What if I don’t want survey responses being linked to administrative data on my child’s health and education?

Survey responses may be linked to administrative data on your child’s health and education, as described above. If you do not wish for this to happen then you should inform us in one of the following ways:

Email the study email address on: elc@scotcen.org.uk
Contact the study freephone number on 0800 652 0601
Inform your child’s key worker or another staff member at the setting your child attends either verbally or in writing

If you later (after 2026) decide that you wish to opt-out of ongoing data linkage you can do so without giving us a reason by contacting the Scottish Government Data Protection Officer as detailed below.

How long will my information be stored for?

All your survey answers and personal details are stored securely and confidentially under the terms of data protection legislation. Your personal details are stored separately from your survey answers.

ScotCen will delete your contact details after the final phase of the study has been completed in December 2024. ScotCen will store all the other information until at least 2026. If they no longer need to hold the data after this time, they will securely delete it.

Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland will retain the dataset containing the survey responses, with identifying information removed, as long as it is required for further analysis. We will routinely review whether it is still appropriate to hold the survey information.

Public Health Scotland will retain your identifying information for data linkage for as long as it is required in line with their Records management document storage and retention policy which is fully compliant with the Records Management Health and Social Care Code of Practice (Scotland) 2020.

The information collected in the survey (but no information that would allow you to be identified) may be archived and made available via a service such as the UK Data Service for use by approved researchers and academics. Researchers and academics may also request access to more detailed data that is not available through services such as the UK Data Service. These requests are assessed and – if approved – are governed by Data Access Agreements. These formal agreements set out strict requirements for the processing and safekeeping of personal data.

What are my rights?

Data protection legislation gives rights to individuals in respect of the personal data that organisations hold about them. This includes information collected as part of this research. You have the right to receive information about the purpose of this research and how your data is used. This is covered by this Privacy Notice. You have the right to have inaccurate personal data rectified, or completed if it is incomplete. You have the right to access all information held about you by the Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland. Written or verbal requests will be replied to within one month.

Further details about your rights, the Scottish Government’s responsibilities in handling your data and how to raise concerns about the way your data is being processed is available on this page.

More information on your rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) can be found on the website of the Information Commissioner’s Office www.ico.org.uk.

Who can I contact if I wish to exercise my rights or I have a complaint?

If you wish to exercise your rights, you can contact the Scottish Government Data Protection and Information Assets Team using the details below:

Email: dpa@gov.scot

Address:

The Data Protection and Information Assets Team
Information and Technology Services (iTECS)
V Spur
Saughton House
Broomhouse Drive
Edinburgh, EH11 3XD

If you have a complaint you can contact Scottish Government’s Data Protection Officer using the details below:

Email: DataProtectionOfficer@gov.scot

Telephone: Central Enquiries - 0300 244 4000.