31 August 2009
Dear Consultee
PRIVACY AND PUBLIC CONFIDENCE IN SCOTTISH PUBLIC SERVICES: DRAFT IDENTITY MANAGEMENT AND PRIVACY PRINCIPLES
I am writing to seek your views on the attached consultation document which contains draft Identity Management and Privacy Principles.
Background
People are often asked by public service organisations to prove that they are who they say they are - either to prevent fraud or to show that they are entitled to receive a particular service or benefit. They want to know that public authorities and other organisations respect their privacy and recognise the harm which may be done if personal information is collected or held unnecessarily, or lost or misused.
These draft Principles have been developed by the Scottish Government to help ensure that respect for privacy is central to the way public services prove identity or entitlement and to help public service organisations comply with data protection and human rights legislation.
These draft Principles will enable public organisations to build on these requirements and to achieve good practice.
The purpose of this consultation is to seek your views on these draft Principles.
The consultation period starts on 31 August 2009 and will run for 12 weeks. The deadline for responses is Monday 23 November 2009.
Following the end of the consultation period and subject to the views of respondents, the draft Principles will be finalised and disseminated.
Consultation paper and consultation list
The consultation paper and questions are attached, along with a list of consultees. We have tried to cover all relevant interests but if you feel another party would benefit from seeing this consultation, please forward a link to this consultation or pass on a copy.
This consultation and all other Scottish Government consultation exercises can be viewed online on the consultation web pages of the Scottish Government website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations.
Responding to this consultation paper
I invite online, written or email responses to this consultation paper by Monday 23 November 2009.
Please use the online form at www.scotland.gov.uk/privacyprinciples2009
Or send your response to:
PrivacyPrinciples2009@scotland.gsi.gov.uk or:
Caroline Irving
Privacy Principles Consultation
Scottish Government
3-H South
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ
Please include a completed Respondent Information Form (see "Handling your Response" below).
Handling your response
We need to know how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to be made public. Please complete and return the attached Respondent Information Form at the end of this letter (or if emailing you can use the interactive Word Document found at www.scotland.gov.uk/privacyprinciples2009. The Online Response Form includes the Respondent Information Form): doing so will ensure that we will treat your response appropriately. If you ask for your response not to be published we will regard it as confidential and we will handle it accordingly.
All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made under the Act for information relating to responses to this consultation exercise.
Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public, copies will be made available to the public in the Scottish Government library and on the Scottish Government web pages. Where agreement to publish has been given, we will check all responses for any potentially defamatory material before logging them in the library or placing them on the website.
Next steps in the process
Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public and after we have checked that they contain no potentially defamatory material, responses will be made available to the public in the Scottish Government Library (see the attached Respondent Information Form). These will be made available to the public in the Scottish Government Library by 21 December and on the Scottish Government consultation web pages by early January. You can make arrangements to view responses by contacting the SG Library on 0131 244 4552. Responses can be copied and sent to you but a charge may be made for this service.
What happens next?
Following the closing date all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other evidence to help finalise the draft Principles. We aim to issue a report on this consultation process during February 2010 with a view to publishing the final Principles for use by public service delivery organisations in Scotland by early spring 2010.
Comments and complaints
If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to me at the address above.
Yours sincerely
CAROLINE IRVING
Policy Manager