Education (Scotland) Bill: data protection impact assessment

4. Consultation

4.1 Have you consulted with the ICO using the Article 36(4) form?

(please provide a link to it)

If the ICO has provided feedback, please include this.

We have consulted with ICO using the Article 36(4) form. This is included at Annex A.

The ICO suggested a meeting about the Bill may be useful and made some observations to assist in the drafting of the full impact assessment.

The full DPIA was provided to the ICO who was content, with a couple of minor comments which have been addressed. No meeting was required.

4.2 Do you need to hold a public consultation and if so has this taken place? What was the result?

The Bill was drafted on the basis of the extensive consultation undertaken by Professor Muir in support of his report: ‘Putting Learners at the Centre’ published in March 2022. There was also a targeted stakeholder engagement exercise which took place in March 2023.

A public and stakeholder consultation to inform the development of the Bill took place between 7 November and 18 December 2023. The purpose of the consultation was to seek further views on the provisions in the Bill to create a new qualifications body, and the approaches to enhance the role inspection plays in improving education in Scotland, including potentially through legislation. The consultation paper provided further opportunity to engage on the detail of the proposals, building on the previous substantial engagement and consultation undertaken as part of the OECD report and Professor Muir’s report.

4.3 Were there any Comments/feedback from the public consultation about privacy, information or data protection?

In total, 386 consultation responses were received and analysed. This consisted of 234 individuals and 152 responses submitted on behalf of organisations. A higher number of people contributed overall as several organisations had conducted wider consultation to develop their response. In addition, nine online consultation events were held which were attended by just under 1,000 people.

The consultation responses were analysed by an external contractor, Wellside Ltd. The findings did not support any changes to the current draft Bill in respect of imposing additional data processing requirements on the new qualification body or HM Chief Inspector.