Your personal information is any information that can be identified as being about you.
For example, imagine we sent out a form that asked you to tell us your name, which school you went to and your opinion about something.
There probably isn’t anyone else at your school who has the same name as you, so we’d be able to work out that you personally had given us that opinion.
That would make your name and the school you went to personal information, because we could use it to identify you. It also means the opinion you put down on the form is your personal information.
Some personal information is called special category data, which has extra protections because it’s more sensitive than other personal information.
Special category data is particularly sensitive personal information. Because it’s more open to misuse than other personal information, there are extra protections around it.
It includes information about someone’s:
- Race or ethnic origin
- Political opinions
- Religious or philosophical beliefs
- Trade union membership
- Genetic data
- Biometric data (when used to identify someone)
- Health
- Sex life
- Sexual orientation
More in the Rights questions and answers section
Sometimes we will need special category data to help us resolve issues that affect the rights of individual or groups of children and young people in Scotland.
We also ask people to share some of this information with us to help us meet our equalities duties.