sportscotland General Privacy Notice

Version 4.0 8 January 2026

What is the purpose of this document 

sportscotland is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal information. This privacy notice describes how we collect and use personal information about you, in accordance with UK Data Protection legislation. This Privacy Notice contains important information about how we collect, manage, use, and protect your personal information.

Please note that we have specific privacy notices for particular groups that engage with us.

The Scottish Sports Council, trading as ‘sportscotland’ of Doges, Templeton on the Green, 62 Templeton Street, Glasgow, G40 1DA is the “controller” of the personal information that you provide to us and is registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office, registration number Z7177835.

This means that we are responsible for deciding how we hold and use personal information about you. We are required under Data Protection legislation to notify you of the information contained in this privacy notice.

We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time. Please check this notice frequently to ensure you are aware of the most recent version and the date that it was last updated.

Our contact details

Headquarters
Doges,
Templeton on the Green,
62 Templeton Street
Glasgow,
G40 1DA

Tel: 0141 534 6500

Deaf/BSL users can contact us using the Contact Scotland service

Web: sportscotland - sportscotland the national agency for sport in Scotland

Email: sportscotland.enquiries@sportscotland.org.uk

Data Protection Officer Contact Details:

Information Governance and Data Protection Officer
Doges, Templeton on the Green, 62 Templeton Street

Glasgow, G40 1DA

Email: DPO@sportscotland.org.uk

Our websites

This privacy notice is applicable to the following websites associated with sportscotland along with any websites we may operate in the future (the “Websites”):

• sportscotland (this website)
• Sport First
• Glenmore Lodge
• National Centre Inverclyde  
• Scottish Sports Hall of Fame
• MySport
• Scottish Avalanche Information Service
• Sport for Life/
• sportscotland Learning
• Child Wellbeing and Protection in Sport Tool

What type of information we have

We may collect and process the following personal information about you:

• Information that you provide by filling in forms on the websites or provide to the National Centres when using their services, including your name, address, email address, phone numbers, date of birth, gender, and age;
• Payment details: including bank account number, sort code, national insurance number, tax status, and any other information relating to the provision of payment for services;  
• Information provided at the time of registering to use our site, subscribing to our service, posting material, or requesting further services;
• We may ask you for information when you enter a competition or promotion sponsored by  sportscotland;
• Information received for award nominations;
• Information requested when you report a problem with our site;
• Medical information, information relating to additional support needs and nutritional information required for certain courses or accommodation bookings at the National Centres;
• Photos and videos during events where such photos constitute personal information, which would be taken only with your consent;
• Correspondence with you (either via email, record of call, voicemail message or otherwise);
• Details of transactions you carry out through our site and of the fulfilment of your orders;
• Details of your visits to our websites including, but not limited to, traffic data, location data, weblogs, other communication data and the resources that you access (see the Cookies section below for more information on this);
• CCTV: We use CCTV at some premises for safety and crime prevention. We do not record sound. Signage is displayed where CCTV operates. Images are retained for 30 days, unless a longer period is necessary for an incident investigation or legal proceedings, after which they are securely deleted. To exercise your data rights in relation to CCTV footage (including access), please use the contact details below; our Subject Access Request Policy .
• Any information that you choose to send us via email or social networking tools such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram;
• Data input into our coaching app or into our online e-learning courses; and
• Coaches: personal information comprising name, age, gender, sport and club association, level of coaching qualification, responses to questionnaires or award applications, disability and additional needs/requirements, and responses to evaluations. 

Cookies

A “cookie” is a text file that is downloaded to the hard drive of your computer and is used to remember your preferences and sessions.

We use cookies on our websites to make our services work, improve their performance, and understand how people use them.

Some cookies are strictly necessary to provide a service you request (for example, to keep you signed in, remember your cookie choices, or maintain a shopping basket). These do not require your consent.

Other cookies are non-essential (for example, analytics and advertising). We will ask for your consent before setting these, unless a limited Data Usage and Access Act (DUAA) exemption applies. In line with the DUAA’s changes to Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), we may set certain low-risk statistical measurement cookies (used solely to produce aggregate statistics to improve our website) or appearance/preference cookies (e.g., language, theme) without consent, provided we give clear information and an easy way to object. Advertising/targeting and most analytics still require consent.

You can manage your choices at any time via our cookie banner, where you’ll find granular controls and the option to withdraw consent as easily as you gave it.

Our purposes for processing personal data

We process your personal information for specific purposes.  These include: -

• To administer the websites;
• To ensure that content from our site is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer;
• To provide you with information, products, or services that you request from us or which we feel may interest you, where you have consented to be contacted for such purposes;
• To allow you to participate in interactive features of our service, when you choose to do so;
• To notify you about changes to our service where we have consent to communicate with you via marketing;
• To book accommodation, book individuals onto training courses, and book individuals onto events;
• To process medical and accessibility information in relation to course provision.
• To process data in respect of our gym and climbing wall facilities in the National Centres to allow safe provision of facilities;
• To share nutritional information on to our catering providers in order for them to ensure dietary requirements are catered for. This includes third party course accommodation providers;
• To process any accessibility information provided if relevant in order to ensure adequate facilities are provided for individuals;
• To process email addresses or other contact details to provide marketing or communications, request customer feedback only where individuals provide consent for us to carry out this type of activity;
• If you have given us consent to take photos/videos of you, we may share this on our websites, social media and sportscotland publications;
• In relation to our coaching application, we store your information and may download it for information to tailor push notifications to group and audiences;
• In relation to our eLearning modules, we may process your information to provide you with learning certificates, scoring information, or other certifications relating to eLearning modules and may use this information for evaluations;
• In respect of workshops provided by us or approved third parties, we may use your information in respect of workshop provision, delivery, and tracking; providing workshops for individuals and arranging sport educators to deliver such workshops, and tracking workshops that have been delivered;
• In relation to coaches, we may use your information to administer programmes; for equality monitoring purposes; to help shape and develop the programme based on user location and need; for reporting purposes and KPIs; to ensure appropriate provision for those with additional needs; to promote new learning opportunities; to share relevant questionnaires that will help us shape and develop our products and services in future; to ensure our learning is having the desired impact on behaviour change; and
• In relation to awards including coaching and volunteering awards, we may use nominee and nominator personal information to invite individuals to coaching awards, sharing information with third parties as outlined below and publicising information in relation to award winners.

Who we share your personal information with

• If your personal information is included in any images or videos taken by us at our events, we may share it on our websites for promotional/media purposes;
• If your personal information is included in any images or videos taken by us at our events, we may also share this with Commonwealth Games Scotland, Scottish Governing Bodies, and British Governing Bodies of Sport, for promotional and/or journalistic purposes;
• We may share your information with third parties where it is necessary to perform a contractual service or administer our relationship with you, where we are required by law to do so, (in the case of the National Centres only) where we have a legitimate interest in doing so), or when we are required by public interest requirements to do so;
• sportscotland engages third-party suppliers to provide services including IT, payroll, contractors for training, occupational health services or specific pieces of work, among others. These suppliers may process personal information on our behalf as “processors” and are subject to written contractual conditions to only process that personal information under our instructions and protect it; and
• We may share personal information with our professional and legal advisors for the purposes of taking advice.
• We may share your personal information with the National Lottery where this is necessary in connection with funding, reporting, or compliance requirements associated with our programmes and activities.
• We may also share your information with third parties from time to time if that sharing is required in relation to the service we are providing to you, including, but not limited to:
• Third party software, analytics, website and search engine suppliers or IT suppliers including Google Analytics, Campaign Monitor, MailChimp, Crazy Egg, ESP, Ross Falconer Limited, Strut Digital;
• Service providers in relation to courses and bookings you make with us including at the National Centres and for events or courses provided by our affiliates including Scottish and National Governing Bodies;
• Reflex Blue, our coaching app provider, Survey Monkey, OneFile, Centrastor, all of which being suppliers of software required for course provision or communications;
• Scottish and National Governing Bodies, Scottish local authorities, the Scottish Qualifications Authority, clubs, and other associations in respect of eLearning or coaching applications or awards, where the individual data subject would have knowledge of that information being shared; and
• Finance/Payment software including WorldPay and Sagepay.

How we store and protect your personal information 

Security measures in place within sportscotland include physical security measures; strong passwords; password lock out policy; managed permissions; two factor authentication; encryption; antivirus software; anti-malware software; data loss prevention software; secure email gateway; software patch management and appropriate data backup arrangements.

Core systems are only accessible by sportscotland staff and a small number of contracts for service practitioners.

Where sportscotland retains your personal information in one of our own data centres, all data will be stored on UK based servers. Where sportscotland utilises cloud-based storage, your personal information may be stored out with the UK within European Union country data centres, in which case sportscotland will ensure adequate security measures are in place to protect your personal information.

International Data Transfers:

If we transfer personal information outside the UK, we do so in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulations, Data Protection Act 2018 and the Data Usage and Access Act.  This means we only transfer data to countries or organisations where the level of protection for personal information is not materially lower than that required under UK law.

Your personal information may also be stored on third party, cloud-based solutions. Where this is the case, sportscotland will ensure that that third party complies with data protection legislation when processing your personal information.

Use of AI Tools: We use certain AI-enabled tools to support administration (e.g., drafting and summarising) and do not use AI to make decisions about individuals. Where AI tools may process personal information, we complete Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs), apply appropriate safeguards, and follow our AI Policy. We will be transparent where AI is used and ensure human oversight.

Retention Periods

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary for the purposes described above, and in line with the sportscotland retention and destruction policy contained within the sportscotland Records Management Plan, which is a legal requirement under the Public Records Scotland Act (2011) You can download this at: sportscotland Records Management Plan

Legal Basis for processing your personal data

We will only collect and process personal information where we have a legal basis for doing so under Data Protection legislation. The legal basis may differ depending on the purpose for processing your data.

Data Type: Name, address, email, phone
Purpose of Processing: Account creation, service provision
Lawful Basis (GDPR/DUAA): Contract (Art. 6(1)(b))

Data Type: Date of birth, gender, age
Purpose of Processing: Eligibility checks, reporting, equality monitoring
Lawful Basis (GDPR/DUAA): Legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c)); Public interest (Art. 6(1)(e))

Data Type: Payment details (bank, NI number)
Purpose of Processing: Payment for services, payroll
Lawful Basis (GDPR/DUAA): Contract (Art. 6(1)(b)); Legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c))

Data Type: Medical & accessibility info
Purpose of Processing: Course provision, accommodation, health & safety
Lawful Basis (GDPR/DUAA): Consent (Art. 6(1)(a), Art. 9(2)(a)); Public interest (Art. 9(2)(g))

Data Type: Photos/videos (events)
Purpose of Processing: Promotion, media, publications
Lawful Basis (GDPR/DUAA): Consent (Art. 6(1)(a))

Data Type: Website usage data (cookies)
Purpose of Processing: Analytics (audience measurement), site improvement, preferences, advertising
Lawful Basis (GDPR/DUAA): Strictly necessary cookies: not consented; necessary for a service you request. Statistical measurement / appearance cookies: in limited cases may be set without consent under DUAA’s PECR exemptions, with clear info and an easy opt-out. Advertising/targeting cookies: Consent (Art. 6(1)(a))

Data Type: Coaching app data
Purpose of Processing: Tailored notifications, programme administration
Lawful Basis (GDPR/DUAA): Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)); Contract (Art. 6(1)(b))

Data Type: Award nominations
Purpose of Processing: Processing nominations, event invitations
Lawful Basis (GDPR/DUAA): Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)); Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f))

Data Type: CCTV images
Purpose of Processing: Security, crime prevention
Lawful Basis (GDPR/DUAA): Public interest (Art. 6(1)(e)); Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f))

Data Type: Correspondence (email, social)
Purpose of Processing: Responding to queries, customer service
Lawful Basis (GDPR/DUAA): Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)); Consent (Art. 6(1)(a))

Data Type: eLearning data
Purpose of Processing: Certification, progress tracking
Lawful Basis (GDPR/DUAA): Contract (Art. 6(1)(b)); Consent (Art. 6(1)(a))

Data Type: Scientific research data
Purpose of Processing: Research, statistical analysis
Lawful Basis (GDPR/DUAA): Public interest (Art. 6(1)(e)); Research exemption (DUAA)

Your data protection rights 

Under data protection law, you have rights including:

Your right of access: You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.

Your right to rectification: You have the right to ask us to rectify information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.

Your right to erasure: You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.

Your right to restriction of processing: You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your information in certain circumstances.

Your right to object to processing: You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances.

Your right to data portability: You have the right to ask that we transfer the information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.

Automated Decision Making: sportscotland does not use automated decision-making processes to make decisions about individuals. All decisions involving your personal information are made by our staff.

Your right to withdraw consent: If we process your personal information based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawing consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before your withdrawal.

You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.

Please note the lawful basis used for processing your personal information can also affect which rights are available to you as there may be exemptions.  Our Data Protection Officer will advise on any exemptions on request.

How to make a request

You can exercise your data protection rights using the Data Protection Officer contact details below. Further information can be found in our Subject Access Request Policy . We may ask you to confirm your identity or clarify your request. Where clarification or ID is reasonably required, we will pause (“stop the clock”) until the information is provided. We will conduct reasonable and proportionate searches across our systems when responding.

How to complain

If you have any concerns or complaints about this privacy notice or how we handle your personal data, please contact our Data Protection Officer (DPO) in the first instance:

Information Governance and Data Protection Officer
sportscotland, Doges
Templeton on the Green
62 Templeton Street
Glasgow
G401DA
Email: DPO@sportscotland.org.uk

We will aim to acknowledge your complaint within five working days of receiving it. 

We will investigate your complaint thoroughly and may contact you for further information or clarification if needed.  We aim to provide a full response within one month. If your complaint is complex or requires more time, we will keep you informed of progress and let you know if we need additional time.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to raise your concerns.  Their contact details are noted below:

The Information Commissioner’s Office – Scotland
Queen Elizabeth House
Sibbald Walk
Edinburgh
EH8 8FT

Telephone: 0303 123 1115 Email:  Scotland@ico.org.uk