Privacy

Date published: 24 May 2018
 

Privacy Policy

We take seriously the way we store, secure and use your personal information and how we meet our legal obligations.
 
We will always respect your personal privacy and the requirements of the law, in particular data protection legislation.
 
Any personal data collected by SASA - such as names, addresses, locations and bank details, - is protected to ensure that it is not misused or accessed inappropriately.
 
We will only ever use this data in accordance with the law and for the purposes described below.
 
We cannot accept liability for problems caused by incorrect information that you or somebody acting for you supply to us, so please be sure to double-check all information submitted.

 

How we use your information

We will use information that you provide to fulfil our official duties and to carry out tasks which are in the public interest in relation to:

  • Plant Variety Testing;
  • UK Seed Certification Scheme Scotland;
  • Scottish Seed Potato Classification Scheme;
  • Plant Health;
  • Pesticide Usage Survey;
  • Marketing of Fruit and Vegetables;
  • Monitoring Bee Health;
  • Wildlife Management;
  • Potato Genotyping;
  • EU and UK monitoring programs for the determination of pesticides and other chemical contaminants in food, fauna and flora;
  • Provision of analytical chemistry services that support investigations of suspected wildlife crime in Scotland;
  • Support on Genetically Modified Organisms.

 
SASA only requests information that it needs to fulfil its duties, often this information is mandatory.  If this information is not provided, SASA may be unable to progress your request.  However please contact us to discuss this as in some cases we may be able to accept alternative information (such as a PO box or employer address rather than a home address).
 
We will also use your information for purposes connected with:

  • assessment and improvement of our services to ensure that they are of high quality, efficient and responsive to our customers’ needs. This may include sending voluntary customer satisfaction surveys from time to time to see how we are doing.
  • research and statistical analysis.

 
When SASA is carrying out commercial work - for example advisory seed tests, potato genotyping or antibody production - we will use information that you provide to enable us to fulfil the contract. This may include sending voluntary customer satisfaction surveys from time to time.  Personal data (e.g. address and phone numbers) relating to commercial work carried out by the Official Seed Testing Station will be removed from our systems after a maximum of 5 years.  Test results will be retained and statistical information derived from test results may be shared publicly.
 
The sasa.gov.uk and agricrops.org websites use a third party service, Google Analytics, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is only processed in a way which does not identify anyone. We do not make, and do not allow Google to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website. If we do want to collect personally identifiable information through our website, we will be up front about this. We will make it clear when we collect personal information and will explain what we intend to do with it.

 

Sharing your information

We will pass on your personal information if we have a legal obligation to do so.  We may also exchange information with other government departments and agencies for legal reasons.
 
In order to fulfil our statutory objectives referred to above, we may share your information with the following organisations (including successor bodies):

  • Other Certifying Authorities and their subcontractors for verifying applications and for enforcement purposes;
  • Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) for purposes connected with animal and plant health and welfare ;
  • British Society of Plant Breeders (BSPB) on request for purposes connected with the exercising of Plant Breeders Rights;
  • Other parts of the Scottish Government;
  • Organisations carrying out statistical and research activities;
  • Authorised Auditors;
  • Name and address details may be shared with couriers.

 
Data relating to chemical analysis for wildlife crime and for testing of pesticides in foods may be shared with:

  • Equivalent plant health inspection services in other parts of the UK and EU;
  • Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBINI);
  • Centre for Ecology and Hydrology including Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme;
  • Chemicals Regulation Division - UK Health and Safety Executive;
  • Proficiency Testing Scheme Providers;
  • EU Reference Laboratory Network;
  • Fera Science Ltd.;
  • National Wildlife Crime Unit;
  • PAW Scotland Sub Groups including various NGO partners;
  • Police Scotland;
  • SAC Consulting Veterinary Services (Scotland) Network;
  • SEPA.

 
Data relating to Plant Heath Regulations and Marketing Standards may be shared with:

  • Rural Payments Agency (RPA);
  • DEFRA;
  • Devolved Authorities (e.g. DAERA);
  • Forestry Commission. 

 
SASA also receives information from some of these organisations. 
 

Publication of Seed Potato Register

Each year since 2007 a Register of Seed Potatoes is published in October that gives detailed information on seed crops for which Inspection Report Forms have been issued.  All crops which meet Pre-basic and Basic requirement at crop inspection will appear in the Register, which is published to facilitate trade for the Scottish seed potato industry.  The Register contains the Producer name and address and information concerning the potato crop(s) grown. 
 

Disclosure of Cereals Certification Data

Applicants should be aware that from the seed year 2008 we have released details of all seed lots to BSPB, on request.
 
We also publish registers of Professional Seed Operators, Licensed  Crop Inspectors and Seed Samplers and Licensed Seed Testing Stations.  If you do not wish personal address details to be included in these registers you must provide us with an alternative address.

 

Variety Maintainers

Variety Maintainers will be contacted annually with a request for seed for the UK reference collections.  
 

How we look after your information

Whenever we use your personal data or share it with other organisations, it will be in accordance with data protection legislation.  You can read more about your rights here - https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/is-my-information-being-handled-correctly/.
 
The data protection legislation requires, among other things, that we do not use your data for purposes incompatible with those listed here, that we take appropriate measures to protect the confidentiality, integrity and security of your information.
 
We must observe the provisions of the following legislation as may be amended from time to time:

  • Data protection legislation;
  • The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002;
  • The Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.

 
We may need to disclose personal information when required by law if, in our opinion, it is necessary to comply with a current judicial proceeding, a court order or legal process.
 
The storage period for the information that you provide us is specific to the particular scheme or area of work.  It depends on the requirements of our Quality Assurance Programme and the nature of the organisms and crops involved. 
 
For further information on how your information is used, how we maintain the security of your information, how long information is retained and your rights to access information we hold about you please get in touch.

 

Contacting us

We want to make sure that your personal data is accurate and up-to-date.  You may ask us to correct or remove information you think is inaccurate.  You may also ask us to remove your personal data if it is not held in relation to SASA’s regulatory activity.
 
You have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you.  If you would like a copy of some or all of your personal information please email foi@sasa.gov.scot or write to us at the following address:

SASA
Roddinglaw Road
Edinburgh
EH12 9FJ

 
The Data Protection Officer for the Scottish Government can be contacted by emailing DataProtectionOfficer@gov.scot or by writing to them at the following address:

The Data Protection Officer
Office of the Chief Information Officer
K1 Spur
Saughton House
Broomhouse Drive
Edinburgh
EH11 3XD

 
If you have a complaint about the way that SASA has handled your data you can contact The Information Commissioner:  https://ico.org.uk/concerns.
 

Changes to this privacy notice

We keep our privacy notice under regular review. This privacy notice was last updated on 24 May 2018.  Please check this notice regularly.  Continued use of any SASA applications (mySEEDS, mySPUDS etc) after a change to the privacy policy is your acceptance of the change.