How we use your information
If you are referred for diversion from prosecution, we receive information about you from the Procurator Fiscal, which includes information in relation to the offence you are alleged to have committed.
We will assess your case to decide whether or not you are suitable for diversion from prosecution. If we do not think you are suitable, or if you do not agree to participate in the diversion from prosecution process we will contact the Procurator Fiscal to let them know.
If you are suitable for a diversion from prosecution, we will open a case file for you. This information is kept by us on our case management system and in an electronic case file. We will keep the referral from the Procurator Fiscal and our assessment as part of your case file.
As we work with you as part of the diversion from prosecution process, we will create other records about you which will also be part of your case file. Your case file will be treated confidentially but you should be aware that there are some limited circumstances in which we may be required to share information about you, particularly to prevent risk of serious harm to you or to others.
We receive information from partners which is added to our records. In some cases, information will be added to our records using automated processing, to speed up the time it takes to deal with simple processes. Decisions about you are not made using automated decision-making.
We may also be required to provide information from case files to Scottish Ministers as part of the Protection of Vulnerable Groups Scheme. This is something we are required to do under Section 19 of the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007.
Sometimes, during the process of supporting you, you and your social worker may decide that it would be beneficial to refer or support you to access other Council services (for example, housing) or outside organisations for further help or support. To do this on your behalf will normally mean the social worker sharing some information about you with that service or organisation. If this is the case, this will always be discussed between you and your social worker, on a case by case basis, and be done with your agreement.
How long we keep your information for
Unless you have any other interactions with the Council’s Criminal Justice Social Work Service, when your case file is closed, we will keep it for five years.
We report information about diversions from prosecutions to the Scottish Government, but this is anonymised information and does not include any personal information about you. The Scottish Government publish this information on their website.
Your rights
You have rights to your data, including the right to ask for a copy of it. See more information about all of the rights you have. You also have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office. They are the body responsible for making sure organisations like the Council handle your data lawfully.
Our legal basis
Wherever the Council processes personal data, we need to make sure we have a legal basis for doing so in data protection law. The Council understands our legal basis for processing personal data for diversions from prosecution as Article 6(1)(e) of the General Data Protection Regulation. This is because providing criminal justice social work services is part of our public task under the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968. (Section 27(1)(b). In carrying out this task, the Council is also likely to process special categories of personal data. The Council understands our legal basis for doing so as Article 9(2)(h) of the General Data Protection Regulation, because processing is necessary for the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems and services. Where the Council processes personal data relating to criminal convictions and offences, the Council understands our legal basis for doing so as Article 10 of the General Data Protection Regulation.