Privacy Statement
Information about you: how we use it and with whom we share it
How we will use your information
The information you share will be used by the University to offer support and guidance, depending on the disclosure option you choose.
- Anonymous disclosure: if you choose to disclose anonymously, your information will be used to help us improve our support services and resources for staff and students.
- If you provide your name and contact details: we will contact you to offer support tailored to your situation.
In both cases, we will anonymise and combine your information with other information for the purpose of statistical analysis and service improvement. This helps us better understand trends and the support we provide across the University.
If you report anonymously, there is a free text box which is not compulsory to complete. We ask that you do not name any individuals in this box, or provide other information that could be used to identify individuals. Any names and identifying information will be removed from anonymous reports. If a report is submitted to the incorrect area (for example, a staff-related report submitted via the Student Report + Support route, or vice versa), it will be securely redirected to the appropriate team to ensure it is handled correctly.
The legal basis for using your personal information and retention
The basis for the University using your personal information is Legitimate Interest and because you have given consent to do so when making the report.
The University’s Privacy Notices for staff and students can be accessed here:
Student Privacy Notices are accessible here: Privacy notices | Data Protection | Data Protection
Privacy Information Notice for Staff
We will retain your personal information for a period of six years, either after graduation for students, or after the end of your employment for staff, in line with University policy. If you withdraw your consent and request deletion, we will remove your information sooner. After six years, we will delete what personal data you have provided. We may retain some information in order to monitor our work in this area but you will not be identifiable from this information- we are able to redact from the reports.
Sharing your information
Information provided through Report + Support may be shared with external agencies (such as Police Scotland or relevant safeguarding bodies) in limited circumstances.
- Where there is an immediate risk to life or of serious harm, we may share personal information on the basis of Vital interests.
- In other cases where there are concerns about serious harm, child protection, or the safety of vulnerable adults, we may share personal information where necessary on the basis of Legitimate interests (for general personal data), and/or on the basis of substantial public interest conditions in UK law (for example, preventing or detecting unlawful acts, where special category or criminal offence data is involved).
Any disclosure will be proportionate and limited to the minimum information necessary, and will follow the University’s agreed escalation and decision-making procedures.
Exceptional cases when your disclosure is shared externally
We do not use profiling or automated decision-making processes.
Your rights
You have the right to request access to, copies of and rectification or (in some cases) erasure of personal information held by the University and can request that we restrict processing or object to processing as well as (in some cases) the right to data portability (i.e. the right to ask us to put your data into a format that it can be transferred easily to a different organisation). If you wish to make use of one of these rights, please email reportandsupport@ed.ac.uk..
If we have asked for your consent in order to process your personal information you can withdraw this consent in whole or part at any time. To withdraw consent, please email reportandsupport@ed.ac.uk.
Report + Support system provider
The University uses an external company named Culture Shift (Privacy Notice | Culture Shift) to provide the system that holds the information submitted on the University’s behalf. The University remains responsible for the information and will ensure it is kept securely.
Cookies
This website places one cookie when in use, which is an “essential” cookie to make use of the online system and is not collected by the University or Culture Shift.
Complaints
If you are unhappy with the way we have processed your personal information, please contact our Data Protection team by emailing dpo@ed.ac.uk. If you are not satisfied with their response, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at casework@ico.org.uk.