Privacy Policy and Content Disclaimer
Disclaimer
The Scottish Government seeks to ensure that the information published on its website is up to date and accurate. However, the information on the website does not constitute legal or professional advice and the Scottish Government cannot accept any liability for actions arising from its use. The Scottish Government cannot be held responsible for the contents of any pages referenced by an external link.
Any personal data collected through this website will be treated as confidential in line with the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998.
Twitter Policy
The First Minister of Scotland Twitter account @scotgovFM is managed by the Digital Communications team.
Following
We will not automatically follow anyone who follows us. Being followed by @scotgovfm does not imply an endorsement of any kind.
Availability: Social media channels will usually be updated during office hours Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.
Twitter may occasionally be unavailable, we accept no responsibility for interruptions in service due to Twitter downtime.
@Replies and Direct Messages
@scotgovfm may respond to @ replies where it is appropriate to do so. The Scottish Government cannot engage on issues of party politics.
Information Collection
The Scottish Government is the sole owner of the information collected on www.firstminister.gov.scot. The Scottish Government processes personal data for the purposes of aiding its work with the Scottish Ministers to improve the well-being of Scotland and its people.
Cookies and Website Traffic Analysis
When users enter the First Minister website their computers will automatically be issued with ‘cookies’. Cookies are text files which identify users’ computers to the First Minister’s server. The website then creates ‘session’ cookies to store some of the preferences of users moving around the website, e.g. retaining a text-only preference.
The First Minister website uses cookies to measure use of the website including number of visitors, how frequently pages are viewed, and the city and country of origin of users. This helps to determine what is popular and can influence future content and development. For this purpose, the Government uses web analytics to measure and analyse usage of the website. The information collected by the Scottish Government will include IP Address, pages visited, browser type and operating system. The data will not be used to identify any user personally.
| Cookie | Expiry Period | Description |
| _gat | Session | Used to create and retrieve tracker objects |
| _ga | 25/02/15 | Part of Google analytics, and is used to distinguish users |
| _utmz | Session | Stores the traffic source or campaign that explains how the user reached your site |
| _utmt | Session | Used to throttle request rate |
| _utmc | Session | Used to determine whether the user was in a new session/visit along with _utmb |
| _utmb | Session | Used to determine new sessions/visits |
| _utma | 25/02/15 | Used to distinguish users and sessions |
| CivicCookieControl | Session | Used to inform users of the websites cookie policy |
Surveys
From time-to-time our site requests information from users via surveys or contests. Participation in these surveys or contests is completely voluntary and the user therefore has a choice whether or not to disclose this information. The requested information typically includes contact information (such as name and address), and demographic information (such as postal code). Contact information will not be shared with any third parties unless we give prior notice and choice. Though we may use an intermediary to conduct these surveys or contests, they may not use users’ personally identifiable information for any secondary purposes.
Contact Information
If users have any questions or suggestions regarding our privacy policy, please contact us at:
Phone: 08457 741 741 [charged at the local call rate from any landline within the United Kingdom]
Email: ceu@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Postal address: First Minister’s Website, 3W.03, St Andrew’s House, Regent Road, Edinburgh, EH1 3DG, U.K.
Web site URL: http://www.gov.scot