Privacy Statement

This is the privacy statement of the King's and Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer (KLTR). This privacy statement explains how we collect and use personal data. The KLTR is the data controller for all data referred to below. The KLTR's Data Protection Officer can be contacted at the following address:

Catriona Deans
Data Protection Officer
King's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer
Scottish Government Building
1F-North, Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ

Why we process personal data

The KLTR is the Crown’s representative in Scotland with authority to deal with property falling to the Crown by operation of law. This includes the property of dissolved companies, heirless personal estates, and treasure trove. The main types of case we deal with in practice are:

Dissolved company property. This falls to the Crown under Part 31 of the Companies Act 2006. In practice, this is predominantly monies held in bank accounts which banks remit to us on becoming aware of the company’s dissolution. We may also become aware of land through contact by a local authority, or through an approach by an individual or body connected with the company seeking to reacquire the land, or by another individual or body such as a community group seeking to purchase it;
Moneys remitted to the Crown held by solicitors and other professionals in respect of former clients who can no longer be traced;
Personal estates of heirless individuals;
Portable antiquities found by metal detectorists and other amateur archaeologists; and
Court actions, where we are cited as a defender in actions for company restorations, for discharges of standard securities and for actions to prove the tenor of a will.

We need to handle personal data in order to deal with these matters. For example, where:

we are approached by individuals claiming a right to a personal estate;
we receve a request by a dissolved company's individual representatives to restore a company, or are approached regarding the return of former company property; or
an individual reports a find to the treasure trove unit.

In deciding what to do about particular property, in particular land, we may also need to discuss the matter with other public agencies, for example, Local Authorties and the National Parks Authorities. In the case of dissolved company property, we may also need to discuss the case with Companies House and with enforcement agencies such as Revenue Scotland, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA). We may also need to share personal data with these and other agencies bodies to assist in the detection and prevention of crime, and to protect the public from unlawful acts, dishonesty and improper conduct, unfitness, incompetence and mismangement in company adminstration.

Where we collect personal data from

We may collect personal information about you (or your business) from the following sources:

Directly from you (e.g. when you talk to us over the phone or email us)
Incidentally from your relatives (e.g. if other members of your family are making enquiries or a claim regarding a deceased person’s estate)
Agencies and other third parties who make representations about your conduct (e.g. where you are a former director of a company that has dissolved)
Publicly available resources, such as Registers of Scotland and Companies House
Local authorities and regulators such as SEPA, Revenue Scotland, HMRC, the Law Society of Scotland and the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission
The police and other law enforcement agencies such as the Specialist Crime Division
The National Ultimus Haeres Unit (NUHU) – the body responsible for investigating and dealing with the estates of individuals who have died intestate and who have no traceable relatives
Social networking sites
Recruitment agencies, background check providers and credit reference agencies
Former employers or other referees
CCTV footage

Who we share your information with

We may share your personal information with the following third parties where it is necessary for the exercise of the KLTR's functions carried out in the public interest, or for the prevention and detection of crime:

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), Scotland’s prosecution service and our parent body
The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) – the body responsible for handling complaints against the Scottish Government and its agencies, departments and authorities
The NUHU
Local authorities
Other organisations and service providers who we use to help us carry out our functions, including the provider of our case management system Sopra Steria (https://www.soprasteria.co.uk/(link is external))
The police and other law enforcement agencies such as the Specialist Crime Division
Relevant regulators, including the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in the event of a data breach, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), Revenue Scotland, HMRC, the Law Society of Scotland and the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission

Beyond this, we will only share your personal information with another organisation where you have given us your consent, or where we have another lawful basis for doing so. As a Scottish public authority, we are also bound to comply with our obligations under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) and the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EISR). Where FOISA or EISR apply, we will only share your personal information where we are required or permitted to do so.

Types of personal data we collect in our day to day work

We may collect, use and store different types of personal information where we consider it is necessary to do so in the particular case:

Types of personal information	Description
Identity Data	ID information, including your name, marital status, title, date of birth, nationality and gender. In some limited circumstances this will also include your driving licence number, passport information and birth certificate to help us to verify the validity of your claim(s).
Contact Data	Where you live and how to contact you, including email, postal address and telephone number.
Financial Data	Your financial position, status and history, including bank details.
Transactional Data	Details about payments to and from you.
Contractual Data	Information obtained by dealing with you in the course of carrying out our functions as a public authority.
Occupational Data	Details about your work or profession, including information regarding any directorships or shares that you hold in any companies.
Communications Data	What we learn about you from letters, emails and conversations between us, including social media account handles.
Social Relationships Data	Details about your family, friends and other relationships.
Publicly Available Data	Details about you which are publicly available, such as on social media platforms or elsewhere on the internet.
Special Category Personal Data Personal Data relating to Criminal Convictions and Offences	Some types of personal data are defined as special. We will only collect and use these types of data if the law allows us to: Racial or ethnic origin Religious or philosophical beliefs Trade union membership Genetic or biometric data Health data including gender Criminal convictions data We do not usually collect Special Category Personal Data unless there is a clear reason for doing so. For example, if you are applying for a job or position with us, we may collect information about your disability status to determine whether you qualify for the guaranteed interview scheme (GIS) and/or to enable us to provide appropriate adjustments during the recruitment process. Where personal data relating to criminal convictions and/or offences is shared with us by another public authority, processing of that information is only carried out to the extent that it is necessary for the prevention or detection of crime, or is relevant to the KLTR's functions and is necessary: for the prevention of an unlawful act; and/or to protect the public from unlawful acts, dishonesty and improper conduct, unfitness or incompetence, or mismanagement in the administration of a body or association.

How we use personal data

The table below outlines how we may use personal data and our reasons. Where these reasons include legitimate interests, we explain what these legitimate interests are.

What we use your information for

Our reasons

Our legitimate interests

Generally

To carry out our functions as a public authority and contact you in the course of carrying out those functions, including where we exercise the Crown’s rights under the Companies Act 2006 and process claims to: (i) a person’s estate falling to the Crown as ultimus haeres; and (ii) land or other assets falling to the Crown as bona vacantia

Legal obligations
Performance of a task in the public interest

To process and manage payments to you

To collect and recover money that is owed to us

Performance of a task in the public interest

To run our organisation in an efficient and proper way. This includes managing our business capability, risks, planning, communications, corporate governance and audit

Performance of a task in the public interest
Legal obligations
Legitimate interests

To be efficient about how we fulfil our legal duties

To comply with regulations that apply to us

To comply with legal or regulatory requirements

Legal obligation
Legitimate interests

To be efficient about how we comply with our legal duties

To protect our reputation

To establish, enforce and defend legal claims

Performance of a task in the public interest
Legal claims
Legitimate interests

To comply with laws and regulations that apply to us

To respond to questions or complaints

To maintain records to evidence matters that may be in dispute

Recruitment – All KLTR staff are employed by the Crown and Procurator Fiscal’s Office and seconded to us, however we may collect the information below during the recruitment process.

To process a job application, including to communicate with you about the recruitment process

Employment purposes
Legitimate interests

Recruitment and resourcing

To decide whether to recruit you for the role

To keep records related to our hiring processes

Employment purposes
Legitimate interests

To run our business in a proper and efficient way

To determine whether we need to provide appropriate adjustments during the recruitment process (by collecting information about your disability status)

Employment obligations
Legal obligation
Legitimate interests

Recruitment and resourcing

To allow us to implement appropriate adjustments

To comply with regulations that apply to us

To ensure meaningful equal opportunity monitoring and reporting (by collecting information about your race or national or ethnic origin, religious, philosophical or moral beliefs, or your sexual life or sexual orientation)

Employment obligations
Legal obligation
Legitimate interests

Recruitment and resourcing

To allows us to implement meaningful equal opportunity monitoring and reporting within our organisation

To comply with regulations that apply to us

When you visit our premises

To register you as a visitor when you visit our premises and ensure your health and safety when you are on our premises

Legal obligations
Vital interests
Legitimate interests

To prevent crime and for public safety (including the safety of our own employees)

To keep our premises secure

For incident/breach reporting, management and investigation

To ensure your health and safety whilst on our premises

Prevention of crime and public safety, including through the use of CCTV. We share our premises with the Scottish Government. For the purposes of data protection law, the Scottish Government is therefore a data controller in respect of any CCTV footage captured. Please see the Scottish Government Privacy Policy(link is external) for more information.

Legal obligation
Legitimate interests

To manage the risk of crime and safety for us, our employees and you

To develop and improve how we deal with crime

To report criminality or the suspicion of criminality for the wider benefit of society

To be efficient about how we fulfil our responsibilities

How we use your information to make automated decisions

You will not be subject to decisions that will significantly impact on you based solely on automated decision-making.

If you choose not to give your personal information

Where we need to collect your personal information in order to meet our legal obligations or carry out our functions and you fail to provide that data when requested, it may delay or prevent us from being able to carry out our functions or comply with our legal obligations as a public body. In some cases, we may be unable to process a payment concerning money which is due to you.

How long we keep your personal information

We review our retention periods for personal information on a regular basis. We are legally required to hold some types of information to fulfil our statutory obligations. We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary for the relevant activity. Where your information is no longer required, we will ensure that it is disposed of in a secure manner. For more information on our approach to data retention please refer to Annex 3 of our Records Management Plan, available at: http://www.kltr.gov.uk/content/records-management-plan

Where we hold your personal information internationally

As a public authority, we hold all personal information concerning our affairs within the United Kingdom. We will only send your personal information outside the European Economic Area (EEA) where you are based outside the EEA and you instruct us to, or where you ask us to process payments outside the EEA.

Using our website

Our website http://www.kltr.gov.uk/ uses a session cookie when you are browsing the website in order to check that you have JavaScript enabled and also to set which Google Translate language to present the page content in. No other third party cookies are used.

Your rights

Access to your information – You have the right to request a copy of the personal information about you that we hold.

Correcting your information – We want to make sure that your personal information is accurate, complete and up to date and you may ask us to correct any personal information about you that you believe does not meet these standards.

Deletion of your information – You have the right to ask us to delete personal information about you where:

You consider that we no longer require the information for the purposes for which it was obtained
We are using that information with your consent and you have withdrawn your consent – see Withdrawing consent to using your information below
You have validly objected to our use of your personal information – see Objecting to how we may use your information below
Our use of your personal information is contrary to law or our other legal obligations

Objecting to how we may use your information – You have the right at any time to require us to stop using your personal information for direct marketing purposes. In addition, where we use your personal information to perform tasks carried out in the public interest or pursuant to the legitimate interests of us or a third party then, if you ask us to, we will stop using that personal information unless there are overriding legitimate grounds to continue.

Restricting how we may use your information – in some cases, you may ask us to restrict how we use your personal information. This right might apply, for example, where we are checking the accuracy of personal information about you that we hold or assessing the validity of any objection you have made to our use of your information. The right might also apply where this is no longer a basis for using your personal information but you don't want us to delete the data. Where this right to validly exercised, we may only use the relevant personal information with your consent, for legal claims or where there are other public interest grounds to do so.

Portability – if we process personal information that you provide to us on the basis of consent or because it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are party, and in either case that processing is carried out by automated means, then you have the right to have that personal information transmitted to you in a machine readable format. Where technically feasible, you also have the right to have that personal information transmitted directly to another controller.

Automated processing – if we use your personal information on an automated basis to make decisions which significantly affect you, you have the right to ask that the decision be reviewed by an individual to whom you may make representations and contest the decision. This right only applies where we use your information with your consent or as part of a contractual relationship with you

Withdrawing consent using your information – Where we use your personal information with your consent you may withdraw that consent at any time and we will stop using your personal information for the purpose(s) for which consent was given.

Please contact us if you wish to exercise any of these rights.

Changes to our privacy statement

We keep this privacy statement under regular review and will place any updates on this website.

How to contact us

Our contact details are set out above and at the following link:

http://www.kltr.gov.uk/content/contact-us

Complaints

We seek to resolve directly all complaints about how we handle personal information but you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office:

Online: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/email/(link is external)

By phone: 0303 123 1113

By post: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF

This privacy statement was last updated on 20 February 2020