Privacy Notice – June 2025
Leith and Restalrig Church (SC012680)
[the “Congregation”]
Purpose of this Notice
This Privacy Notice outlines the way in which the Congregation will use personal information provided to us. Personal information includes any information that identifies you personally, such as your name, address, email address or telephone number.
The Congregation recognises the importance of your privacy and personal information, and we have therefore outlined below how we use, disclose and protect this information. The Congregation, jointly with the Presbytery of Edinburgh and West Lothian is the data controller, because we decide how your data is processed and for what purpose. Contact details for us are provided below.
How we use information
We use the information you give to us:
- to administer membership records, including a Communion Roll and Supplementary Roll;
- for pastoral care purposes;
- in relation to participation in Congregational activities ;
- to provide you with information about news, events, and activities within the Congregation or the wider Church of Scotland;
- to provide the services of a parish church to the local community;
- to fulfill contractual or other legal obligations;
- to manage our employees;
- to further our charitable aims, for example through fundraising activities;
- to maintain our accounts and records (including the processing of Gift Aid applications);
- if CCTV is in place we have this for the prevention and detection of crime.
Disclosure of information
The Congregation will only share your personal information where this is necessary for the purposes set out above. Information will not be shared with any third party outwith the Church of Scotland without your consent, unless we are obliged or permitted to do so by law. However, as personal information includes your image, and Sunday services are recorded and streamed online, these images will, by definition, be shared by members of the public. Every effort will be taken to ensure that filming is limited to the chancel area only. All those involved in leading services are aware of this and have the option of not participating or being recorded. Notice of filming will be given in advance via the weekly Church News email and Church magazine. A warning notice is posted at the entrances to the church and included on a PowerPoint slide before the service.
Basis for processing personal information
The Congregation processes your information in the course of its legitimate activities, with appropriate safeguards in place, as a not-for-profit body with a religious aim and on the basis that our processing relates solely to members, former members or people who have regular contact with us, and that this information is not disclosed to any third party without your consent.
We also process information where this is necessary for compliance with our legal obligations; where processing is necessary for the purposes of our legitimate interests and such interests are not overridden by your interests or fundamental rights and freedoms; and where you have given consent to the processing of your information for a particular purpose.
Storage and security of personal information
The Congregation will strive to ensure that personal information is accurate and held in a secure and confidential environment. We will keep your personal information for as long as you are a member or adherent or have regular contact with us or so long as we are obliged to keep it by law or may need it in order to respond to any questions or complaints or to show that we treated you fairly. We may also keep it for statistical purposes but if so we will only use it for that purpose. When the information is no longer needed it will be securely destroyed or permanently rendered anonymous. Further information about our data retention policy is available on our website www.larch.org.uk and a copy is on a notice board in all churches and halls owned by Leith and Restalrig Church.
Getting a copy of your personal information
You can request details of the personal information which the Congregation holds about you by contacting us using the contact details given below.
Inaccuracies and Objections
If you believe that any information the Congregation holds about you is incorrect or incomplete or if you do not wish your personal information to be held or used by us please let us know. Any information found to be incorrect will be corrected as quickly as possible.
You have the right to object to our use of your personal information, or to ask us to remove or stop using your personal information if there is no need for us to keep it. There may be legal or other reasons why we need to keep or use your data, but please tell us if you think that we should not be using it.
If we are processing your data on the basis of your explicit consent, you can withdraw your consent at any time. Please contact us if you want to do so.
Contact us
You can contact us by getting in touch with The Session Clerk at session.clerk@larch.org.uk or at the Church Office at 48 Restalrig Road South, EH7 6LE.
How to complain
You have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office about anything relating to the processing of your personal information by the Congregation. You can contact the ICO via its website at www.ico.org.uk or at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.