Rural Payments and Services

The Rural Payments and Inspections Division is responsible to assess if agricultural projects are likely to have a significant effect on the environment by: evaluating the project, the works carried out, consulting with relevant bodies and the general public, if required, and to maintain an Environmental Impact Assessment Register as part of our obligations.

We need your personal information so:

• we can consider the applications submitted to us
• we can engage with applicants, consulting bodies, and the public

The lawful basis we rely on to process personal information for the above purposes is article 6 (1) of the UK GDPR:

• (e) – to enable Scottish Government to carry out a task in the public interest – Assessing agricultural projects and its environmental impact; and maintaining the EIA register, under The Agriculture, Land Drainage and Irrigation Projects (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017

We will analyse applications and advise applicants if they need to carry out a full EIA report. When required, we may ask relevant consulting bodies and the public for their opinion on projects, as part of our decision-making process.

We will maintain an EIA register and publish relevant information in it as part of our obligations. Published information includes:

• screening opinions and the relevant applications anonymised at field level
• scoping requests and opinions anonymised at field level
• EIA reports which will be anonymised at field level
• public notices and decision notices anonymised at field level
• Consultation Bodies opinions which will be anonymised at organisation level
• public opinions which will be anonymised
• our decision which will be anonymised at organisation level
• appeal documentation will be anonymised at a field level

This is not an exhaustive list, and we may be publishing other relevant information. Consultation bodies may cross check location of the project data with their databases to allow data-based responses to be formulated (ie. scheduled monuments data, historic record data, habitats/species data, water body data).

We will keep this information for 10 years following our standard procedures.

You have a right of access to any personal data we hold about you by making a Subject Access Request (SAR).

To find out more about your rights or how you can exercise them, please visit the Agriculture and Rural Economy privacy notice which you can find in the Rural and Payments website Privacy Policy or visit the ICO website.

If you have concerns about the way we process and handle your personal information, in the first instance you should raise your concerns with our Data Protection Officer by email.

If you feel that your data has been collected or processed unlawfully, you have the right to raise a complaint with the Information Commissioners Office:

The Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113
www.ico.org.uk
You can also report any concerns online.