ICO Reprimands Scottish Government Over Need to be Upfront about NHS Scotland COVID Status App’s Use of People’s Details

The Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) has issued a reprimand to the Scottish Government and NHS National Services Scotland over both organisations failure to provide people with clear information about how their personal information - including sensitive health data – is being used by the NHS Scotland COVID Status app (“the App”).

The NHS Scotland COVID Status app is one method people can use to demonstrate their vaccination status to satisfy mandatory COVID status checks that are still in place for certain venues, including nightclubs, in Scotland.

The ICO has been working with governments across the UK throughout the COVID pandemic to make sure that the introduction of mandatory vaccination and COVID status checks schemes achieve the right balance between protecting public health and maintaining the trusted and responsible sharing of personal data.

The ICO advised that the app should not be launched until its concerns about potential non-compliance had been addressed. The Scottish Government and NHS National Services Scotland halted plans to share personal data with the software company, but the app was launched on 30 September 2021 as planned without fully addressing the ICO’s wider concerns about compliance with data protection law.

You can reach further information here.

Kind regards,

Zumbul Attorneys at Law

info@zumbul.av.tr