Your reference: J.K. Convery

NRS reference:
NRS-DP-2025-882

SG reference: SAR25/26 – 304/Redress

Dear Sirs,

Subject Access Request

Thank you for the subject access request of 7 October 2025 you made on
behalf of your client.

Scottish
Government (SG) Records

National Records of Scotland (NRS) holds records on behalf of SG. These
records include exempt/closed government files relating to approved and List D
schools, children's homes, and prison and borstal services. SG remains the data
controller for these records and makes all decisions on access.

We carried out searches of the NRS archival catalogue for records
relating to the Wallhouse and Uphall Children’s Homes where your client
was placed, in the timeframe specified. This search returned no SG records
relevant to your request for the specified time period.

We also sent your request to the SG Information Assurance and Data
Protection Branch (SG IADP) mailbox at [email-masked].
This branch coordinates searches of the exempt/closed records for which SG are
responsible. They will be in contact with you, unless they have already
responded to a request you made for this information.

Scottish
Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) Records

NRS also holds historical court records on behalf
of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS).
These include exempt/closed records created around the time a child was placed
in care which may sometimes contain relevant information. Sheriff court records
include Juvenile Court Registers (up until 1971), Social Work Court Records
(1971 onwards) and ‘B’ Registers of summary applications. Other
court records may also contain evidence of time spent in care, such as adult
court records and parental divorce records.

Please note,
some Sheriff Court record types have only survived for certain courts and in
certain areas. For more information regarding court records, please see our Time in Care Records research
guide.

Based on the information provided in your request,
we have not identified any court records which are or may be relevant to your
request. Both care settings were local authority-run children’s home and
Sheriff Court records would not be relevant for these.

Other resources

Care home, residential school records

NRS is the archive of the Scottish Government (SG). The information
produced by SG is about the direction of the care service across the whole
country, but not individual care records. We may, for example, hold records
about the Government’s position on the provision of care, about the
legislation governing care and directives about the regulation of residential
care across Scotland, but NRS does not hold case files on residents of care
homes, or residential schools.

The case files of residents and the records of the schools and homes,
should they have survived, tend to be held by the Council that had
responsibility for providing care locally. The local authority archivists are
often best placed to know the extent of the records held by the authority.

We recommend you contact the following organisation, if you have not
already done so, and hopefully they might be able to help you further with your
search:

-
Wallhouse,
Torphichen and Uphall Children’s Homes: West Lothian Council Archives

Social work records

NRS does not hold social service records. Social work records should be
held by the appropriate local authority, and you should contact them to ask for
their help in finding and accessing the relevant case files, if there are any.
You could do this through the local Social Services Department, but you might
also want to speak to the local authority archivists who are often best placed
to know the extent of the records held by the authority.

The National Archives directory of archives lists
contact details for local authority archives in the UK: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/find-an-archive.

Medical/Health Records

While NRS does maintain the National Health Service Central Register
(NHSCR), we do not hold health/medical records.

For access to health/medical
records we usually recommend to make a subject access request directly to a
place of treatment, e.g. hospital, GP practice or relevant NHS Health Board.
You will find information on how to access medical records on their individual
websites.

Supplementary information

When you make a subject access request, we are required by data
protection law to provide you with other information about how we process your
personal data. Our main privacy notice provides further information about how
we may process personal information: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/privacy.

Your right to
request a review

If you are
not satisfied with the way NRS has responded to your request or handled your
information by the response from NRS to your Data Subject Request, you should
first ask us to conduct an internal review.

Thereafter,
if you still believe that NRS has not dealt with your complaint properly or if
you believe your personal information is being processed in a way that does not
comply with legislation you have the right to lodge a complaint with the
Information Commissioner’s Office. The ICO helpline number is 0303 123
1113, or you may access further information on their website https://ico.org.uk/concerns/.

I hope you find this information of assistance.

Kind regards,

Maggie

Malgorzata (Maggie) Palgan | Senior
Information Governance Officer

National Records of Scotland | HM
General Register House | 2 Princes Street
| Edinburgh EH1
3YY

[email-masked]
| www.nrscotland.gov.uk

Preserving the past | Recording
the present | Informing the future

Follow us on Twitter: @NatRecordsScot | http://twitter.com/NatRecordsScot

**********************************************************************

This e-mail (and any files or other attachments transmitted with it) is
intended solely for the attention of the addressee(s). Unauthorised use,
disclosure, storage, copying or distribution of any part of this e-mail is not
permitted. If you are not the intended recipient please destroy the email,
remove any copies from your system and inform the sender immediately by return.

Communications with the Scottish
Government may be monitored or recorded in order to secure the effective
operation of the system and for other lawful purposes. The views or opinions
contained within this e-mail may not necessarily reflect those of the Scottish
Government.

**********************************************************************