DATA PROTECTION ACT
Schools,
Local Authorities (LAs), the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), the Qualifications and Curriculum
Authority (QCA), Ofsted, the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and
organisations that require access to data in the Learner Registration Scheme as
part of the MIAP (Managing Information Across Partners) Programme all process
information on pupils in order to run the education system; and Department of Health (DH) and Primary
Care Trusts (PCTs) process information on pupils in order to tackle the year on year rise in obesity among children, and in doing so have to comply
with the Data Protection Act 1998. This
means, among other things, that the data held about pupils must only be used
for specific purposes allowed by law. We
are therefore writing to tell you about the types of data held, why that data
is held, and to whom it may be passed on.
The school holds information on pupils in
order to support their teaching and learning, to monitor and report on their progress,
to provide appropriate pastoral care, and to assess how well the school as a whole
is doing. This information includes
contact details, national curriculum assessment results, attendance
information, characteristics such as ethnic group, special educational needs
and any relevant medical information.
From time to time schools are required to pass on some of this data to
LAs, the DCSF and to agencies that are prescribed by law, such as QCA, Ofsted,
LSC, DH and PCTs.
The Local Authority (LA) uses information
about children for whom it provides services to carry out specific functions
for which it is responsible, such as the assessment of any special educational
needs the child may have. It also uses
the information to derive statistics to inform decisions on (for example) the
funding of schools, and to assess the performance of schools and set targets
for them. The statistics are used in
such a way that individual children cannot be identified from them. The LA have a duty under the Childrens Act
2004 to co-operate with their partners in health and youth justice to improve
the well being of children in their areas.
As part of this duty they will be required to maintain the accuracy of
the information held on ContactPoint about children and young people in their
area.
Data Protection
Officer, SCC, County Hall,
The Qualifications
and Curriculum Authority (QCA)uses
information about pupils to administer the national curriculum assessments
portfolio throughout Key Stages 1 to 3. This includes both assessments required by statute
and those that are optional. The results of these are passed on
to DCSF to compile statistics on trends and patterns in levels of
achievement. The QCA uses the
information to evaluate the effectiveness of the national curriculum and the
associated assessment arrangements, and to ensure that these are continually
improved.
www.qca.org.uk
Data Protection Officer, QCA, 83 Piccadilly,
Ofsted uses information about the progress and performance of pupils to help inspectors evaluate the work of schools, to assist schools in their self-evaluation, and as part of Ofsted’s assessment of the effectiveness of education initiatives and policy. Ofsted also uses information about the views of children and young people, to inform children’s services inspections in local authority areas. Inspection reports do not identify individual pupils.
Ofsted includes the Adult Learning
Inspectorate which reports, both to the Secretary of State for
Children, Schools and Families, and the public, on the quality of education and
training received by adult learners and young people in
ALI inspectors are also responsible for inspecting learning in prisons,
all adult and community education, area inspections of provision for 16-19 year
olds in support of OfSTED, and e-learning via learn direct provided on-line by
the University for Industry. In
addition, the ALI will inspect training offered and funded by employers at
their invitation.
www.ofsted.gov.uk
Data
Protection Officer, Alexandra House, 33
Kingsway,
The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) uses
information about pupils for statistical purposes, to evaluate and develop
education policy and monitor the
performance of the education service as a whole. The statistics (including those based on
information provided by the QCA) are used in such a way that individual pupils
cannot be identified from them. On occasion
information may be shared with other Government departments or agencies
strictly for statistical or research purposes only. The
LSC or its partners may wish to contact learners from time to time about
courses, or learning opportunities relevant to them.
www.lsc.gov.uk
Data
Protection Officer ,Cheylesmore House,
Learner Registration Scheme The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) also
administers the Managing Information Across Partners (MIAP) Programme on behalf
of the MIAP membership. More information
about MIAP membership can be found at www.miap.gov.uk, or if a hard copy is
required please contact the Learning Skills Council (address above)
LSC is responsible for the development and operation of the Learner
Registration System (LRS) and also the creation of a learner record.
For pupils of 14 years and over and for pupils registering for post-14
qualifications, the school will pass on certain identification information to
the LRS to create and maintain a unique learner number (ULN), and achievement
information to the MIAP Service to create and maintain a learner record.
The Learner Registration Service will enable organisations allowed by
law and detailed at www.miap.gov.uk to access the ULN and
contain it in their systems, thereby saving individuals having to supply the same
information repeatedly to different organisations.
Details of how an
individual may opt-out of sharing achievement data in their learner record with
those organisations detailed at www.miap.gov.uk, can also be found on the MIAP
website
www.miap.gov.uk
Data
Protection Officer ,Cheylesmore House,
Primary Care Trusts (PCT) use information about pupils for
research and statistical purposes, to monitor the performance of local health
services and to evaluate and develop them.
The statistics are used in such a way that individual pupils cannot be
identified from them. Information on the
height and weight of individual pupils may however be provided to the child and
its parents and this will require the PCTs to maintain details of pupils’ names
for this purpose for a period designated by the Department of Health following the weighing and measuring process. PCTs may also provide individual schools and
LAs with aggregate information on pupils’ height and weight.
http://www.nhs.uk/England/AuthoritiesTrusts/Pct/Default.aspx
Data Protection
Officer at Surrey PCT, Cedar Court,
The Department of Health (DH) uses aggregate information (at school year group level) about pupils' height and weight for research and statistical purposes, to inform, influence and improve health policy and to monitor the performance of the health service as a whole. The DH will base performance management discussions with Strategic Health Authorities on aggregate information about pupils attending schools in the PCT areas to help focus local resources and deliver the Public Service Agreement target to halt the year on year rise in obesity among children under 11 by 2010, in the context of a broader strategy to tackle obesity in the population as a whole. The Department of Health will also provide aggregate PCT level data to the Healthcare Commission for performance assessment of the health service.
www.dh.gov.uk
Data Protection
Officer at Skipton House
The Department for Children Schools and Families (DCSF) uses information about pupils for research and statistical purposes, to inform, influence and improve education policy and to monitor the performance of the education service as a whole. They will feed back to LAs and schools information about their pupils for a variety of purposes that will include data checking exercises, use in self-evaluation analyses and where information is missing because it was not passed on by a former school
The Children Act 2004
provides for the Secretary of State to issue Regulations requiring the
“governing body of a maintained school in
· help practitioners working with children quickly identify a child with
whom they have contact;
· determine whether that child is getting the universal services
(education, primary health care) to which he or she is entitled;
· enable earlier identification of needs and earlier, more effective
action to address these needs by providing a tool to help practitioners
identify which other practitioners are involved with a particular child; and
· encourage better communication and closer working between practitioners.
ContactPoint will hold
for each child or young person in
· basic identifying information:
name, address, gender, date of birth and an identifying number;
· name and contact details for a child’s parent or carer;
· contact details for services involved with a child: as a minimum educational setting (e.g.
school) and primary medical practitioner (e.g. GP Practice) but also other
services where appropriate; and
· the facility to indicate if a practitioner is a
lead professional for a child and/or if an assessment under the Common
Assessment Framework has been completed.
ContactPoint will NOT
contain any case information (such as case notes, assessments, attendance, exam
results, medical records or subjective observations).
Access will be strictly
limited to those who need it to do their job.
All authorised users must have undergone relevant mandatory training,
have security clearance and have a user name, a password, a PIN and a security
token to access ContactPoint. To ensure
high standards of accuracy, information on ContactPoint will be drawn from a
number of existing systems, including the termly School Census from which
pupils’ home address will be collected.
For further information
go to <www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/contactpoint>
The DCSF will also provide Ofsted with pupil data for use in school inspection. Where relevant, pupil information may also be shared with post 16 learning institutions to minimise the administrative burden on application for a course and to aid the preparation of learning plans.
Pupil information may be matched with other data sources that the Department holds in order to model and monitor pupils’ educational progression; and to provide comprehensive information back to LAs and learning institutions to support their day to day business. The DCSF may also use contact details from these sources to obtain samples for statistical surveys: these surveys may be carried out by research agencies working under contract to the Department and participation in such surveys is usually voluntary. The Department may also match data from these sources to data obtained from statistical surveys.
Pupil data may also be shared with other Government Departments and Agencies (including the Office for National Statistics) for statistical or research purposes only. In all these cases the matching will require that individualised data is used in the processing operation, but that data will not be processed in such a way that it supports measures or decisions relating to particular individuals or identifies individuals in any results. This data sharing will be approved and controlled by the DCSF’s Chief Statistician.
The DCSF may also disclose individual pupil information to independent researchers into the educational achievements of pupils who have a legitimate need for it for their research, but each case will be determined on its merits and subject to the approval of the Department’s Chief Statistician.
The
Fair Processing Notice has been prepared at a time of change with the
restructuring of the Department for Education and Skills and the Department of
Trade and Industry into three new Departments: the Department for Children, Schools and
Families (DCSF), the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS)
and the Department for Business,
www.dcsf.gov.uk
Data Protection
Officer, DCSF, Caxton House,
In order
to fulfil their responsibilities under the Act the organisation may, before
responding to this request, seek proof of the requestor’s identity and any
further information required to locate the personal data requested.
Separately
from the Data Protection Act, regulations provide a pupil’s parent (regardless
of the age of the pupil) with the right to view, or to have a copy of, their
child’s educational record at the school.
If they wish to exercise this right parents should write to the school.
Providing information to Connexions services
providers and the right to opt out
Connexions is the
government's support service for all young people aged 13 to 19 in
Connexions brings together all the services
and support young people need during their teenage years offering
differentiated and integrated support to young people through Personal Advisers
(PAs). For some young people this may be
just for careers advice, for others it may involve more in-depth support to
help identify barriers to learning and find solutions brokering access to more
specialist support, eg drug abuse, sexual health and homelessness. PAs work in a range of settings including
schools, colleges, one-stop shops community centres and on an out-reach basis.
For
pupils of 13 years and over, the school is legally required to pass on certain
information to Connexions services providers on request. This information includes the name and
address of the pupil and parent, and any further information relevant to the
Connexions services’ role. However
parents, or the pupils themselves if aged 16 or over, can ask that no
information beyond name and address (for pupil and parent) be passed on to
Connexions. If as a parent, or as a
pupil aged 16 or over, you wish to opt-out and do not want Connections to
receive from the school information beyond name and address, then please
contact the school.
The LA
and DCSF may supply to Connexions services providers information they have
about children, but will not pass on any information they have received from
the school if parents (or the children themselves if aged 16 or over) have
notified the school that Connexions should not receive information beyond name
and address.