Fair processing notices - Education welfare service

How we use your data

Data Protection Act 2018 and General Data Protection Regulation 2016:

How we use children/young people’s information

The Education Welfare Service  process personal information relating to children and young people and may receive this information from themselves, parent/carers, current and previous educational/care settings, other Stoke-on-Trent City Council Teams, other Local Authority (LA) EWS and SEN Teams, the Department for Education (DfE) and other external government departments and professional agencies.

This information will include the child/young person’s and family contact details, educational information relating to school or otherwise,  any information from other Local Authority Education Welfare Teams, any health/medical information, any social care information and any personal characteristics such as their religion and ethnic group. 

We hold this personal data to:

  • perform statutory duties on behalf of the Local Authority to ensure children are receiving a suitable education and children are not missing education
  • Consult with relevant agencies and services to ensure effective transition arrangements for new educational phases/ settings;
  • Provide support for all children and young people to ensure their entitlement to a suitable education and additionally those with special educational needs;
  • Be able to report on Attendance and Children Missing Education to senior managers and council members;
  • Ensure the safeguarding of children and young people;
  • Ensure the medical health, safety and wellbeing of children and young people;

Our lawful basis for processing information

  • It is part of our public function, known as our “public task” to carry out a range of services as allowed or required by the following legislation:
  • Education Act 1996, Children Missing Education, Children & Young Person’s Act 1963, The Children (Performance and Activities) Regulations 2014, Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003, Equality Act 2010, Human Rights Act 1998

Sharing Data

We are required, by law, to pass certain information about children/young people to the Department for Education (DfE) for the school census.

If you need more information about how the DfE uses your information, please visit: 

https://www.gov.uk/data-protection-how-we-collect-and-share-research-data

Organisations that we are most likely to share personal data with are: 

  • Other Stoke-on-Trent City Council Local Authority Teams (Admissions, Elective Home Education,  Early Help, Early Years, SENMAS, Free School Meals, Schools Finance, Home to School Transport (TRACS),Children’s’ Social Care, Adult Social Care, Learning Pathways, Youth Offending Team, Careers, Legal Services)
  • Other Local Authority Education Welfare Services,  Education Welfare Teams and CME Teams  (if moving in or leaving Stoke-on-Trent)
  • Any previous/current/possible transitioning Early Years provider/School/Post 16 provider
  • Educational Psychology Service
  • Sensory Service
  • The National Health Service
  • Other health professionals
  • Other external professionals
  • The Department for Education (DfE)
  • Other government departments
  • Ofsted
  • Any transitioning school or educational/care setting

Protecting your personal data

To ensure personal information is kept safe we have the following controls in place:

  • the information will not be used for any purposes other than those stated in this notice or where required or allowed by law
  • the information will be held within secure systems/locations, with appropriate levels of security, that comply with current standards
  • the information will only be shared for lawful purposes and with an appropriate level of security that complies with current standards
  • the information will not be held for longer than is necessary, after which it will be securely destroyed. In line with Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s Retention Policy.
  • the information will be processed in accordance with Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

We will not give information about children/young people to anyone without your consent unless the law allows or requires us to do so.

Your rights regarding personal data

Data protection law provides you with certain rights, however not all of these rights will be available to you in all situations.  Where we are under a legal duty to use data for a particular purpose you will not have the right to prevent it being used in that way.

A full list of the rights you may have, under data protection law, is given below: 

  • You can ask to see the information we hold about you.
  • You can ask what is being done with the information we hold about you.
  • You can ask to have some of the data we hold about you deleted.
  • You can ask us to review a decision made about you by a computer, and ask for a new decision to be made by a person.
  • You can ask us to stop processing the data we hold about you
  • You can ask us to make changes to data about you that you believe is inaccurate.
  • In some circumstances you can ask us to help you move your information to another organisation.
  • You can ask us to restrict or limit what we do with your data, for example if you believe the data we hold is inaccurate, or if you believe the processing in unlawful.
Who to contact if you have questions

If you need to speak to someone about the Education Welfare Service please contact:

01782 235355 or email your question to Education.Welfare@stoke.gov.uk

If you wish to contact us in relation to any of your information rights only, please contact the Information Rights Team at foi@stoke.gov.uk or Information Rights Team, Floor 2, Civic Centre, Glebe Street, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 1HH or you can complete the online form on the City Council's website: https://www.stoke.gov.uk/homepage/117/feedback_form

 If you wish to complain about how your personal information has been handled by Stoke-on-Trent City Council then please contact the Information Rights Team in the first instance using the details above.  If you are not satisfied you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, Tel: 0303 123 1113 or you can visit their website at ico.org.uk.

You can find details of how we handle your personal information by visiting stoke.gov.uk/dataprotection