Fair
Processing Notice – Data Protection Act
Schools, Local Authorities (LAs), the Department
for Education and Skills (DfES), the government department which deals with
education, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), Ofsted and the
Learning and Skills Council (LSC) 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 DfES and to agencies that are prescribed by law, such as
QCA, Ofsted, LSC, DH and PCTs.
The Local Authority 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. LAs have a duty under the
Children Act 2004 to cooperate 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 the
Information Sharing (IS) Index about children and young people in their area
(see IS Index under Department for Education and Skills).
The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority
uses information about pupils to administer national curriculum assessments
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 DfES 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.
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.
Inspection reports do not identify individual pupils.
The Learning and Skills Council uses
information about pupils for statistical purposes, to evaluate and develop
education policy and to 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.
The Department
of Health 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.
Primary Care Trusts 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.
PCTs may also provide individual schools and LAs with aggregate information on
pupils’ height and weight.
The Department
for Education and Skills 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. The DfES 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 England” to disclose
information for inclusion on the Information Sharing (IS) Index.
The purposes of the index are to:
-
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; and
-
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.
The index will hold for each child or young
person in England:
-
basic identifying information: name,
address, gender, date of birth and a unique identifying number based on the
existing Unique Identifying Number/National Insurance Number;
-
basic identifying information about the
child’s parent or carer;
-
contact details for services involved with
the child: as a minimum school and GP Practice but also other services where
appropriate; and
-
the facility for practitioners to indicate
to others that they have information to share, are taking action or have
undertaken a common assessment in relation to a child.
The index will NOT record statements of a
child’s needs, academic performance, attendance or clinical observations about a
child.
All practitioners and system support staff (in
LAs who will be responsible for maintaining the data) will have to have relevant training and to have undergone rigorous checks
and appropriate security clearance procedures. To ensure high standards of
accuracy, information on the IS Index will be drawn from a number of sources
including the termly School Census from
which, from January 2007, pupils’ home address will be collected.
The DfES 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 DfES 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 Department’s Chief Statistician.
The DfES 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.
Pupils, as data subjects, have certain rights
under the Data Protection Act, including a general right of access to personal
data held on them, with parents exercising this right on their behalf if they
are too young to do so themselves. If you wish to access the personal data held
about your child, then please either contact the school or relevant organisation
in writing:
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
you wish to exercise this right you should write to the school.
Yours sincerely,
Rosalind Jacklin
Headteacher
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