Privacy and children and young People

Services such as education, social care and early help, which aim to protect vulnerable children and their families, may collect, use and share special category data as defined by the General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018.

The provision of these services by the local authority is defined primarily in the:

Why we need your information

We collect and use your personal information so that we can provide you with these statutory services and other support services.

The information we collect may be shared between council services and with other organisations, such as:

  • the police
  • educational establishments (such as early years settings, schools and colleges)
  • health services
  • social care organisations (such as GP's and hospitals).

We will share personal information as part of statutory returns.

We also share information, sometimes indirectly, with government agencies like Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills) who inspect and regulate services that care for children and young people.

How we share and process your information

The council may receive personal information from third parties, for example:

  • a student’s unique identifier number to support education requirements
  • the NHS numbers of people receiving support from social care from health services.

We do not disclose or share this sensitive or confidential information without your freely given, informed, clear consent. However, in a small number of situations disclosure is allowed by law such as when we have good reason to believe that failing to do so would put you or someone else at risk.