Children’s centres privacy policy

Our contact details

Name: Ealing Children’s Centres

Address: Ealing Council, Perceval House, 14-16 Uxbridge Road, Ealing W5 2HL

Email: childrenscentreservice@ealing.gov.uk

Web address: Ealing Families Directory | Children's Centres & Early Start Ealing 0-19

The type of personal information we collect

We currently collect and process the following information:

date of birth, gender, sex, religious beliefs, marital status
names, addresses and contact details of parents (including pregnant mothers and expectant fathers) and carers and their relationship with children using the centres
health, including disabilities and special educational needs
details of any disabilities
emergency contact details
ethnicity and languages spoken
registration with a GP
information about your situation given to us by your family/carers and/or other organisations (for example GP, health professionals, police)
reports relating to your situation such as safeguarding and other assessments, Child Protection Plans, Children in Need Plans, Looked After Children reviews and EHAPS
we also ask your preferred method of communication – text, email, phone, letter

How we get your personal information and why we collect it

Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you for one of the following reasons:

to effectively deliver services and support for families with young children which includes early years development, early childhood health and education, childcare services
early intervention and support for children with Special Educational Needs and / or Disability (SEND)
provide activities for children and families, offer parenting support, and identify needs for early intervention
volunteering and training opportunities for parents to support skills development and access to employment opportunities
to help us understand who is accessing different types of support, allowing us to manage and improve our services
to ensure our staff receive appropriate training and supervision and enable us to monitor the quality and impact of the support provided to you
to assess how well services are coordinated for families and informs future planning to meet community needs

We also receive personal information indirectly, from the following sources in the following scenarios:

children’s centre registration form (where information is provided for a second parent/carer, it is your responsibility to let them know about information given on their behalf)
additional information you provide
correspondence you send us
information collected by our staff on the phone or in face-to-face meetings
third party agencies
external referrals to the council
other council departments
early years settings
partner agencies

If we are made aware of any changes in your information originally supplied (for example new baby born, change of address and so on) then our records will be updated accordingly.

We use the information that you have given us to fulfil the duties placed on Local Authorities for the planning, delivery, monitoring and evaluation of services for families with young children. We will also inform you about children’s centre services, activities, provision of early years education, health and public campaigns and surveys. Information provided will be stored securely on the council’s database which can be seen by authorised professionals involved in the delivery of services.

We use your data to:

enable us to carry out our statutory functions and duties including safeguarding, child protection and corporate parenting
identify children and young people that are being harmed or abused, or at risk of harm or abuse
identify and comply with safeguarding policies and procedures
assess any additional needs a child or young person may have
provide a co-ordinated approach to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children
produce anonymised statistics and reports to research and plan new services
assess performance and set targets for service improvement
develop welfare/safeguarding policies/strategies with safeguarding, corporate parenting and early help partners
comply with government department research and statistical returns

We may share this information with key partners, such as health visitors and other health professionals, voluntary and community organisations, housing, social care, employment and training services. This is to enable all agencies who are supporting children and their families to work together to provide services to best meet their needs. We will only share your information where it is necessary or required by law. We will only share the minimum information for each circumstance.

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing this information are:

(e) We need it to perform a public task.

There are several laws which allow for the protection, collection and processing of your personal information for this purpose, such as:

Childrens Act 2004
Children and Families Act 2014 (Section 22 - Identifying children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, Section 30 - SEND local offer)
Childcare Act 2006 (Section 99 - Provision of information about young children: England)
UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018
The Common Law Duty of Confidence
The Human Rights Act 1998
NHS Guidelines - Caldicott Principles, which govern the sharing of patient identifiable information

How we store your personal information

All the information we collect is stored securely on our IT systems (Children’s Centre database) and manual filing systems. We have strict procedures for the way this is done that comply with legal responsibilities under the GDPR. All information about you is treated as confidential and with respect. There are also clear rules and guidance about storing, recording and sharing information which staff receive training on.

We take information sharing very seriously. Appropriate council and health staff are Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checked.

There are different rules for different documents and/or information kept by the council. We are required by law to keep records for varying lengths of time depending on individual circumstances.

Records are kept only for as long as necessary; this is either by law or good practices.

Your data protection rights

Under data protection law, you have rights including:

your right of access - You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.
your right to rectification - You have the right to ask us to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.
your right to erasure - You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.
your right to restriction of processing - You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
your right to object to processing - You have the the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
your right to data portability - You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.
you are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.

Please contact us at dataprotection@ealing.gov.uk, 0208 825 5124 if you wish to make a request.

How to complain

If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, you can make a complaint to us at 0208 825 5124 or dataprotection@ealing.gov.uk

You can also complain to the ICO if you are unhappy with how we have used your data.

The ICO’s address:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF

Helpline number: 0303 123 1113

ICO website: www.ico.org.uk\za