Fair processing notices - Virtual School Educational Psychology Service

At Stoke-on-Trent City Council we take your privacy seriously and will only keep and use your personal information for reasons the law requires or allows. We are a data controller for the personal information we hold about you in relation to the Virtual School Educational Psychology team.

Who we are

Stoke-on-Trent Virtual School Educational Psychology team works with children and young people when schools and other settings need further guidance to support vulnerable children and young people whose needs can be understood to be acting as a barrier to their inclusion in education. This can be children or young people:

• whose development seems different from their peers’
• who have identified problems/medical needs affecting their development
• who have been affected by stress, anxiety or trauma
• who have mental health concerns
• who are finding it hard to learn
• whose behaviour is causing concern

We have created this notice to explain how we collect, use, share, transfer and look after your data. The notice also gives you information on how to contact us, and lets you know your rights as a data subject.

Why we collect data

We collect data to allow us to carry out psychological assessment and support interventions to meet the special educational needs of your child.

The main legislation governing the Virtual School Educational Psychology team and that provides the lawful basis for processing information is the following:

• Children & Families Act 2014
• Special educational needs and disability code of practice: 0 to 25 years 2015
• The Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations (2014)
• Equality Act 2010
• Working Together to Safeguard Children (2015, updated 2018 & 2019)
• Article 6, 1(e) of the UK GDPR allows processing which is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller;
• We are allowed to process personal data in the special categories for these purposes under Article 9, 2(g) of the UK GDPR, processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest, supported by Schedule 1, 6(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018, processing necessary for statutory and government purposes.

How we collect data

We request information from you, your child, your child’s setting(s) and education services as appropriate. In the course of providing psychological support we collect the following personal information when you provide it to us: basic personal information (such as name, address, contact details, date of birth, gender). Special category data (such as ethnicity, religion, medical information). Reasons for support (such as concerns about learning, areas that require support and change). Assessment and plan information (such as further details of barriers to learning, strengths and needs, interventions and next steps to support outcomes).

We also obtain personal information from other sources as follows: current and previous involvement from other organisations (such as paediatricians, speech and language therapists, teachers, social workers, occupational therapists, specialist teachers). Schools and other setting information (such as attendance and exclusion information, national curriculum and exam attainment and progress). Involvement with other children’s services teams from our existing records.

How we use your personal data

We will use the information you provide in order to contact you, to allow us to identify your child on education databases and so that we can provide educational psychology support to you, your child and their school/setting.

Your data may also be used to evaluate and quality assure the services we provide, undertake research to help understand and improve the quality of education for children and young people and as part of supervision (discussions with other psychologists and professionals) to maintain and develop our professional practice.

How we share your data

We will share relevant information (this may contain information about health or care needs for example) with your child’s schools/settings and other education, health or care services as appropriate, in order to effectively assess and support your child. Personal information about you may also be provided to other local authorities.

For example, if you have moved from one local authority to another and the new authority requires confirmation of the services you were receiving. At no time will your information be passed to organisations external to Stoke-on-Trent City Council or our partners for marketing or sales purposes or for any commercial use.

How long your data will be kept

We will hold your personal information securely and retain it accordance with national legislation and the Stoke-on-Trent City Council retention and disposal schedule. Typically, the amount of time data is kept before being disposed is 12 years, but may vary depending on why it was collected, how it is used and individual circumstances.

Your rights

Under GDPR you, as the data subject, have the right to:

• know what we are doing with your information and why we are doing it.
• ask to see what information we hold about you. You have the right to request this in machine-readable form so that it can, if required, be transferred to a third party.
• request that we rectify any information about you that is incorrect. Simple inaccuracies, such as address changes will be made. Depending on the purpose for processing, records (including statements and opinions) may not be changed. 
• object to processing of your personal information including automated decision making, profiling and direct marketing.
• make a complaint to the supervisory authority if you are not satisfied with how the information held about you has been handled.  

You have the right to withdraw consent for involvement of the Virtual School Educational Psychology team by making a request in writing; however, due to legal basis for processing and retention associated with the support offered, personal data and records may still be retained.

Please contact us if you have any questions about our privacy policy or information we hold about you, or if you have a complaint about privacy or misuse of data.

If you need to contact us about the support please use the Virtual School contact above. If you wish to complain about how your personal information has been handled by Stoke-on-Trent City Council, please contact the Information Rights Team in the first instance using the details above.

You can find details of how we handle your personal information by visiting stoke.gov.uk/gdpr. For any general enquiries you can contact the council by phone on 01782 234234, via email to enquiries@stoke.gov.uk or by writing to us at Civic Centre, Glebe Street, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 1HH.

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.