Early help information sharing

Privacy notice for families

This privacy notice sits beneath the council’s top level privacy notice and provides information about how personal data is used as part of the national evaluation of the supporting families programme.

Medway Council and its partners are working to turn the lives around of families with multiple needs. As a result, relevant personal data of individuals and families may be shared with partner agencies to ensure that support offered meets their needs.

Read our main privacy notice for details on your rights and who to contact at Medway Council about use of personal data.

The information that will be shared may relate to:

  • crime and anti social behaviour
  • education attendance and exclusion
  • children who need help
  • adults out of work or at risk of financial exclusion
  • young people at risk of not being in employment, education or training
  • housing needs
  • families affected by domestic abuse
  • health needs.

What personal information will be shared

Medway Council will share anonymised data with the Department for Education (DfE) for the purpose of evaluation by Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Other more personal information may be shared with partners to help provide the support needed for your family.

Partners include:

  • the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) – to see benefit and employment status
  • The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) – to see what contact families may have had with the criminal justice system
  • DfE – to see when a child has been in school, how well they are doing at each key stage and whether they are a child in need of more support from their school.

How information will be used

The information gathered may be shared with partners so that we can work together in a joined up way or for research purposes (including the impact of the national study of our services).

Any reports by the research organisation will only contain anonymised information which means that it will be impossible for anyone to identify the individuals or families.

How you will be affected

The data used for research will not affect the benefits, services or treatment families or individuals are entitled to receive.

Why your information is being shared

The DfE  is responsible for children's services and education, including:

  • early years
  • schools
  • higher and further education policy
  • apprenticeships
  • wider skills in England.

By carrying out this research, DfE aims to:

  • level up education standards so that children and young people are prepared with the knowledge, skills, and qualifications they need
  • support the most disadvantaged and vulnerable children and young people through high-quality local services so that no one is left behind
  • provide the best start in life through high-quality early education and childcare to raise standards and help parents to work.

 

To do this, DfE wants to link information about families with past and future information on the use and benefits of local authorities.

Safety of your information

Medway Council keeps information about you secure and has strict controls on who can see your information.

Legal arrangements that allow this information to be shared

Medway Council is relying on the Digital Economy Act 2017 to share this data as well as:

  1. Article 6(1)(e) of the GDPR as a lawful basis to process the personal data. The processing is necessary for the council to perform its functions [or a public task], in particular to improve the lives of troubled families. In addition, Medway Council will rely on Article 9(2)(g) and meets the condition in Schedule 1, Part 2, Paragraph 6 of the DPA 2018 to process Special Category Personal Data. The council will also rely on Article 10 of the GDPR to process criminal offence data. The council has prepared a policy document (Data Protection Policy) for the processing of Special Category Personal Data and criminal offence data which sets out the procedures in place to comply with the principles in Article 5 of the GDPR.
  2. Medway Council will share data for the purposes of this project in exercise of the general power of competence under section 1 of the Localism Act 2011 and powers under section 111 of the Local Government Act 1972. These provisions, respectively, give the council the power to do anything individuals generally may do (subject to the limitations set out in the Localism Act 2011), and the power to do anything which is calculated to facilitate, or is conducive or incidental to, the discharge of any of the functions of the local authority.

Find out more about how we process your information

For a copy of the information we hold or share about you, call the Early Help Transformation Team on 01634 338 746.

Opt out of research

You can request to opt out of the research, call the Early Help Transformation Team on 01634 338 746.