Privacy Notice

Introduction

Gloucestershire County Council provides the below services through its Children's Directorate and in partnership with several organisations. We need to collect information about you in order to provide these services.

Depending on the service we may collect information about your family and other people associated with your case. We will retain your personal information in line with our Records Retention and Disposal Schedule, or as long as we are legally required to.

There may be reasons for us to keep your information for longer than is stated, such as if you have an open complaint about the services received, for evidence to defend a legal claim or if we are required to by law.

We will keep anonymised data about you indefinitely for data analytical purposes to ensure that we can assess, evaluate and plan our services for the future.

Children's Services often works with external services and partners to deliver our services. Sometimes some of the information held by social care staff will need to be shared with external partners as well as staff working in other Council departments, this is to ensure you receive proper care, support and treatment. Sharing this information also helps avoid you being asked for the same information more than once.

Gloucestershire County Council, including Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service, is committed to using its powers, influence, and responsibilities to prevent and act against identified slavery and human trafficking in its corporate activities, supply chains and the wider community. The council is committed to ensuring its staff, partners and suppliers are aware of their duty to comply with their duties under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and is committed to implementing the Charter Against Modern Slavery.

Gloucestershire County Council, including Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service, is also committed to collecting and using equalities information lawfully and transparently to promote equality, eliminate discrimination, and ensure fair access to services for all.

To ensure transparency around how the council enacts these commitments, Privacy Notices have been created for Modern Slavery Data Collection and Monitoring and Equalities Data Collection and Monitoring.

Gloucestershire County Council may use Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools, to support service delivery, and operational efficiency. The council is committed to the safe and ethical use of GenAI and does not use GenAI tools for automated decision making. The council remains the data controller of personal data at all times, and robust contracts are in place to govern the access GenAI tools have to council information. Data Protection Impact Assessments are also required for each GenAI tool to ensure the proposed uses are in accordance with data protection law, ethical best practice, and the council’s https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/strategies-plans-and-policies/information-management-and-security-policies/staff-acceptable-use-policies

Who do we collect personal data about?

People who visit or complete forms on our websites
People who register for online accounts on our websites
People who register for and receive services from us
People who receive care from the council or one of our providers
People who receive services from local education providers
Relatives or other individuals who interact with those receiving services from us
People who contact us with a query, complaint or feedback
People who make comments about the services we provide or actions we take as a county council
People who have been referred to us from other organisations or commissioned providers
People who visit the organisation or who are recorded on CCTV on council premises
People who live in the county or nearby areas
Job applicants
Volunteers
Current and former employees
Employees of partner organisations
Independent contractors, suppliers and external providers (such as childcare providers)
Our suppliers and providers or their employees

What personal data do we use?

We will collect your personal data in a variety of ways, whether this is via our online or paper forms, from a partner organisation as a referral or from you directly during conversations you have with our services either via telephone, email, in writing or face to face, to be able to deliver the services we provide.

Your personal data that we collect, use and share includes:

Name and contact details
Personal details
Family and next of kin/interested parties details
Identifiers, such as National Insurance Numbers or NHS numbers
Online identifiers such as IP Addresses or cookies
Lifestyle and social circumstances
Financial information
Employment and educational details (including qualifications)
Residential and right to work status
Details of any State Benefit receipts
Housing or social care needs
Visual images, such as photographs or CCTV recordings
Location data
Information held in case files
Licenses or permits held
Teacher Reference Number
Student and pupil records
Business activities

We also collect what is known as sensitive personal information (or special categories of data). This is often information you would not want widely known and is very personal to you, types of sensitive data can include:

Criminal conviction data (including DBS checks)
Racial or ethnic origin
Political opinions
Religious or philosophical beliefs
Trade union membership
Genetic and biometric data
Mental or physical health details (including clinical records, care plans, social care assessments and substance misuse)
Information relating to your domestic life
Behavioural characteristics
Details of periods of leave taken by you, including holiday, sickness absence, family leave and sabbaticals, and the reasons for the leave;
Sex life
Sexual orientation

Why do we need your personal information?

We need to use your personal, and often sensitive, information to help make the right decisions about the type of service you need, as well as to check whether the services are helping you as they should. We use your information to:

deliver services and support to you
manage those services we provide to you
respond to your queries
help investigate any worries or complaints you have about your services
help investigate any worries or complaints you have about a volunteering role
carry out promotion of our services and public awareness campaigns
undertake corporate administration and support functions
keep track of spending on services
calculate how much (if anything) you will need to pay towards our services
train and manage the employment of our workers and volunteers who deliver those services
ensure our services to our service users are transparent
to verify your entitlement to access the services you have requested
administer and protect public funds
to evaluate, improve and plan services
to enforce legislation and restrictions
prevent and detect crime and fraud
offer legal advice and support to our service users and council employees
to establish and defend legal claims
to undertake live systems testing for new systems being implemented in the Council and across Gloucestershire
to meet our reporting obligations to report to statutory authorities

The council sometimes utilises third parties who help us with public consultations, analysis into how our services can be better, surveys, and other engagement or research activities. We will sometimes disclose personal data to those third parties in order for them to carry out those activities on our behalf. When we do this, we will always ensure that appropriate controls are put in place to protect your data. These can include additional encryption measures, pseudonymisation, and extra governance documentation like Data Protection Impact Assessments or processing agreements.

Why do we need information about other people in relation to your case?

To allow us to most effectively assist the people who are providing you with care and support
To facilitate contact between you and interested parties
If you are vulnerable or at risk, to allow us to protect you better

What gives us the right to use your personal information?

Without using your personal information we would not be able provide services to you.

Over the next couple of sections we will take you through each one of the lawful basis and show you how we will use your personal data within Children's Services as well as provide you with some further information on how we meet the requirements of data protection legislation.

1. Public Task

We have a number of statutory responsibilities, powers and duties which require us to carry out tasks and deliver services, without specifying what personal data we have to use. You can find these on our Legislation used in Children's Services page. When working under these powers we are acting in our official authority or ‘public task’.

When performing our public task we use your personal data to:

provide appropriate early help intervention and support
deliver the National Supporting Families Programme
identify and clarify your child’s or young person's educational needs
make decisions about whether to conduct a statutory needs assessment or issue an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan
make decisions about the content of EHC Plan including outcomes, placement and provision.
support the ongoing monitoring of the provision specified in an EHC Plan where one is issued
inform the EHC Plan annual review and monitor your child’s progress
support disagreement resolution or mediation processes and processes relating to appeals and / or tribunals
make decisions about whether to provide additional funding to the setting where your child is educated (such as High Needs Funding and Early Years and Inclusion Funding)
provide travel assistance, Personal Travel Allowances and Independent Travel Training
inform future commissioned services and educational placements requirements
provide services within the Children and Families Hub
assess eligibility for Post 16 home to school/college transport support
facilitate and manage the Family Information Service Website
send out the Family Information Service newsletter and related communications
assess eligibility for, and provide, free school meals
provide the Children First diversion and crime prevention
provide post-16 education employment and training
provide information, advice, guidance for all young people Not in Employment Education or Training
support children and young people missing from home or care
support early Help Youth work with referred clients and casework in locality teams
provide outdoor activities/interventions for young people not in employment, education, or training, are in care, are care leavers, are home schooled, are in the Criminal Justice system
facilitate sexual health coordination and teenage pregnancy/young parent support
provide housing advice and support for homeless young people and those leaving care
support the Intensive Recovery Intervention Service
arrange home to school transport
facilitate Senior Officer Reviews and School Transport appeals
act as the Appointed Body for Newly Qualified Teachers’ (NQTs) Induction and facilitate the registration, induction, monitoring and ongoing support of NQTs
run the Schools Admissions Service and In Year Admissions Service
maintain the Early Intervention and Identification Tool Register
carry out the Child Friendly Gloucestershire Survey
run other surveys and consultations
process the results of surveys and consultations to assess whether our services are making a difference, to develop and improve services, measure how well the council as a whole is doing and administer and protect public funds.
support the Governors Services
provide Family Group Conferences
provide and manage our inclusive employment service
process applications for, and issue, Child Employment Permits
assessing referrals and arranging the Team Around the Locality Cluster (TALC) multi-agency meetings
carry out or take part in research or studies to support, review or improve our services
access JUYI2, the Gloucestershire Shared Care record. Please visit the One Gloucestershire website for more information about the JUYI2 Shared Care Record, what data we collect and how we use it.

2. Legal Obligation

In the below cases we need to use your personal information to meet our legal obligations. You can find a list of the relevant legislation on our Legislation used in Children's Services page.

Issuing child performance licenses
Provide a Youth Justice Service
Provide participation in education, employment and training and NEET statistics for the Department for Education
Provide substance misuse treatment for young people for the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities
To deliver the Early Years funding entitlement to providers
To populate the Early Years Census
For ongoing monitoring of children and young people who have Education, Health and Care needs
To provide services within the Children and Families Hub
To access JUYI2, the Gloucestershire Shared Care record. Please visit the One Gloucestershire website for more information about the JUYI2 Shared Care Record, what data we collect and how we use it.

3. Vital Interests

We will use or share your personal information if it is necessary to the life of you or another person. This is most likely to be in an emergency situation and we may not be able to talk to you about sharing your data during the emergency; once the emergency is over, we will seek to advise you of the use at the earliest opportunity.

4. Consent

Certain services or processes will require your consent in order to process your information. These are:

To share video and audio recordings of you created during Video Interactive Guidance with the Association of Video Interaction UK (AVIGuk) for a two-day initial training course (ITC) presentation and on the AVIGuk website.

In the above instances we have asked for your consent for us to collect and use your information. Even if you agreed at the start but don’t want to continue to receive the service you can remove your consent at any time. To do this, please contact us using one of the methods below:

Contact the Information Management Service page.

What gives us the right to use your sensitive information?

What we use your data for	Special Category Lawful Basis (Article 9 GDPR)	Criminal Conviction Lawful Basis	Special Category Conditions (DPA 2018)
Youth Support Services	9(2(h) Processing is necessary for the provision and/or management of health and/or social care systems	Part 1(2)(1) – necessary for health or social care purposes	Part 1(2)(1) – necessary for health or social care purposes
Issuing Child performance licenses	9(2(g) Processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest	Part 2(18)(a) – necessary for the purposes of protecting an individual from neglect or physical, mental or emotional harm	Part 2(18)(a) – necessary for the purposes of protecting an individual from neglect or physical, mental or emotional harm
Early Help Offer (including Family Group Conferences)	9(2(g) Processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest; 9(2(h) Processing is necessary for the provision and/or management of health and/or social care systems	Part 1(1)(1)(a) – with obligations in connection with social security or social protection; Part 1(2)(1) – necessary for health or social care purposes; Part 2(6)(2)(a) – the exercise of a function conferred on a person by an enactment; Part 2(10)(a) – necessary for the purposes of the prevention of detection of an unlawful act; Part 2(18)(a) – necessary for the purposes of protecting an individual from neglect or physical, mental or emotional harm.	Part 1(1)(1)(a) – with obligations in connection with social security or social protection; Part 1(2)(1) – necessary for health or social care purposes; Part 2(6)(2)(a) – the exercise of a function conferred on a person by an enactment; Part 2(10)(a) – necessary for the purposes of the prevention of detection of an unlawful act; Part 2(18)(a) – necessary for the purposes of protecting an individual from neglect or physical, mental or emotional harm.
SEND service	9(2(g) Processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest; 9(2(h) Processing is necessary for the provision and/or management of health and/or social care systems	Part 1(1)(1)(a) – with obligations in connection with social security or social protection; Part 1(2)(1) – necessary for health or social care purposes; Part 2(6)(2)(a) – the exercise of a function conferred on a person by an enactment; Part 2(10)(a) – necessary for the purposes of the prevention of detection of an unlawful act; Part 2(18)(a) – necessary for the purposes of protecting an individual from neglect or physical, mental or emotional harm.	Part 1(2)(1) – necessary for health or social care purposes; Part 2(18)(a) – necessary for the purposes of protecting an individual from neglect or physical, mental or emotional harm.
Families First Programme	9(2(g) Processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest; 9(2(h) Processing is necessary for the provision and/or management of health and/or social care systems	Part 2(18)(a) – necessary for the purposes of protecting an individual from neglect or physical, mental or emotional harm; Part 1(2)(1) – necessary for health or social care purposes	Part 1(2)(1) – necessary for health or social care purposes; Part 2(18)(a) – necessary for the purposes of protecting an individual from neglect or physical, mental or emotional harm
Children and Families Hub	9(2(b) Processing is necessary in the field of employment and social security and social protection law; 9(2(c) Processing is necessary in order to protect vital interests; 9(2(g) Processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest; 9(2(h) Processing is necessary for the provision and/or management of health and/or social care systems	N/A	Part 1(1)(1)(a) – with obligations in connection with social security or social protection; Part 1(2)(1) – necessary for health or social care purposes; Part 2(6)(2)(a) – the exercise of a function conferred on a person by an enactment; Part 2(18)(a) – necessary for the purposes of protecting an individual from neglect or physical, mental or emotional harm.
Early Years	9(2(g) Processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest; 9(2(h) Processing is necessary for the provision and/or management of health and/or social care systems	N/A	Part 2(6)(2)(a) – the exercise of a function conferred on a person by an enactment; Part 1(2)(1) – necessary for health or social care purposes; Part 2(8) – necessary for the purposes of equality of opportunity
Friends and Families Assessment and Support	9(2)(h) Processing is necessary for the provision and/or management of health and/or social care systems	N/A	Part 1(2)(1) – necessary for health or social care purposes
Team Around the Locality Cluster (TALC)	9(2)(g) Processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest	N/A	Part 2(6)(2)(a) – the exercise of a function conferred on a person by an enactment;
VIG (Video Interactive Guidance) Audio/Video recording/sharing	9(2)(a) The data subject has given explicit consent to the processing	N/A	N/A
Inclusive employment service	9(2)(g) Processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest	N/A	Part 2(6) - Statutory and Government purposes Part 2(8) - necessary for the purposes of equality of opportunity
Surveys and consultations	9(2)(g) Processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest	N/A	Part 2(6) - Statutory and Government purposes
For research and archiving purposes	9(2)(j) Processing is necessary for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes	N/A	Part 1(4) - necessary for archiving, statistical or historical research purposes that are in the public interest
Additional research projects	9(2)(g) Processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest	N/A	Part 1(2)(1) – necessary for health or social care purposes
To access JUYI2, the Gloucestershire Shared Care record	9(2)(h) Processing is necessary for the provision and/or management of health and/or social care systems	N/A	Part 1(2)(1) – necessary for health or social care purposes

Where do we get your data from and who will we share it with?

The personal information we collect, use and share comes from a variety of sources. We also sometimes need to share your personal information with other people and organisations. Our sources and recipients of personal data are:

Sources:

Your care provider(s)
Housing Associations
Social Services
Voluntary and community organisations
The NHS
The Police
Directly from you
Your friends and family
Relevant local partners, agencies and education providers
Employers
Gloucestershire County Council are a signatory to the National Data Sharing Agreement, allowing us access to GP records via GP connect if deemed necessary. It is expected that use of this system will only be deemed necessary in limited circumstances for out-of-county recipients of social care

Recipients:

Health service providers, including NHS agencies (e.g. GPs, hospitals, ambulance, health visitor, mental health services)
Education providers
Day care providers
Youth Services
Commissioned service providers
Department for Education
Ofsted
Department for Works and Pensions,
Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government
Ministry of Justice
Information Commissioners Office (ICO)
The Local Government Ombudsman
Office for National Statistics
Border Control and Immigration Services
Courts and secure estate
The Probation Service and community rehabilitation companies
Disclosure and Barring Service
Employers
Legal Services, Courts and Children and Family Court Advisory Service (CAFCASS)
Gloucestershire Safeguarding Boards
Police
Fire and Rescue
Governing boards/panels
Advocacy services
Child Friendly Gloucestershire
Direct Payment support services
Supported lodging or semi-independent accommodation providers
Adoption agencies and advisors (including voluntary adoption agencies)
Community hubs
Local multi-agency forums which provide advice, support and guidance (such as Local Inclusion Teams)
Disabled Children and Young People’s Service
Providers of independent advice and guidance (such as contracted SEND consultants)
Foster Carers and related services
Independent school admission appeal panel members
Mediation services
Gloucestershire Social Work Academy (Gloucestershire County Council learning and development unit)
External practice educators to support and review casework produced by student Social Workers
Association of Video Interaction UK (AVIGuk)
Educational Psychologists
Student Social workers and Educational Psychologists
Software providers to facilitate access to our databases and websites (such as LiquidLogic)
Transport operators for purposes of our Home to School transport service
Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA)
The Education Workforce Council (EWC) in the case of qualifying / having completed part of your induction / continuing your induction in Wales;
The General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) in the case of qualifying / having completed part of your induction / continuing your induction in Scotland;
The General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland (GTCNI) in the case of qualifying / having completed part of your induction / continuing your induction in Northern Ireland
Insurance and legal advisory services (internal and external)
Employers
National Drug Treatment Monitoring system (NDTMS) in the case of providing treatment
Other charitable and voluntary sector partners and services (e.g. Barnardos, Coram)
Other Gloucestershire County Council services such as Social Care, Education teams, Corporate Resources and Audit functions
Other local authorities
Other District Councils
Relevant local partners and agencies
Department for Education (DfE) for Supporting Families information
Contracted Data Insights Partners to improve our services
Our Independent Parent Carer Forum
Active Gloucestershire
The Children’s Commissioner
Stroud Move on and Enablement Service (Kingfishers)

We specifically work in partnership with the county’s NHS and care organisations as part of 1 of only 14 Integrated Care Systems (ICS) across the country. This is a voluntary partnership that is working to ensure you receive high quality joined up care when you need it; this partnership is known as One Gloucestershire.

As part of that partnership, an overview of your social care information forms part of Gloucestershire’s shared care digital record system. This system is known as JUYI (Joining Up Your Information) and allows Gloucestershire health and social care professionals involved in your care access to the most up to date information about you.

For more information about JUYI please visit the JUYI website.

Your personal data may also be shared with regulatory and statutory bodies who assess council performance and financial spend, as well as where required by law, such as to prevent and detect crime or fraudulent activity.

Gloucestershire County Council uses third party suppliers to provide Information Technology and Communications solutions, support and hosting services. These organisations may process your personal data only where it is necessary as part of the service they provide. These organisations are contractually obliged to handle and protect your data in line with data protection legislation and council policies.

Transfers out of the EEA

In the majority of cases your information will remain in the UK and it will not be necessary for us to transfer your personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA). But there are some occasions where your information may leave the EEA for example

Where we use a cloud-based IT system to hold your data, and the data in the cloud is stored on servers located outside the EEA. In these circumstances we safeguard your data through undertaking appropriate checks on the levels of security offered by the cloud provider and entering into a contract with them which applies protections of the same type and level required by data protection laws within the EEA
Where you are based outside the EEA and we need to send you emails or other communications which are necessary for the performance of our contract with you or to deliver the services we provide

If we do need to share your personal data outside of the EEA, we will endeavour to:

Take all practical steps to make sure your personal information is not sent to a country that is not deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data either by the UK government or the European Commission.
Use specific contractual clauses approved by the European Commission which give personal data the same protection it has in the UK and Europe.

Use only appropriate safeguards as set out in Chapter 5 of UK GDPR.