Educational Psychology Service - Privacy Notice

For the processing to which this notice relates to be carried out we use the following information:

• personal information about you as a parent/carer such as: your name, address, telephone numbers, email address, relationship to child
• personal information about your child, such as: name, DoB, gender, details about learning needs, progress and attainment, and the involvement of other support professionals
• special category personal information about your child, such as: information about your child’s ethnicity, additional needs if appropriate to the involvement of the Educational Psychology Service

We collect your information by asking you to complete a Consent Form at the time that our involvement in supporting your child commences. Once you have given your consent we will ask the school/setting and other agencies involved with your child to share information about their involvement with your child.

Your information will be used to help with our involvement in supporting your child, providing us with the detail that we need to understand your child’s needs and how best to provide our support.  

Information required by law 

The legal basis on which the council processes personal information is in order to comply with a legal obligation and for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest (Article 6 (1)(c) and 6 (1)(e) of the UK GDPR).  For sensitive information the legal basis for processing information is for reasons of substantial public interest (Article 9(2)(g). The council is required by law to provide appropriate and suitable education to children and to support those with additional needs and disabilities. This is detailed in legislation and guidance including the Education Act 1996, Children & Families Act 2014 and the Special Education Needs and Disability Code of Practice 2015.

We sometimes need to share your information within the Council or with other organisations. We will only share your information when necessary and when the law allows us to, and we will only share the minimum information we need to.

For educational psychology matters we may need to share your information with:

• Relevant Council departments including Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND)
• Doncaster Clinical Commissioning Group
• Doncaster Children’s Social Care
• Educational Settings (schools, childminders, school nurseries, private day nurseries, post 16)
• Health Partners: Audiology, Implant Centres, Speech & Language Therapists, Clinical Psychologists, Occupational Therapists and Paediatricians

Sometimes, we may share your information without your knowledge; for example, to gain information from other agencies in order to provide support for your child.

The Council will never sell your information to anyone else.

We will keep your information for  as long as necessary to provide the service and for a period afterwards to allow for any further enquiries.  Data relating to special educational needs is normally kept for 35 years following someone’s date of birth in case they wish to access their records or any queries arise.

For more information on how long your information will be kept please see the Council’s retention schedule

The law gives you specific rights over your information. These rights are:

• to be informed of our use of information about you;
• of access to information about you;
• rectify information about you that is inaccurate;
• to have your information erased (the ‘right to be forgotten’);
• to restrict how we use information about you;
• to move your information to a new service provider;
• to object to how we use information about you;
• not to have decisions made about you on the basis of automated decision making;
• to object to direct marketing; and,
• to complain about anything the Council does with your information (please see the ‘Complaints’ section below).

Some of the rights listed above apply only in certain situations, and some have a limited effect. Your rights are explained further in the Individuals’ Rights Procedure on our website, as is how to make a request under one or more of them. You can request information about yourself by making a subject access request on this page of the Council’s website.

This notice is kept under regular review to make sure it is up to date and accurate.

The Council is required by law to have a DPO. The DPO has a number of duties, including:

• monitoring the Council’s compliance with data protection law;
• providing expert advice and guidance on data protection;
• acting as the point of contact for data subjects; and,
• co-operating and consulting with the Information Commissioner’s Office (see ‘Complaints’ below).

The Council’s Data Protection Officer can be contacted by email at information.governance@doncaster.gov.uk 

If you are unhappy with the way in which your information has been handled you should contact the Council’s Data Protection Officer so that we can try and put things right. Alternatively, and if we have been unable to resolve your complaint, you can also refer the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO is the UK's independent body set up to uphold information rights, and they can investigate and adjudicate on any data protection related concerns you raise with them. They can be contacted via the methods below:

Website: www.ico.org.uk  

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Post: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.