Privacy Notice - Elective Home Education

Privacy Notice for Elective Home Education Purpose for processing your information

The responsibility for monitoring Elective Home Education Officers sit within the Admissions and Access to Education Service. Local Authorities (LA) have a legal obligation (s437 Education Act 1996) to ensure that all children who are of statutory school age who reside in the area are in receipt of a 'suitable education'. Any/all parents have a legal right to educate their children 'otherwise' than at school, commonly referred to as ‘elective home education’ (EHE).

The Council has in place its own EHE policy and procedures, with due regard to legislation and guidance in order that it is able to meet its statutory duty. This duty applies in relation to children of compulsory school age who are not on a school roll and when the LA does not know if a child is receiving a suitable education otherwise than being at school. The parents/carers of all children identified as such will receive a letter from the LA, outlining the LAs procedures in relation to EHE.

We collect the following information:

In the course of supporting and monitoring elective home education we collect the following information,

In order to carry out registration and monitoring, we process personal information in relation to parent/carers and children:

• Personal contact details such as name, title, addresses, contact numbers, and personal email addresses.
• Personal demographics (including date of birth and gender) Education information including any Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) and previous or current school information.
• Involvement with statutory services such as Social Care, Access and Early Help, MASH, School Admissions, Exclusions, Data Team, Housing, The Bridge AP Academy (TBAP), SEND, and Youth Justice Service.
• Involvement with the Police and/or probation

This information is only used for the intended purpose but if we intend to use it for any other purpose; we will normally ask you first. In some cases, the Council may use your information for another purpose if it has a legal duty to do so, to provide a complete service to you, to prevent and detect fraud, or if there is a risk of serious harm or threat to life.

How we collect your information

The initial EHE notification may be a formal written notification either from the parent/carer directly or from the current/ previous school. The LA may be notified via other internal or external means that a child is not on roll of a school. On receipt of notification a registration form/ questionnaire is sent to the parent/carer.

Who the information is shared with

The information will be shared with the assigned Home Education Assessor for the purpose of carrying out the assessment of suitability of education.

The Home Education Assessors are commissioned by the Council’s School Standards Service and are contracted to undertake this work in accordance with the Council’s Confidentially Undertaking in accordance with GPDR. As the assessors are not direct Council employees all exchanges with the Authority will take place securely to restricted sites or via approved means of encryption. The assessors will not retain any information once they have provided reports to the Local Authority.

The Elective Home Education officers may use your information for other legitimate purposes and may share (where necessary) with other Council departments and external bodies responsible for administering services to children and young people. Reasons for sharing information with the internal and external bodies will be; to enable the process of registering and monitoring the child for elective home education, to fulfil the council’s safeguarding duty and comply with the Prevent Strategy, and to provide Central Government bodies with mandatory data returns including post 16 educational or training settings. The Home Office to notify of potential illegal immigration and the Police may request information at any time as part of a criminal investigation.

Internal bodies are; the schools admissions team, Child Licensing service, the SEND (Special Educational Needs & Disabilities) team, the Virtual School, the Data Team, the Early Help Service, the MASH Team and Safeguarding service, the Early Years’ Service, Governance and Legal Services.

External bodies are; schools/academies (previous current and applied for, including Independent/Boarding); other Councils/boroughs and the Police. NHS Service, Central Government bodies comprising of the Department for Education, the Local Government Ombudsmen and the Office of the School Adjudicator; the Home Office and the Department of Work and Pension.

For the purpose of validating proof of address, the Elective Home Education Officers will refer to data held by any of the services mentioned above, internal Council Tax records, the Housing Team, Parking Services and the Fraud Team

How are assessments carried out?

When the Council’s EHE officer has the background documentation to support an assessment of home educational provision the name and contact details of the Home Education Assessor assigned to you and to child will be shared with you. The Home Education Assessor will contact you within 7 days following this notification to arrange either a face-to-face, virtual or a telephone meeting to carry out the assessment.

Virtual assessments such as Zoom or Teams are set up by the assigned Home Education Assessor. Meetings are not recorded.

How is your information retained?

Article 6 (1) of the UK GDPR states that processing shall be lawful only if and to the extent that at least one of the following applies. The Act lists 6 lawful basis. In this instance, the council asserts that it is processing data under 6 (1)( e) “processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the data controller”. In line with the ICO, the term Public Task to signify, reference is made to Article 6 (1)(e ).

The public task for EHE is the law which states that the LA has a statutory role and responsibility to ensure all school age children are in receipt of a suitable education.

The above establishes that the council has both a public interest task and duty to respond to EHE Assessments. Processing (including documenting) assessments takes place under the Public Task basis. The data protection regulator, Information Commissioner’s Office [ICO] notes that a specific power is not needed to establish the Public Task lawful basis. Please note, under the Public Task basis, the right to erasure is set aside. The right to object remains, but the right to rectification will only apply to factual content, rather than a difference of opinion. The council may consider accepting addendums to be placed on records where there is a dispute based on opinion, but this will be on a case by case basis.

In addition, the council has other duties associated with maintaining adequate records of its transactions (activities, correspondence) as set out under the Local Government Act 1972 section 224. Specifically, evidencing its transactions, requires considering the integrity of those records. The council is also subject to the Code of Practice on the Management of Records issued under section 46 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Included in the Code is the requirement to adhere to “three principles of value, integrity and accountability… to manage information and maintain a record of their (Public Authorities) activities”. When viewed together the council must be able to maintain records of its transactions as they happened.

How long do we keep your information?

The Elective Home Education Officer will keep your details, and all associated documents, such as questionnaires, assessment reports and evidence of child’s work for the duration your child is being home educated. The information will be deleted within three years of the cessation of the home educational provision.

Your rights and access to your information

You have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you.

The new General Data Protection Regulation also gives you additional rights about the information we hold about you and how we use it, including the right to:

• Withdraw consent and the right to object and restrict further processing of your data; however, this may affect service delivery to you.
• Request to have your data deleted where there is no compelling reason for its continued processing and provided that there are no legitimate grounds for retaining it.
• Request your data to be rectified if it is inaccurate or incomplete
• Have your data transferred or copied should you move to another authority
• Not be subject to automated decision-making including profiling

To submit a Subject Access Request email the Elective Officers at: [email protected] for Westminster enquires and [email protected] Kensington and Chelsea enquiries.

If you have any concerns

Please contact us if you would like to know more about the information we hold about you and how we use it. The Elective Home Education Officers can be contacted on tel: 0207 745 6439 (RBKC) or 6448 (WCC) between 9am – 5pm Monday to Friday.

You have a right to complain to us if you think we have not complied with our obligation for handling your personal information; please email the Elective Home Education Officers at the addresses indicated above. Your concerns will be investigated via the respective Council’s complaints procedures.

If you are not satisfied with the Council’s response you have a right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). You can visit the ICO website at: https://ico.org.uk/concerns/handling/

Changes in your circumstances

You must notify us immediately if there are any changes in your circumstances and personal details so we can maintain an accurate and up to date record of your information.