Privacy Policy

General Overview

Stockport Safeguarding Children Partnership (SSCP) is a collection of agencies from the Stockport area that are working together to improve their approach to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and families.

These agencies are required to work together to make sure that all professionals in the area are meeting their safeguarding children responsibilities. In order to do this they are required to share information that they collect about their individual service users.

They collect this information under the requirements of legislation. You can see the specific information about what we collect, how we use it and why in the table below. This work is undertaken under the legislation and statutory guidance listed below:

These laws allow the partners to undertake their work without relying on individuals agreement, but all partners will provide transparency in this work by making sure that their individual privacy notices confirm their participation in the activities outlined below.

The partners will also seek to involve children, young people and families, where appropriate, and in an appropriate manner.

All members of staff working for health, social care and any other organisations have a legal duty to keep your information strictly confidential and have been given training on their duty of data protection and confidentiality to you. We keep all paper and electronic records secure to prevent unauthorised access in accordance with the principles and requirements of Data Protection law.

QUICK EXIT!

Child abuse or neglect

Do not ignore it:

call 0161 217 6028 – Monday to Thursday from 8.30am to 5pm, Friday from 8.30am to 4.30pm
or 0161 718 2118 – evenings and weekends

Report abuse

Who controls our data and processes on behalf of the partnership?

The data is controlled by the partnership itself. Each agency owns its own data so they are collectively responsible.

The individual responsible for the collection and processing of the data (Data Processing officer) for the partnership is the Safeguarding Children Partnership Performance & Development Manager. To contact the partnership call 0161 474 5657 or email lsb@stockport.gov.uk

What data do we collect?

The partnership collects information relating to safeguarding practice from its partner agencies:

statistical information in relation to children in receipt of universal services, children in need, children subject to child protection plans and children who are looked after
performance data in relation to the above
agency reflection records including individual management review reports
practice self-assessment audit tools

This data is likely to include:

name
date of birth
address
details of respective family members
health records
education records
local authority records
police records
any specialist service provision
any outcomes for you from the interventions
any feedback you have given your services

Why is data collected and how is it used?

This information is collected to support the partnership to complete its statutory functions.

The partnership is established under Working Together 2018 to make sure that multi-agency safeguarding practice is effective and collaborative.

This requires the partnership to conduct the following processes:

Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews where a child or young person has died or experienced abuse and or neglect that has resulted in serious harm
Section 11 Compliance audits
Multi-agency audits of practice to assess the effectiveness of multi-agency working locally
Multi-agency learning reviews to capture system issues or good practice

What is our “lawful basis” for processing the data?

The lawful basis for this collection of personal data is statutory duties, as identified in Working Together 2018 and the Children and Social Work Act 2017.

The statutory guidance places expectations on the partnership to collect information to undertake checks on practice, either as learning reviews or through other processes. For example; audits. This allows them to apply scrutiny to compliance with Section 11 of the Children’s Act 2006. Section 11 of this Act tells agencies what they must have in place to meet their safeguarding responsibilities. For example; staff training and safeguarding leads.

This collection of data is undertaken as a Public Task. A Public Task is an activity that public bodies must do and is set out in law in the public interest. For example; if a child dies, a learning review can identify whether the safeguarding system did not work and seek to make changes to reduce the chances of such a death occurring again.

To find out more about Section 11 responsibilities visit the Working Together Online website.

How and where do we store the data, how long for and how do we make sure data is secure?

Data is stored within a secure shared area within the Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council (SMBC) servers. This shared area is only accessible to the SSCP support team via computers that are securely protected with passwords and individual user logins.

Data is retained for the period it’s required for processing. For specific retention periods for each process please see the SSCP information and retention policy statement. The team strive to make sure that no personal information is retained any longer than is necessary to complete the task for which it was collected. Once audits or reviews have concluded the individual agency data is destroyed.

Which organisations data is shared with and why?

Data is gathered from all/any “relevant agencies” as laid out in Working Together 2018.

These partner agencies have a legal responsibility in relation to safeguarding children and young people. The partnership therefore, has a legal duty to provide scrutiny to their safeguarding activity.

Any reports or reviews produced from the individual agency data gathered focuses on lessons learned and actions for improvement. These reports belong to the partnership and are stored securely. Where possible the partnership avoids personally identifiable information within such documents.

Your rights under Data Protection laws

Data Protection laws give individuals rights in respect of the personal information that we hold about them:

to be informed why, where and how we use your information
to ask for access to your information
to ask for information to be corrected if it’s inaccurate or incomplete
to ask for your information to be deleted or removed where there is no need for us to continue processing it
to ask us to restrict the use of your information
to ask us to copy or transfer your information from one IT system to another in a safe and secure way, without impacting the quality of the information
to object to how your information is used
to challenge any decisions made without human intervention (automated decision making)

Accessing your information

You have the right of access to your own records as defined in the General Data Protection Regulation which, with some exceptions, allows individuals to a copy of information held about them.

You may authorise a third party to seek access on your behalf. For example; a solicitor, but we will need your written consent.

Where a service user cannot manage his or her own affairs, a person appointed by the court to manage those affairs may seek access.

Children aged 13, or over, must give their own consent to access. Where there is any doubt that the child aged 13, or over, has capacity the judgement will be made by the care professional in charge of the child’s care. Otherwise, the authority must be given by an individual who has parental responsibility under the Children Act 1989.

Access may be limited or denied if:

disclosing information may cause serious harm to you
where giving access would disclose information relating to or provided by a third person who had not consented to disclosure

If you require a copy or your records, you must write to:
Stockport Safeguarding Partnership Performance & Development Manager
Sanderling Building
Birdhall Lane
Stockport
SK3 ORF

Concerns about your data and how to complain

If you have a concern about your data being collected, its storage or use, contact the Performance and Development Manager for the SSCP to discuss your concerns and seek clarification regarding your personal data use.

To contact the partnership call 0161 474 5657 or email lsb@stockport.gov.uk

If you’re not satisfied or have further concerns contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Call their helpline on 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545745. You can also visit their contact us page to report, enquire, register and raise complaints.