Quality Assurance, Safeguarding Children Unit privacy notice
Who are we and what do we do
We provide a variety of advice, support and services for children young people and their families through both statutory (Social care) and non-statutory (Early help) services.
The Safeguarding Children Unit organise, arrange and provide an allocated independent chairperson to chair Child Protection conferences, Looked After Children Reviews and Pre-adoption Reviews. The Independent Reviewing Officer ensures oversight and scrutiny of care and child protection plans to avoid drift/delay and ensure the children are safeguarded, well looked after and at the heart of everything we do.
The unit also arranges and coordinates the statutory reviews of Gateshead's foster carers. We have a designated Independent Reviewing Officer to undertake these meetings. In addition the Local Authority Designated Officer is included in our team. This role manages any allegations made against professionals who work with children.
The type of information collected about you
We may collect various types of personal data about individuals depending on the services you receive and your contact with us, such as your:
- contact details; including name, address, email address, telephone number.
- date of birth
- proof of identity
- national identifiers such as; NHS number and NI numbers
- information about your family
- lifestyle, social and personal circumstances
- the services you receive
- financial details for purposes of receiving or making payments
- visual images, personal appearance and behaviour
- housing records
- education records
- employment details
This list is not exhaustive and additional information required may depend upon the circumstances of the family.
We may also collect sensitive personal data that may include:
- physical or mental health details
- SEN - Special Education Needs
- racial or ethnic origin
- gender and sexual orientation
- criminal offences (including alleged offences), including information from the Youth Justice Service
- religious or other beliefs of a similar nature
- criminal proceedings, outcomes and sentences
How we collect information about you
Information is shared with the FGC service about you from a number of sources to ensure that we as a service meet you or your family's needs. Information is collected in the following ways and this information is recorded within our electronic case management systems:
- face to face
- by secure email
- by post
- by telephone
- through secure health information exchange
- online referral form (for professional use only)
We can source additional and specialist information securely with our partner agencies and this will be recorded electronically as to how this information was sourced.
Why we need your information
To enable us to provide services to you it is necessary for us to use your personal information to help assess your needs and identify the most appropriate services available. To do so we will use the following legal basis for sharing your information:
- 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 controller
Legislation which sets out many of the tasks the council is required to undertake with families can include (not exhaustive):
- Children Act 1989 and 2004
- Adoption and Children Act 2002 and associated regulations
- Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000
- Children and Social Work Act 2017
- Childcare Act 2006
- Children and Families Act 2014
- Young People's Act 2008
- Education and Inspections Act 2006
- Education Acts 1944 and 1996
- Education and Skills Act 2008
- Education (Information about Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations (2013)
- Education and Adoption Act 2016
- Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006
- Equality Act 2010
- Transport Act 1985
- The School and Early Years Finance (England) Regulations 2018
For special category data which is more sensitive information, we rely on the following:
- Health and Social Care - we use it for the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems and service
In relation to data relating to criminal convictions, we are authorised by law (in accordance with the GDPR) to process criminal conviction data by relying on the Data Protection 2018 (Schedule 1, Part 3).
Who your information can be shared with
We will only share relevant information about you with other services where there is a legal basis for doing so. There are a range of professionals who may be involved in providing services to you and where appropriate will be provided with relevant information about you. Agencies we may need to share information with include the following:
- Ofsted
- Gateshead Safeguarding Children Partnership
- Health Agencies, including the Child Protection Information System (CP-IS) and Great North Care Record's Health Information Exchange
- Police / Youth Justice Service / Probation
- Court
- Cafcass
- Department for Education
- Department for Works and Pensions
- Home Office
- Other Local Authorities
- Education Providers
- Home to school transport providers
- Voluntary organisations providing services
- Foster carers, including independent fostering agencies
- AdoptNE
- Internal services within Gateshead Council eg Housing, Domestic Abuse Team Benefits , Adult Social Care
There are other times where we may need to share your information lawfully to individuals as well as organisations. These include:
- where there is a serious risk of harm to you or to others
- where there are concerns for the welfare of a child
- for the Prevention or detection of crime
- where a court order requires us to share information
How long we will keep your information
After we deliver a service to you, we have to keep your information as a business record of what was delivered. The type of service you receive will determine how long we have to keep your information. We keep your information different periods depending on law and how we are advised by Government and these are destroyed afterwards:
| Business area | Client specific | Retention period (case closure) |
|---|---|---|
| Early help | CAF | 25th birthday of the person we are working with |
| Children and families | 25th birthday of the person we are working with | |
| Youth justice | 25th birthday of the person we are working with | |
| Domestic abuse | 25th birthday of the person we are working with | |
| Children's Social Care | Looked after children | 75th birthday If the child dies before 18, 15 years from date of death |
| Foster carer | 10 years from approval ending | |
| Foster carer - not approved | 3 years from refusal or withdrawal | |
| Adoption - where an adoption order is made | 100 years from date of Adoption Order | |
| Adoption - where an adoption order is not made | An adoption agency must keep the child's case record and the prospective adopter's case record for such period as it considers appropriate. Where an adoption order is not made and the agency decides to close the child's adoption case record, it should transfer the information from this record to the looked after case record, in which case see Looked After Children. If the child has never been looked after, the agency should destroy the records when no further action is necessary. An example of when this may be appropriate is if the possibility of adoption of a baby was discussed before the child's birth, but the baby remained with the birth parents. | |
| Children's homes | 75th birthday If the child dies before 18, 15 years from date of death | |
| Child protection | 35 years after case closure | |
| Child in need | 35 years after case closure | |
| Serious case review | 25th birthday |
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