Children and Family services Privacy Notice

The following privacy notice applies to Children and Family services provided by Conwy County Borough Council. It should be read in addition to the council’s overall Customer Privacy Notice

The privacy notice will cover:

• Purpose for processing and legal basis
• Personal information collected
• Who we may share your information with
• How long we will hold your information
• Your information rights
• Sharing your Information with Welsh Government
  
  

Purpose for processing

The services process personal information in order to carry out the protection and safeguarding of vulnerable children. This includes:

• Investigating concerns and reports
• Managing response to the concerns
• Deliver public services
• Confirm your identity
• Contact you regarding the services we provide
• Supporting and managing our employees
• Maintaining care files that are ongoing
  
  

The Council is required by law to protect the public funds it administers and so may use any information you have provided for the prevention, detection and investigation of fraud and irregularity, for the performance of a contract, or, task carried out in the public interest, or to comply with a legal obligation.   Part 6 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 and the Accounts and Audit (Wales) Regulations are the Legal basis. 

Personal information collected and lawful basis

The Service process personal information which include some but is not limited to:

• Personal details – e.g. name / age / address / school / and family details
• Contact information – e.g. telephone numbers / email address
• Personal Reference Numbers – e.g. Social Care unique customer reference number / NHS number/ Unique Learner Number /  National Insurance
• Employment details
• Financial details – for funding purposes
• Licenses / permits held
• Lifestyle and social circumstances
• Opinions and decisions
• Records of complaints
• Safeguarding reports
• Student and pupil records
• Visual images, personal appearance and behaviour
  
  

We may also process some special category (sensitive) information, which may include but is not limited to:

• Biometric information
• Physical or mental health details
• Racial or ethnic origin
• Religious or other beliefs
• Offences (including alleged offences), criminal proceedings, outcomes and sentences
  
  

The legal bases for processing this personal information are:

• Compliance with a legal obligation
• Tasks carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority
• Consent
  
  

Who we may share your information with:

Occasionally, we may need to share the personal information you have given to us or we’ve collected about you with partner organisations. These include but are not limited to:

• Other services with Conwy County Borough Council
• Other local authorities (in cases of adoption and fostering in particular)
• Government departments i.e. Department of Education
• Health / GPs / NHS
• Police
• Benefit agencies
• Housing agencies
• Children’s centres
• Youth Justice / Probation
• Prospects (NEET Service)
• COMPASS / School Health and Wellbeing Service
• Voluntary and Community Groups working with young people including Barnardos.
  
  

We do have specific data sharing agreements in place with local agencies and sometimes the law requires that we may have to pass your details on to a third party, for example, to prevent crime.

Information will only ever be shared when it is strictly necessary to help us provide effective services and you may have the right to refuse. We will not pass it onto any other parties unless required to do so by law or in all reasonable circumstances the disclosure is fair and warranted for the purposes of processing or subject to a legal data protection exemption.

How long we will hold your information

Retention ranges from 1, 2, 6, 10, 25, 75 or 100 years depending upon the service.

Please note: all stated retention periods will be subject to any legal holds imposed under the Inquiries Act 2005 that may concern the information and override standard retention.

Your information rights

You are entitled to a copy of, or a description of, the personal data we hold that relates to you, subject to lawful restrictions. Please see How to access your Social Services records for how to request this using the form.

You may be entitled to rectification, restriction, objection, and erasure of your personal information depending on the service and legal basis. Please in the first instance contact your subjectaccess@conwy.gov.uk or ring 01492 577803

See our overall privacy notice at www.conwy.gov.uk/privacynotices for further contact details and if you have a complaint about your information rights.

Sharing your information with Welsh Government 

Some of the information held about you will be shared with Welsh Government. This will help them to carry out research to improve the care and support provided to you and other people in Wales. The information will be shared lawfully and will only be used by the Welsh Government for research in support of official business. 

What information will be shared with Welsh Government?

• Some personal information about you, such as: 
  • date of birth 
  • gender 
  • ethnic group 
  • disability status 
  • other health information 
• Basic details of the care or support provided to you 
• Information from your school about your education 
  
  

What information will not be shared with Welsh Government?

• your name will not be shared
• Names of your family and/or carers will not be shared
• Your address will not be shared
  
  

How will your information be used by Welsh Government? 

• To help with planning services for people in Wales
• To measure how well services are being provided so that they can be improved 
• To help conduct research into people’s well-being - this may involve combining it with other information, e.g. health or education data
  
  

How your information will be not be used by Welsh Government?

• No action will be taken in relation to you personally
• You will not be identified in any reports
• Information will never be shared or combined in a way that could lead to you being identified
  
  

What are my rights relating to the use of my data?

• right to be informed (this notice)
• right to access the personal data Welsh Government holds on you
• right to rectify any inaccuracies in that data
• right to (in certain circumstances) object or restrict processing of your information    
• right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) who is our independent regulator for data protection
  
  

Is your information secure? 

The information shared with Welsh Government will be sent and stored securely. It will only ever be shared with others under careful controls, to ensure it is only used in the ways listed here.

Is collecting the data lawful? 

Welsh Government are collecting these data using powers set out in legislation and to ensure  we are able to fulfil public functions and statutory requirements. 

How long will you keep the data? 

Welsh Government will keep the data until the child / adults 25^th birthday.  After this point the data will be anonymised and continue to be used only for statistical and research purposes. 

Further information 

For a full description of the information being shared with Welsh Government; your rights and the relevant legal information; and complaints, please use the link below, or write to us via the address below:

https://gov.wales/data-collection-local-authority-social-services

Email: stats.pss@gov.wales