Pilot evaluation of Transition Support at Hartlepool Borough Council: Privacy notice

This privacy notice sets out how we will process information from everyone taking part in this pilot evaluation. In line with GDPR (the EU General Data Protection Regulation), it explains the legal basis of this study for data processing; who will have access to participants’ personal data; how this data will be used, stored and deleted; and who you can contact with a query or a complaint.

Who is processing my data and why?

The What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care has commissioned the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) to complete a pilot evaluation of Transition Support. The programme is delivered by Hartlepool Borough Council. NatCen and WWCSC are joint data processor and data controller on this evaluation. Hartlepool Borough Council will be the data controller for the administrative data provided. NatCen will be the data controller for personal data collected during the qualitative research activities (interviews with pilot leads, teachers, social workers and children) and pre and post questionnaires with children. The process for secure data transfer is set out in a signed Data Sharing Agreement (DSA) between NatCen and Hartlepool Borough Council.

What is the legal basis for processing my data?

For the use of personal data to be lawful, we need to meet one (or more) conditions, as set out in Article 6(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). For this research project, the legal basis for processing data is ‘consent’. This means that we will ask for your explicit consent to process your personal data, or the personal data of your child.

What personal data is being collected?

For interviews, we will collect contact information about people who want to take part including their name, contact number and email address. We will also have access to administrative data, which includes a record of pupils’ demographic information and information on their school attendance and social and emotional needs (as assessed by school staff). Pupil names will be removed and shared by Hartlepool Borough Council with NatCen through a secure website. We will link this data to pupil questionnaire answers.

How will the data be used?

The data collected will only be used for research purposes. All data will be stored and handled securely and confidentially in line with GDPR. Reports and publications will not identify any individuals or schools. The findings will be anonymised, and we will not include any names of schools, teachers, social workers or children in the research findings. All personal data will be securely deleted within 6 months of the project being completed.

Who can I contact with a query or a complaint?

If you have questions about how your data will be used as part of the study, please contact NatCen’s Data Protection Officer at dpo@natcen.ac.uk.

Under GDPR, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office. Please go to www.ico.gov.uk for more information.

Rights of access, correction, erasure and restriction 

Your duty to inform us of changes 

It is important that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal information changes during your relationship with us. 

Your rights in connection with personal information 

Under certain circumstances, by law you have the right to: 

• Request access to your personal information (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it. 
• Request correction of the personal information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected. 
• Request erasure of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it.  You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal information where you have exercised your right to object to processing (see below). 
• Object to processing of your personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes. 
• Request the restriction of processing of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it. 
• Request the transfer of your personal information to another party. 

If you want to review, verify, correct or request erasure of your personal information, object to  the processing of your personal data, or request that we transfer a copy of your personal  information to another party, please contact the Data Protection Officer in writing. 

Please note that this will only applies for any contact details, interview data or questionnaire data that we hold for you. Administrative data will be anonymised before it is shared with NatCen, and so we will not be able to identify information pertaining to individuals in these data.

If you wish to exercise your rights, please contact the study team via transition-support@natcen.ac.uk.

No fee usually required 

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request for access is clearly unfounded or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with the request in such circumstances.

What we may need from you 

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access the information (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is another appropriate security measure to ensure that personal information is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. 

Right to withdraw consent 

In the limited circumstances where you may have provided your consent to the collection, processing and transfer of your personal information for a specific purpose, you have the right to withdraw your consent for that specific processing at any time. To withdraw your consent, please contact the Data Protection Officer. Once we have received notification that you have withdrawn your consent, we will no longer process your information for the purpose or purposes you originally agreed to, unless we have another legitimate basis for doing so in law.