Children and Families Social Work Services privacy notice

Find out how Stirling Council uses personal data by checking the Council’s website at the following address:

https://www.stirling.gov.uk/privacy-statement/

Our website contains a Register of Data Processing which lists all the different ways
in which the Council uses personal data.

This Privacy Notice provides more information about just one of those processes.

The Council has a Data Protection Officer to make sure it is complying with data protection laws.

They can be contacted at:

Data Protection Officer
Stirling Council
Old Viewforth
14-20 Pitt Terrace
Stirling
FK8 2ET

Email: dataprotection@stirling.gov.uk
Telephone: 01786 404040

The Council has legislative duties and obligations to undertake and lead on assessment of need and risk with children and families. 

This entails the necessary sharing and collection of personal data across various multi-agency services for the purposes of mitigating need and reducing risk, making financial assessments and payments. 

Processing of personal data is also necessary for identification, age assessment, planning, interventions, review and evaluation of service provision for those with presenting needs and/or risk. 

We also use the data for purposes of performance management and data returns for national government, regional and local self-evaluation and external scrutiny and regulation. Performance data is also critically used to inform service design and development.

Personal data about: 

Employees, children and families, pupils, parents, carers – adoptive, foster, kinship, supported, Core data re personal profile, health – physical and emotional, gender, home circumstances, financial, relationships, family networks, housing, immigration status, languages spoken and more.

The process involves personal data about children. 

Special Category data: 

• Genetic data
• Health (physical or mental)
• Political opinions
• Racial or ethnic origin
• Religious or philosophical beliefs
• Sexual life 

Data relating to criminal convictions and offences is processed. 

It is necessary for the Council to process this personal data in order to comply with various statutory obligations, in EU, UK & Scottish Law, National Policy, Guidance & Local Procedure

Some personal data may be necessary in order to fulfil a contract, or to protect the vital interests of a person.

Only in some circumstances is consent required to process data – this is dependent upon the character and type of intervention or assessment.

Personal data is gathered via data subjects, communications, as part of service delivery and from internal or external related sources close to the data subject (agency and community) and from Education, Housing, Environmental Health and other service areas within the Council.

Personal data is stored electronically in databases and on the council network. Older information may be stored in paper format.  

Data retention rules vary according to the type and character of service intervention, and in line with statutory requirements,

For example personal data relating to a child in care may need to be retained for 100 years.

Shared across and within external agencies (such as Action for Children) and with family members, third sector organisations and other Councils.

Data is transferred outwith the EU - where families leave or flee outwith the EU & UK and have to access International Social Work Services.

Information will be shared with Social Security Scotland in order to support an individual’s entitlement and application for disability assistance.

Your personal details and support package may be shared with the Scottish Government and the National Health Service for statistical and research purposes.

• This information will help the Scottish

Government, your local authority and your Health Board plan future care services. This will help improve services for you and others.

• Your data may be joined to other health and housing support data by the Scottish

Government and the National Health Service Scotland. This is to produce statistics only. Statisticians/researchers will not be able to identify you from the data that they will use.

• Every effort will be made to ensure that your information is kept safe at all times.
• Only people in the Scottish Government and the National Health Service who need to see your personal information will be able to access it.
• All pieces of information which could identify you, such as names and dates of birth will be removed before the data is used by statisticians/researchers.

With regards to the age assessment, information will also be shared with the Home Office.

You have the following rights under data protection laws. If you have a request under any of these rights, you can make a subject access request.

• The right of access – You have the right to request information we hold about you. This is known as a subject access request and is free of charge. We must respond within one month, although this can be extended to three months if the information is complex.
  
  
• The right to rectification - You are entitled to have your information rectified if it is factually inaccurate or incomplete. We must respond to your request within one month. If we decide to take no action, we will tell you why and let you know about your right of complaint to the UK Information Commissioner
  
  
• The right to erasure - You have the right to ask us to delete your information or stop using it. It will not always be possible for us to comply with your request, for example, if we have a legal obligation to keep the information. If we decide to take no action, we will tell you why and let you know about your right of complaint to the UK Information Commissioner.
  
  
• The right to restrict processing - You have the right to restrict how your data is processed in certain circumstances, for example, if the information is not accurate. If a restriction is applied, we can retain just enough information to ensure that the restriction is respected in future. We must tell you if we decide to lift a restriction on processing.
  
  
• The right to data portability – You have the right to object to processing, if we are processing your personal data with your consent, and it is held in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable form, you have a right to ask us to transmit it to another data controller so they can use it. This right does not apply if we process your personal data as part of our public task.
  
  
• The right to object - You can object to your information being used for profiling, direct marketing or research purposes.
  
  
• You have rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling - to reduce the risk that a potentially damaging decision is taken without human intervention.

If you want to complain about or comment on how we have processed your personal information, you should email dataprotection@stirling.gov.uk

If you are still unhappy with how the council handled your complaint, you can contact the UK Information Commissioner's Office at:

The Information Commissioner,
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wilmslow,
Cheshire SK9 5AF

Phone: 0303 123 1113

You can find further information on the Information Commissioners Office website.