Supporting Families privacy notice - Privacy notices

Supporting Families is Herefordshire's response to the government's Supporting Families Programme. This is by providing targeted support to help get children back into school, reduce criminal and anti-social behaviour and support parents to get back to work.

Herefordshire Council has been asked to gather information by the Department for Education (DfE), about families that may be eligible for help from the Supporting Families Programme. To help us achieve this, we will be identifying those families with the most pressing and complex needs. This will involve some sharing of information between council departments and with other partner organisations. Any such sharing will be undertaken consistently and lawfully for the purpose of identifying those families who most need this support.

The information shared may include records in relation to a child, young person or family's social care, involvement with the police, courts and probation, aspects relating to employment, anti-social behaviour, violence in the home, substance misuse, educational attendance and behaviour.

This information will be processed under strict protocols in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and other relevant legislation. Information will be held securely, processed under the legal obligations to participate in the Supporting Families Programme.

The reason to link the information is to help the government and local service providers understand whether or not the programme has been effective in reducing offending, truancy and getting people ready for work and to help improve the service over time. Data agreements will be in place to ensure that:

• The data can only be used for carrying out research
• The linked data cannot be used to make decisions about individuals
• The linked information is anonymised to reduce the risk of individuals being identified
• It will be impossible for any person or family to be identified from any published reports
• The linked personal data will not be shared with or made available to the local authority or any other public agency
• All data is transferred, handled and stored in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018
• Appropriate measures are in place to prevent unauthorised use of the data

The processing is necessary to perform a task in the public interest. In particular, to help further the understanding of needs identified for families within Early Help, identify the scale of re-referrals and be able to share insight on a national and local level to support the work in improving the lives of families.

The legal basis for processing the data is:
(e) Public task: the processing is necessary to perform a task in the public interest and the task or function has a clear basis in law.

The information will only be used and shared on a strict need to know basis with limited partners in Herefordshire, for the purposes of identifying and supporting the families with the most need.

The personal data of individuals and families (such as your name, date of birth, last known address, National Insurance) will be linked with information from public agencies. Organisations such as the NHS and health organisations, Department of Work and Pensions, the police, the Ministry of Justice, the probation service, schools and youth offending team. The data includes both those people and families only assessed, but also those who have participated in the programme.

The data is destroyed six years after the end of the programme.

Individuals have a number of rights under data protection law, including the right to request their information. You also have a right to make a complaint about our handling of your personal data to the Information Commissioner's Office.

Supporting Families page