TESSA Privacy Notice

St Helens Borough Council TESSA collects and holds personal information relating to children, young people, parents, carers and other family members. We also receive information from nurseries, schools, colleges, alternative provisions, health professionals, other local authorities, social care and sometimes voluntary organisations.

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) we are required to be fair and transparent with people when collecting and using their personal information.

The legal basis for processing personal data

The council has a duty to process personal data to comply with the authority's legal obligations:

As stated in the Children and Families Act 2014
As per 'Parental Responsibility Measures' for school attendance including, investigations under section 4441/1A of the Education Act 1996
- Parenting Contracts
- Parenting Orders
- Education Supervision Orders
- School Attendance Orders
- Non-school attendance Penalty Notice fines
- To exercise its public task related to children and families

Why do you need my information?

The information you provide helps us to support you or your child and so we can meet our legal and public duties and responsibilities. The information includes personal characteristic data on ethnicity and health, as well as details of special educational needs and/or disabilities, school attendance and exclusions, educational achievement and details of the services already provided to you.

Who will own my data once I submit it?

St Helens Borough Council

How will you use my data information?

We use your personal data specifically to:

Provide you or your child with appropriate services related to:

Alternative education
Autism and social communication
Behaviour
Cognition and learning
Early Help
English as an additional language
Independent life skills
Language development
Physical needs
Post 16 support
Safeguarding children in education
School attendance
Sensory impairments in vision and hearing
Social, emotional and mental health
Suspensions and exclusions
Special Educational Needs and Disability
Teaching
Travel training
Traveller education
Youth engagement with education
To contact you with relevant information about our Local Offer from time to time
To inform you of any relevant initiatives or opportunities for you or your child
Measure whether our services are improving education provision and achievement, school attendance, inclusion, independence skills for children or young people
Help us develop and improve our services
To analyse patterns of strengths and need, and complete statistical reports
For Local Authority performance management
Complete investigations and prosecutions under section 4441/1A of the Education Act 1996

Who will my information be shared with?

We may pass data, but only if relevant and necessary to:
Professionals in St Helens Borough Council e.g. social care, specialist teacher, education welfare officer, SEND 0-25

Educational Psychologists
The governing bodies of schools, including non-maintained special schools
The governing bodies of further education colleges and sixth form colleges
The proprietors of academies and free schools
The management committees of pupil referral units
Independent schools and independent specialist providers approved under Section 41 of the Children and Families Act 2014
Other local authorities (education and social care, and relevant housing and employment and services)
NHS Trusts, NHS Foundation Trusts, local Health Boards
Youth Justice Team and/or relevant youth custodial establishments
Department of Education
Other partner agencies that provide services on our behalf
Agencies with whom we have a duty to co-operate, such as police, Magistrate Courts, Probation Services
If you require more information about how the Local Authority, or the Department for Education store and use this data please go to the following websites:
Your data rights - St Helens Borough Council
How DfE shares personal data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Do I have to provide this information and what will happen if I don't?

You can opt out of using TESSA at any time by advising us that you do not require support.

How long will you keep this data for and why?

Personal data will not be retained for longer than necessary in relation to the purposes for which they were collected, currently 7 years. For those with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities, data will be retained for 35 years from date of birth.

How will my information be stored?

Information will be stored on a system called Capita One, on Excel spreadsheets and kept in the secure SharePoint, a cloud-based storage service hosted by Microsoft and managed by St Helens Council.

What rights do I have when it comes to my data?

You have the right to:

Be informed of data processing (which is covered by this Privacy Notice)
Access information (also known as a Subject Access Request)
Have inaccuracies corrected
Restrict processing
Complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (See below)
To exercise any of these rights more information can be found Your data rights - St Helens Borough Council

Who can I complain to if I am unhappy about how my data is used?

St Helens Borough Council (STHMBC) complies with the Data Protection Act and the GDPR and is registered as a 'Data Controller' with the Information Commissioner's Office (Reg. No. Z5666620). Complaints can be made initially to dataprotection@sthelens.gov.uk

If you are not happy with the outcome of any internal review of your complaint, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner' Office for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our internal review procedure.

The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF
08456 306060 or 01625 545745
www.ico.org.uk