REF: – (accessed: Feb 2005)
The Data Protection Act describes personal data as facts and opinions about an individual. The information stored about people must be absolutely necessary and in context with the information required. The data must only be kept as long as necessary and then destroyed. The means of destroying could be a paper shredder or burning to ensure the information does not fall into the wrong hands. All paper based information must be kept under lock and key which would be held by staff with the authority to see the information. Information stored on computer systems must be password protected again only people with authorisation should know the password. Back ups of this information should be kept in case of fire. The backups being kept on separate premises, again under lock or key or password protected.
Much information today is sent by fax, the fax’s should only be sent to checked numbers. The fax machine in a workplace that receives private information should be located in an office not open to all staff, to prevent confidential material being seen by unauthorised people.
The Data collected may be passed onto interested parties but this must be only the appropriate information. Schools hold lots of information about pupils, staff and parents. Information about parents may be limited to address and telephone details but in some cases further data may be recorded. As an example child A has behavioural problems and incidents and comments are recorded. Child A’s mum attended a meeting with teachers regarding her sons behaviour and mentioned that her and her partner had separated earlier in the year. The comment was recorded as this helped to explain his behaviour. The parent and child have the right to see data held about them in most cases. This is called Subject Access.
Schools are by law responsible for registering all personal data they hold and they must state the purpose for which it is required. The Data Protection Act also states information must be fair and lawful, accurate and up to date and the data must be adequate, relevant and not excessive. Any information which becomes out of date or is no longer relevant must be destroyed, if not this may result in the school contravening the new act. If schools knowingly contravens the act an individual suffering damage or distress may be able to sue the school. In some cases it may be the person who actually breaks confidentiality that is prosecuted, so it is essential staff are aware of the responsibilities they hold under the Act.
In my role of ICT support in school, I regularly update our website which often includes uploading photographs of staff and children. Consent is always obtained previously. This consent has been written into the parent’s handbook which is given to them when their child first attends the school. Parents have to sign the consent form acknowledging whether or not their child’s photo is allowed on the site. The same form also covers media coverage. A few parents do object and a list of children whose photographs are not allowed onto the website is kept. Under no circumstances do I ever add last names or address’s of the children. This relates to data protection and protects children from the threat of child abuse.
As our means of communication is now predominantly E-mail we need to bear in mind the data protection issues. Any personal or confidential information must not be sent outside of the school unless the text is encrypted. E-mail should never be used as a secure method of communication when dealing with personal data. These guidelines are defined by the Data Protection Act.
Schools store information about children and staff for a variety of different reasons. Staff files will include work contracts, personal appraisals, salary scales and personal contact information. Should this information get into the wrong hands it could cause problems for the staff. For example pay scales, one member of staff may be on a higher grade than another and tensions may arise should this information be made known. Another example could be personal home phone numbers, a parent could feel angry about the way their child has been treat in school. The correct procedure for this would be for the parent to speak to the teacher or school head to discuss the issue. If the parent had the personal home contact number or even address they could harass the teacher at home. This could affect the teacher’s safety. Children’s information will include attendance figures, emergency contact numbers, Individual Education Plans, Special Educational Needs forms, medical information and profiles. Children are also observed and records are kept of the observations made, sometimes only initials or first names are written on the sheets but if parents came across this information it could be worked out which child the observation was made on. This information could then be passed onto other parents or children. This could cause distress and could end up with the school being prosecuted and parents losing trust in the school.
Information collected from outside agencies, such as educational psychologists reports, speech therapist or language therapists reports are held in school. When outside agencies are involved with children and meetings are held that include a member of staff, minutes would usually be taken and these held in school. The minutes of the information would hold highly confidential material. From time to time information collected may be required by other agencies. This information could only be passed on by authorised persons after various checks that the person asking for the information is entitled to it. It is also important to check the person needing information is the person they are claiming to be. There are many outside agencies that could require information from schools such as police, social services, educational psychologists or member of the medical profession.
So far information discussed is all paper based but there are verbal contracts to be classed as confidential also. A chat with a parent or child may be confidential. For example a parent may tell you child x swears outside while waiting to go into school and ask you not to mention that she/he had told you. This would be a verbal agreement of confidentiality. Obviously this behaviour would need to be dealt with but to avoid breaking confidentiality when discussing this issue the parents name should not be mentioned. Children also may tell you things and ask for you not to tell anyone. This would really be a dilemma if the child could be in danger. A child care practitioner has a duty to protect children and in cases like this confidentiality should be ignored and the information passed onto the member of staff in charge of Child Protection. It would be a breach of confidence but would be in the child’s best interest. A child (child A) may tell you someone has hit them in the playground and asked for you not to tell the child (child B) that they had told you. This could be dealt with by telling the child B they were seen hitting someone in the playground, this would be dealing with the problem without breaking child A’s confidence and losing their trust. There will be times when someone speaks to you in confidence and you feel there may be a danger but are not sure, speaking to a colleague or manager and asking for their confidence would help in the decision making process.
From researching confidentiality it has become clear how important it is to adhere to laws passed by various Acts. Staff should receive training and know who to speak to in the event of a confidentiality dilemma. At all times confidentiality should be maintained to offer a professional service to clients, children, parents, carers and colleagues.
REF:
AVCE Adavanced Health and Social Care- Heinemann – Editor Neil Moonie
BTEC National – Health Studies- Heinemann – Editor – Beryl Stretch
www.calderdale.gov.uk
28/04/2007 Tracy Wimbles HNC