Educational Psychology privacy notice

1. Council contact details

1.1. West Northamptonshire Council
Registered Office:
One Angel Square
Angel Street
Northampton
NN1 1ED

This notice explains what personal data (information) we hold about you, how we collect it, how we use it and how we may share information that we hold about you in order to deliver our services.

We are required to give you this information under data protection law. West Northamptonshire Council is committed to protecting your privacy when you use our services.

The Privacy Notice below explains how we use information about you and how we protect your privacy.

1.2. Who we are

West Northamptonshire Council provides services in the following areas:

Early Education
Schools and Education
Special Educational Needs and Disability

The Educational Psychology Service is a team of educational psychologists all extensively trained in child and adolescent development, research, assessment, interventions and learning.

The team specialises in innovative areas of educational psychology and promotes positive child development and learning through evidence-based practice.

The service works with early year’s settings, schools, parents and carers and children and young people themselves to help to overcome barriers to successful learning and wellbeing.

In education settings, our educational psychologists can work with individuals, groups, senior managers and across the whole school.

Included in the Educational Psychology Service are: Trainee Educational Psychologists on placement; and Psychology Assistants/Assistant Educational Psychologists: all of whom work under the supervision of fully qualified and experienced Educational Psychologists.

The service's shared mailbox is [email protected].

2. Information that we hold

2.1 What personal information do we collect to deliver this service?

We collect information from parents or carers for children and young people below and within statutory school age and from young people themselves if they are aged 16 or over and no longer in compulsory education.

We collect the following personal information (these lists are not exhaustive):

personal information such as your name, address, contact details, date of birth, parent/carer details, film, language, gender, photographs
special category information such as ethnicity and disabilities
details of special educational needs and disabilities
health information and history
attendance at WNC/NNC - provided training
EHC Plan
current school
assigned professionals and practitioner details
safeguarding information
GP details
referral and assessment information
exclusion from education details
Child in Care status
Unique Pupil Reference Number

We may seek personal information from other sources including:

other West Northamptonshire Council departments
your GP in regard to your health
education provider or school
other local authorities
other involved professional practitioners

3 How the information is obtained

3.1. How do we collect this personal information?

We collect personal information in the following ways:

face to face
telephone
email
other assessments or reports
referral form

3.2. There are a number of reasons why we need to collect and use your personal information. Generally, we collect and use personal information where it is necessary to meet our legal obligations. You or your legal representative are required to provide your consent in order for us to provide a service for your child.

What legislation forms the basis for the collection and use of your personal information?

Children Act 2004
The Civil Contingencies Act 2004
Children, Schools and Families Act 2010
Children’s and Families Act 2014
SEND Code of Practice 2015
Education and Inspections Act 2006

4. What we do with the information

4.1 For what purpose is this personal information collected?

We collect this information for:

assessments
service delivery
service planning and research
performing a statutory duty

How do we use this personal information?

We use this personal information to:

identify special educational needs
make recommendations for specific educational provision
advise parents, carers and teachers about appropriate support
advise schools and education providers in regard to curriculum delivery and differentiation for a specific child or young person

4.2. Who we may share your information with

If required, we will share your information with other West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) departments such as:

Children's Trust
Education and Universal Services

We may also share your information outside of (WNC) with the following organisations (this list is not exhaustive):

North Northamptonshire Council
School or education provider

Why do we share this information?

In order for the service to fully carry out its legal duties and to deliver its service, it is a necessary requirement to share this information. If you have approached the service in a voluntary capacity, consent to share will be sought as appropriate.

We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required by applicable law. Any information sharing is undertaken in accordance with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. Hence, we have mechanisms in place to share information lawfully and securely.

5. How long we keep your information for and how we securely dispose of it after use

5.1. We keep your personal information for all aspects of processing by the Educational Psychology Team in line with the council’s retention schedules.

How long will your personal information be held?

The information will only be used for the purposes stated when it was collected. Information will not be sold, rented or provided to anyone else, or used for any other purpose than that for which it was originally collected unless required to by law.

Category of information	Retention period
All records relating to psychological, psychiatric or social work services (not including child protection) in schools	Non-Statutory - Retain from date of birth of child for 25 years Statutory - retain for 35 years from closure (25 plus 35 years)
All records relating to the provision of educational support for looked after children	Retain from date of birth for 75 years
EHC Plans	Retain for 25 years after the student’s date of birth (as stated on the student’s record)

5.2 We will securely dispose of your information in line with the Council's Retention Schedules.

6. How we store your information

6.1. We hold your data securely in electronic systems accessible only to staff in West Northamptonshire Council who would need access to this as part of their job role.

7. Your data protection rights

7.1. The law gives you a number of rights to control what personal information is used by us and how we can use it. Please see section 15 of the council’s Privacy Policy for further information.

7.2. Please be aware that your rights may differ depending on the lawful basis for processing your personal data.

7.3 The right to withdraw consent. You can ask that we no longer use your details for this processing. If you wish to exercise this right, please contact the Data Protection Officer.

8. Who to contact

8.1. If you would like further information about how we use your personal information, or you wish to exercise one of your data rights or you wish to complain about the use of your personal information please contact the Data Protection Officer.

8.2. If you are still dissatisfied with how we have used your data once you have made a complaint through the council’s internal complaints procedure you have the right to complain to the ICO.

The ICO’s address:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Helpline number: 0303 123 1113

This privacy notice was completed on 15 March 2021.
Last update 11 March 2022.
The privacy notice review date is March 2023.

Last updated 06 July 2023