How our children's service uses information

Westminster City Council uses information about children and young people for whom we provide services to enable us to carry out specific functions for which we are responsible.  

We also use the information to derive statistics to inform decisions on, for example, the funding of schools and to assess school performance and set targets for them. The statistics are used in such a way that individual children cannot be identified. 

We use information about our school workforce for research and statistical purposes, and to evaluate and develop education policy and strategies. We may also use this information to support and monitor schools regarding sickness and recruitment of staff. The statistics are used in such a way that individual staff cannot be identified. 

The information is held in confidence and only selected people working within the combined children’s services (Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster councils) may access it. 

Duty of care

We have a duty under the Children’s Act 2004 to work with partners to develop and improve services to children and young people in the borough. As such, we may also use this information for other legitimate purposes and may share information, where necessary, with other council departments, for example:

• education (including SEND)
• Children’s Social Care and our Early Help Services
• external bodies such as School Nursing, Health visiting and MASH (Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub)

Youth support services

Schools are legally required to pass certain information about pupils aged 13 and over to our youth support services in their area. They must provide the pupil’s name, date of birth, address and name of their parent(s)/guardians plus any further information relevant to the support services' role. 

Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs)

CCGs use information about pupils to develop, monitor and evaluate the performance of local health services. Certain health information about children, such as their height and weight, will be retained for a period of time designated by the Department of Health. 

 CCGs may also provide individual schools and us with aggregated health information. None of the information will identify individual children. 

Education and training

Along with our education and training support services, we hold information about the education and training history of young people across the borough. This is to support the provision of their education up to the age of 20 (or 25 for those with a special education need or disability).  

Education institutions and other public bodies, including the Department for Education (DfE), police, probation and health services may also provide us with information for this purpose under the Education and Skills Act 2008, parts 1 and 2.