Children's services privacy notices

Purpose for processing your information

Personal information can be anything that identifies and relates to a living person. Westminster City Council is the Data Controller for the personal information you provide to the council’s Children’s Centres. As the Data Controller, the council will use your information for monitoring and evaluation purposes and to inform you about Children’s Centre activities:

We collect personal information to help us to provide services and support for parents and children. Knowing who is accessing different types of support available enables us to manage the services we provide including making sure our workers receive appropriate training and management. It also helps us to check if our services are effective and of high quality and the degree to which children and families are supported in a coordinated way. This enables us to plan for the services we provide in the future.

Legislation including the Children Act 2004, The Childcare Act 2006, The Children and Families Act, and the Education Act 1996 provide a legal basis for needing to collect personal information:

The legal reason for us to collect and use this personal information is:

• you, or your representative, have given explicit consent
• it is necessary to perform our statutory duties or it is required by law (see above legislation) or it is necessary for employment purposes
• it is necessary to protect someone in an emergency
• it is necessary to deliver health or social care services or it is necessary to protect public health
• it is necessary for archiving, research, or statistical purposes
• we do not collect information we do not need or will not use. This Privacy Notice covers information you have provided to the Children’s Centre and information which has been shared with the Children’s Centre by other organisations

How we collect your information

We collect information in a number of ways. This mainly takes place through our registration process but we may also collect it by letter, email, face-to-face or telephone. We also receive details of children who are born in Westminster to enable us to offer services to parents. We receive personal information (names and addresses) from the Department for Work and Pensions to enable us to contact and offer support to parents who meet the criteria to access the two year old offer. We receive additional information through the two year old offer online portal (dates of birth, National Insurance or NASS number, and contact details) if parents provide this information (which must be provided when applying for a 2 year old place).

We collect the following information:  

• names, addresses and contact details of parents (including pregnant parents) and carers and their relationship to children using the centres
• names, dates of birth, gender and any disability of children using the centre
• ethnicity, first language spoken and any interpreting needs
• details of any disabilities
• education and employment status of parents and carers including any benefits received
• details of nurseries or schools that children attend
• health details including registration with a GP, dentist and allocated health visitor (for parents and carers). Details of immunisations and dates of developmental checks (for children).

This information is only used for the intended purpose but if we intend to use it for any other purpose; we will normally ask you first. In some cases, the council may use your information for another purpose if it has a legal duty to do so, to provide a complete service to you, or if there is a risk of serious harm or threat to life.

Who the information is shared with

We work with a range of organisations which might provide services to you. We may also share your personal data with:

• the Bi-Borough (Westminster & RBKC) Early Years Service
• childminders (if we are assisting with supporting a two year old child to be placed with a childminder)
• the Family Information Service
• nurseries and pre-schools
• midwives, health visitors and speech and language therapy
• Special Educational Needs service
• other council services such as the Supporting Families programme
• other specialised providers who provide services for families.

We occasionally have a legal duty to provide personal information regarding safeguarding to organisations such as children’s social care or the police. Otherwise, your information will not be disclosed to other organisations unless we are required and permitted to do this by law. 

If we believe other services may be of benefit to you, we will seek consent from you and will only share your personal data if you give consent.

How long do we keep your information?

The data that we collect can be in relation to current or previous users of our services. We continue to hold data about you and your family until the end of the academic year in which your youngest child turns 6 years of age.This is so we can provide support with the transition to primary school if needed.

Your rights and access to your information

You have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you.  

The general data protection regulation also gives you additional rights about the information we hold about you and how we use it:

• you have a right to withdraw consent and the right to object and restrict further processing of your data; however, this may affect service delivery to you.
• you have a right to request to have your data deleted where there is no compelling reason for its continued processing and provided that there are no legitimate grounds for retaining it.
• you have a right to request your data to be rectified if it is inaccurate or incomplete
• you have a right to have your data transferred or copied should you move to another local authority area
• you have a right not to be subject to automated decision-making including profiling

If you want to see information stored about you, you will need to submit a ‘subject access request’. Please send an email to this address for further details:

[email protected]

If you have any concerns

If you have any questions about this privacy statement or data protection issues generally, you can contact [email protected]

You have a right to complain to us if you think we have not complied with our obligation for handling your personal information. If you wish to do this, lease send an email to this address:

[email protected]

Should you remain dissatisfied with the City Council’s response you have a right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office if think we may not have complied with our obligation for handling your personal information.

Report a concern by visiting the ICO website.

Changes in your circumstances

You must notify us immediately if there are any changes in your circumstances and personal details in order for us to maintain an accurate and up to date record of your information.