Privacy notice

1. Introduction

This Privacy Notice explains types of personal information we may collect about you when you interact with us. It also explains how we will store and handle that information, as well as keep it safe and secure. We will keep our privacy notice under regular review and will advise you of any updates on our website.

This Notice was last reviewed in January 2022.

2. Who we are

South Tyneside Council collects, uses and is responsible for the personal data collected about you. South Tyneside Council is the Data Controller. The Council's Commissioning Unit assesses applications for mainstream and SEN children's eligibility for free school transport using the Council's school transport criteria.

3. What type of personal information do we collect?

In order to carry out the statutory duties of maintaining and improving the SEND Local Offer, we collect the following types of personal information from you:

Your personal information such as your name, address, contact details
The child's personal information such as their name, address, current school
Special category information such as special educational needs, Education Health and Care Plan status

We may also obtain personal information from other sources:

Confirmation of Education Health and Care Plan status and details of any special educational needs from the Council's SEND service

4. How do we collect personal information?

We may collect your personal information in a number of ways, for example:

In writing - for example letter, application form or email
Referrals from another department
In person or by telephone
Family members acting on your behalf

5. Why do we collect your personal information?

South Tyneside Council collects this personal data in order to perform a public task and fulfil a statutory duty, which in this case, is the development of the SEND Local Offer for families of children / young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities living within South Tyneside.

You are entitled to refuse to provide some or all of the data requested but doing so will clearly affect the Council's ability to provide the service you are seeking.

We use the information to:

Understand the needs and experiences of children and young people with SEND and their parents/carers
Make improvements to the SEND Local Offer and SEND services
To notify you of any opportunities to be involved in the development of the SEND Local Offer
We will contact you if we require any additional information or to resolve any queries

The Council has a statutory duty to publicise all comments or a summary of them on the SEND Local Offer website and in an annual report. Any published comments will be anonymous and no identifiable information will be used.

We have a duty to protect public funds we administer and may use the information held about you and your child for all lawful purposes, including but not limited to prevention and detection of fraud, disclosure of information to the police, data matching with council tax and electoral registration records and protection public funds in investigating misuse of public money.

The Council conducts research and statistical analysis to help improve our business processes and the services offered, as well as to evaluate out performance against other benchmarks. Wherever possible, statistical information is anonymised or pseudonymised.

6. Who might we share your personal information with?

We may share your personal information collected with other departments in the Council and health services within the NHS. This may be departments that are able to respond to any query you have appropriately. We may also share the information for service improvement purposes, including but not limited to SEND Services, Joint Commissioning and Children's Disabilities Team.

We will share personal information with law enforcement bodies such as the police or HMRC and other public bodies where they have a law enforcement role. We may share information for the purposes of fraud or crime prevention and for the apprehension or prosecution of offenders. We do not require your consent to share your information for this purpose and we may not notify you that we have done so.

We will only share information where the law allows us to share it. We will not share your personal information with any other third parties unless you have specifically asked us to do so.

7. How long will we keep your personal information?

Your personal data will not be kept any longer than necessary, we will hold your personal information relating to the SEND Local Offer for 3 years. At the end of this period, it will be deleted unless there is any special reason for keeping it.

8. What is our legal basis for using your personal information?

We process personal information under:

Article 6. (1) (e) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for reasons of public interest in relation to the provision of the SEND Local Offer and other related services as defined in this notice.

We process special category information under:

Article 9. (2) (g) of the GDPR, for reasons of public interest in relation to the provision of the SEND Local Offer and other related services as defined in this notice.

9. How do we keep your personal information secure?

Your information is held on the Council's secure network determining your eligibility, proof of purchase and repayment of any unspent monies.

Information provided to the SEND Local Offer is held securely on our network. Only officers working within the SEND Local Offer and system administrators have access to these records.

Your information is protected using up to date technical and organisational security measures.

10. Is your personal information used overseas?

We will not process your personal information outside of the European Economic Area (EEA).

11.What are your rights?

Your individual rights are set out in law. Subject to some legal exemptions, you have the following rights:

Right to be informed
Right of access
Right to rectification
Right to erasure
Right to restrict processing
Right to data portability
Right to object
Rights in relating to automated decision making and profiling

12. Contact us

If you would like to exercise your rights in relation to your personal information, or you feel that something has gone wrong with your personal information, you can contact us in either of the following ways:

By email: data.protection@southtyneside.gov.uk

By telephone: 0191 424 6539

In writing:

South Tyneside Council
Information Governance
Town Hall and Civic Offices
South Shields
NE33 2RL

If you feel that the Council has not handled your information correctly you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). The ICO is the Government's Independent Body responsible for overseeing data protection. In most cases the ICO will only review cases that have exhausted the Council's internal procedures.

The ICO's contact details are as follows: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF. More information can be found on the ICO's website at www.ico.org.uk.