Why do privacy notices need to be issued?

The Data Protection Act 1998 has put in place numerous safeguards regarding the use of personal data by organisations, including the Department, local authorities and schools. This area of law is complex. The Act gives rights to those about whom data is held, known as data subjects. This includes

  • the right to know the types of data being held
  • why it is being held, and
  • to whom it may be communicated.

Privacy notices are designed to meet those needs of the Act and should be brought to the attention of all staff for whom data is being submitted in the School Workforce Census. Schools and local authorities are responsible for doing this for their own staff and the privacy notice might be included as part of a contract, induction pack, and/or posted on the staff notice board/intranet.

What should be included in a privacy notice?

The Department has provided suggested text for a privacy notice to be used by schools and local authorities with their staff.

  • The privacy notice refers the recipients to the local authority websites to see how they will use the data. The Department has also provided suggested information for a local authority to include on its website.
  • These are only suggested texts and the Department recommends local authorities and academies use their own legal advisors to review and amend them to suit local needs.
  • The privacy notice also refers recipients to this page for information on what the Department does with school workforce data.

What is the legal framework underpinning the School Workforce Census?

The School Workforce Census is a statutory collection of individual level data on teachers and support staff from local authorities, local authority-maintained schools and academies. The duty on schools and local authorities to supply the required items of data about each member of the school workforce to the Department, when requested to do so, is set out in legal regulations. These regulations are called The Education (Supply of Information about the School Workforce) (No 2) (England) Regulations 2007. They specify which items of information should be provided, how they will be used and with whom they may be shared.

  • The regulations refer to Sections 114 and 114 of the Education Act 2005. These sections of the act set out the types of staff, and the establishments they work in, for which the Department can request information.
  • An amendment was made in 2009 to implement some small corrections to the original regulations found during the pilot process – The Education (Supply of Information about the School Workforce) (No. 2) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2009. 

What does this legal framework mean for local authorities and schools?

  • Although schools and local authorities must meet their obligations to data subjects (members of the school workforce) under the Data Protection Act, they do not need to obtain consent for the provision from individual members of the workforce.
  • Schools and local authorities are protected from any legal challenge that they are breaching a duty of confidence to staff members.
  • Obliges them to complete the School Workforce Census.

Contact details

Data and Statistics Division (DSD) Helpdesk
1st Floor Mowden Hall
Staindrop Road
Darlington
DL3 9BG
Telephone: 01325 392626
Email: dsd.helpdesk@education.gsi.gov.uk
Website: http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/adminandfinance/schooladmin/ims/datacollections/requestform