Looked After Children, Child Protection and Secure Units Statistics: privacy notice

How the data is collected and stored

The transferring of individual level data between local authorities and the secure units with the Scottish Government using ProcXed, a secure software for collecting and validating data.  Some data is transferred directly from awarding bodies and public bodies using secure transfer systems. The storage of this data within Scottish Government, is managed effectively by the ScotXed Unit (within the Scottish Government).

Protecting Individuals

The individual data about children and young people interacting with social work is collected by the Scottish Government’s Education Analytical Services for statistical and research purposes only for the performance of a task carried out for reasons of public interest.

The Scottish Government will not publish or make publicly available any information that allows individual people be identified, nor will data be used by Scottish Government to take any actions in respect of individuals.

Requirements of Others

Local authorities and the secure units who originally collected the data from individuals are required to provide privacy notices to parents and its children and young people to explain how their personal data will be collected and used, and who it will be shared with.

Retention of Data

Children’s social work data within the Scottish Government is managed effectively by secure systems on secure servers and is exploited as a valuable corporate resource, subject to confidentiality restraints.

Regarding the retention of data, Article 5 of the GDPR “Principles relating to processing of personal data” states:

“personal data may be stored for longer periods insofar as the personal data will be processed solely for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes subject to implementation of the appropriate technical and organisational measures required by the GDPR in order to safeguard the rights and freedoms of individuals”.

The data are processed in line with this legislation.  The information collected will be used to inform planning and provision of education, and the linkage of such data to educational outcomes or health data.  For example, researchers or charities may be interested in applying for access to education data to meet their own research needs.