Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) Practice Guidance 4 - Information sharing

Annex C - Information Sharing Charter – Parents and Carers

This charter explains how you can expect information about you/your child to be managed and aims to make your privacy rights easier to understand.

Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) is Scotland’s way of promoting, supporting, and safeguarding the wellbeing of children and young people. GIRFEC puts the rights of the child at the heart of good practice, including the right to privacy.

We need some information about you/your child so that we can provide a service (e.g. so that we contact you) and so that we can support your child’s wellbeing.

The Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) sets out how services (e.g. schools, health services and voluntary services) must manage information. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is an independent organisation that ensures information rights are protected. More information can be found at ico.org.uk or contact ICO Scotland on 0303 123 1115.

Charter commitments

1. We will explain, as much as we can, what we are doing with information about you/your child and why.

2. We will not put you under pressure to agree to share information. We will explain what information we need to provide a service and what services cannot be provided without some information being shared.

3. When your child becomes involved with our service, we will be clear about what information sharing will be necessary, with whom, why and what will be done with the information. For example, to help your child get support from another service, we might need to pass on some information about you/your child. In some situations, this may save you and your child repeating yourselves to lots of people.

4. We will not share information about you/your child further, or use it for anything that we have not told you about, unless we are concerned that a child may be at risk of harm. If we have to share information without your agreement, we will only share the minimum needed.

5. If your child is under 12, you have the right to ask if we hold information about you or your child, what we use it for, to ask for a copy of that information and to ask who the information has been shared with. If your child is 12 or over, they have the right to ask for information about themselves. If your child is under 12 they do not have this right in law but they can still ask. If we do not provide the information we will explain why.

6. We will keep information about you and your child accurate and up to date for as long we need it for the purpose for which it was obtained.

7. If you don’t agree with information that we hold about you or your child, you and your child have the right to tell us and ask for it to be changed or deleted. We will consider your request and explain what happens next. If you are not happy with our decision you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/).

8. We store and process information about you/your child securely and protect it from being accessed or used when it shouldn’t be, and from being lost or damaged.

9. We only keep information for as long as we need it for the purpose for which it was obtained. Every organisation has its own rules for how long they keep information before they must delete or destroy it.

10. We have a privacy notice that explains in more detail how we collect, store, use and share personal information.

11. If you think information about you/your child has not been managed correctly, you can tell us. If you’re unhappy with our response or if you need advice, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/).