KCC Home Education Opt -In Data sharing form should be sent out - not Opt-Out for NHS and Others

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Kent County Council should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Kent County Council,

KCC Home Education Opt -In Data sharing form should be sent out - not Opt-Out for NHS and Others

Under whose authority has KCC sent out Opt-Out data sharing forms to parents who home educate their children when Opt- In data sharing forms should be sent out ?

Which committee and which committe members were responsible and have taken it upon themselves to decide that parents must contact KCC to opt out of data sharing their children's details with the NHS and others ?

It is always presumed that parents do not wish to share their data with any other organisations unless expressly consulted beforehand and their permission granted in advance.

Yours faithfully,

Bob BIbby

Kent County Council

Dear Mr BIbby

 

Thank you for your email below.

 

Kent County Council acknowledges your request for information under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. Assuming KCC holds this information, we
will endeavour to supply the data to you as soon as possible but no later
than 10th October 2016 (20 working days from date of receipt).

 

We will advise you as soon as possible if we do not hold this information
or if there are exemptions to be considered and/or any costs for providing
the information. Please quote our reference - FOI/16/1469 - in any
communication regarding this particular request.

 

Best regards,

 

Kirsty-Leigh Robertson| Information Access Officer | Information
Resilience & Transparency Team | Room 2.71, Sessions House, Maidstone |
Phone 03000 418301 | Fax 03000 420303 |
[1]http://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-council...
|

 

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Dear Kent County Council,

Thank you for your acknowledgement.

Please remember Kent County Council has no right to share any child's data with any organisation without express permission , implied consent is not adequate, and there is no requirement in law for anybody to be required to send you back your Opt Out form in order to safeguard their child's private data.

Home educated children are assumed to be already Opted Out unless their families express otherwise.

Yours faithfully,

Bob BIbby

Kent County Council

Dear Mr BIbby

 

Thank you for your request for information made under the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) 2000, relating to opt out data sharing. I am
pleased to provide the response below:

 

The information sharing agreement was driven by the NHS contacting us for
addresses of families who elect to home educate.  They were seeking this
information to enable them to mailshot families. The purpose of this was
to ensure children do not miss out on any inoculations or information that
a child in a school would automatically receive. 

 

The NHS provided the template which officers adapted under the guidance of
Kent County Council(KCC) Data protection team. In this form we are
specifically asking parents to ‘opt-out’ if they do not want us to share
their personal details with the NHS.

 

It is the aim of KCC to support Kent’s Elective Home Educating families in
whatever way we can. However we fully appreciate some families will not
wish their data to be shared and that some of those home educating will be
proactive in finding out what is available via their GP.

 

If you are unhappy with this response, and believe KCC has not complied
with legislation, please ask for a review by following our complaints
process; details can be found at this link
[1]http://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-council...
on our website. Please quote reference FOI/16/1469.

 

If you still remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you can
appeal to the Information Commissioner, who oversees compliance with the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. Details of what you need to do, should
you wish to pursue this course of action, are available from the
Information Commissioner’s website [2]http://www.ico.org.uk/concerns.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Kirsty-Leigh Robertson| Information Access Officer | Information
Resilience & Transparency Team | Room 2.71, Sessions House, Maidstone |
Phone 03000 418301 | Fax 03000 420303 |
[3]http://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-council...
|

 

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Dear Kent County Council,

Thank you for explaining that the NHS approached KCC for private data on privately home educated children for their own purpose and who have no right to be given private data without the express wishes of their families.

There is no agreement in place for Kent Count Council to be able to share private data without express consent and you have no right to ask home educated families to 'opt-out' and only have the right to ask them if they wish to 'opt-in' to data sharing.

It is up to privately educated families who do not come under your education remit, to choose if they so wish, to use or seek out any services they feel fit, including those provided by GP's and the NHS etc and these services and choices have nothing whatsoever to do with KCC.

Are you stating that it is the aim of KCC to support the data privacy rights of private families that choose to 'opt-out of your education system' and can you please confirm that you have not shared their private data with the NHS or any other 'service' without their express consent.

Yours faithfully,

Bob BIbby

Dear Kent County Council,

Please provide an up-date as it is extremely important that privately home educated families understand KCC intention to share their private children's data without express consent or that you have not shared their children's private data with any other service.

Yours faithfully,

Bob BIbby

Kent County Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Blbby

 

Thank you for your email below and your reminder attached.

 

Although asking people to opt-in with regard to the processing of their
personal information is preferable, it is not actually a breach of the
Data Protection Act 1998 to expect people to opt out if they do not want
their personal information used in a certain way. In any event, having the
data subject's consent is only one of several conditions that permit the
fair and lawful processing of personal data by Data Controllers like Kent
County Council. For example, if Kent County Council has a statutory
obligation to fulfil or processing is necessary to protect the vital
interests of the data subject, then that person's information can be used
or shared without their consent. Our rights to process data and your
rights to object to or limit that processing are explained in our privacy
policy
[1]https://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-counci....

 

If you would like KCC to stop processing your personal data, please let us
know and we will consider your request. You will need to provide us with
your name and contact details as we have been unable to find you on our
education database using the name you have provided us with. Obviously, if
you are/were an unregistered home educator, we will not hold your details
in this regard and therefore would not have been able to pass these on to
the NHS anyway.

 

I trust that this explanation now satisfies your complaint. However, if
you are still unhappy, you can appeal to the Information Commissioner, who
oversees compliance with both the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the
Data Protection Act 1998. Details of what you need to do, should you wish
to pursue this course of action, are available from the Information
Commissioner’s website [2]http://ico.org.uk/concerns, or you can phone the
ICO Helpline on 0303 123 1113.

 

Best regards

 

Caroline Dodge | Team Leader | Information Resilience & Transparency Team
| Kent County Council | Room 2.71, Sessions House, Maidstone, ME14
1XQ | Phone 03000 416033 | Fax 03000 420303 | 
[3]http://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-council...
|

 

 

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