Pupil Data: national pupil database releases

The request was successful.

Dear Department for Education,

1. The NPD User Guide p.23 (2.3.3) outlines the NPD fast track, accredited researcher process.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/sy...

Please confirm the total number of eligible fast track /accredited researcher approved recipients (regardless of whether they applied and/or received data or not) on:
September 18, 2013
September 18, 2014
September 18, 2015

2. The User guide p25 defines tier 1 and tier 2 data as: "identifying and / or sensitive (including highly sensitive data)."

Please confirm:
a. How many total tier 1, and separately how many tier 2 requests were approved by the Data Management Advisory Panel (DMAP) in 2014, and separately have been to date in 2015
b. How many requests for tier 1, and separately how many tier 2, were approved outside the DMAP (for example, only by the Education Data Division) in 2014, and separately have been to date in 2015
c. How many total requests were approved in 2014, and separately have been to date in 2015 (for all tiers 1-4 inclusive)

3. Please provide copies of the original approved data request application forms for tier 1 and tier 2 data:
a. 8th August 2012 - Civitas
b. 20th February 2013 - Daily Telegraph
c. 29th July 2013 - Fischer Family Trust Education Limited (FFT)
d. 26th September 2013 - Times Newspapers
e. 15th November 2013 - Cabinet Office
f. 5th February 2014 - Lucas Publications Limited
g. 19th February 2014 - Cabinet Office
h. 4th March 2014 - UCAS
i. 21st August 2014 - BBC Newsnight
j. 16th December 2014 - School Guide UK Limited

If the individual data items released are not already listed on each application please provide this separately for any missing from those listed above (not the data itself, just the variable name i.e. 'Date of birth, surname, postcode, SEN status')

4. Please provide the number of unique users (not number of page views) who have visited this page of your website since July 4, 2015: https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...

Thank you for your support.

Yours sincerely,
Jen Persson

Department for Education

Dear Ms Persson

 

Thank you for your recent enquiry. A reply will be sent to you as soon as
possible. For information; the departmental standard for correspondence
received is that responses should be sent within 20 working days as you
are requesting information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Your
correspondence has been allocated reference number 2015-0042170.

 

Thank you

 

Department for Education

Ministerial and Public Communications Division

Tel: 0370 000 2288

 

 

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Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

Dear Department for Education,
Correspondence ref: 2015-0042170

20/10/2015 Thank you for your acknowledgement of my request you received on 21st September.

Time limits for compliance under the Freedom of Information Act (Section 10) section 1(1) "promptly and in any event not later than the twentieth working day following the date of receipt" mean that this is now overdue. Please could you provide the information requested, or send me a brief update on the delay.

Many thanks.
Yours sincerely,
Jen Persson

Department for Education

10 Attachments

Dear Ms Persson,

Thank you for your request for information, which was received on 18/09/2015. The request has been dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the Act”).

I would like to offer my apologies for the delay in responding. The Department takes very seriously its obligations under the Act, including the requirement to respond within the statutory deadline of 20 working days. I am afraid that we have not been able to maintain this standard in this instance and while there may be considered to be mitigating circumstances, this delay is not acceptable and I am very sorry for the inconvenience which it may cause you.

You asked the following:

1. The NPD User Guide p.23 (2.3.3) outlines the NPD fast track, accredited researcher process.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/sy...

Please confirm the total number of eligible fast track /accredited researcher approved recipients (regardless of whether they applied and/or received data or not) on:

September 18, 2013

September 18, 2014

September 18, 2015

The total number of eligible fast track /accredited researcher approved recipients (regardless of whether they applied and/or received data or not) on the dates specified were as follows:

September 18, 2013 - 29

September 18, 2014 - 27

September 18, 2015 - 24

2. The User guide p25 defines tier 1 and tier 2 data as: "identifying and / or sensitive (including highly sensitive data)."

Please confirm:

a. How many total tier 1, and separately how many tier 2 requests were approved by the Data Management Advisory Panel (DMAP) in 2014, and separately have been to date in 2015 b. How many requests for tier 1, and separately how many tier 2, were approved outside the DMAP (for example, only by the Education Data Division) in 2014, and separately have been to date in 2015 c. How many total requests were approved in 2014, and separately have been to date in 2015 (for all tiers 1-4 inclusive)

a. In 2014, 33 Tier 1 requests and no Tier 2 requests were approved by DMAP. So far in 2015 (up to 30 September), 21 Tier 1 requests and no Tier 2 requests have been approved by DMAP.

b. In 2014, 99 Tier 1 requests and 96 Tier 2 requests were approved outside DMAP. So far in 2015 (up to 30 September), 79 Tier 1 requests and 101 Tier 2 requests have been approved outside DMAP.

c. In 2014, 254 requests for all tiers 1-4 were approved. So far in 2015 (up to 30 September), 221 requests for all tiers 1-4 have been approved.

3. Please provide copies of the original approved data request application forms for tier 1 and tier 2 data:

a. 8th August 2012 - Civitas

b. 20th February 2013 - Daily Telegraph

c. 29th July 2013 - Fischer Family Trust Education Limited (FFT) d. 26th September 2013 - Times Newspapers e. 15th November 2013 - Cabinet Office f. 5th February 2014 - Lucas Publications Limited g. 19th February 2014 - Cabinet Office h. 4th March 2014 - UCAS i. 21st August 2014 - BBC Newsnight j. 16th December 2014 - School Guide UK Limited
Copies of the original approved data request application forms for these tier 1 and tier 2 data requests are attached. Please note that these are the original application forms as submitted to us and do not reflect any subsequent email communications with the requester to clarify their requirements and limit the data requested to only that which was needed. The process has changed this year so that if requirements change, instead of confirming this by email, we now ask the requester to amend their application form with the changes and resubmit it. In addition, we send a Data Supply Schedule to the requester which specifies the data approved.
You will notice that the information attached contains a number of redactions to which we are applying section 40(2) (personal data). Personal data is that which relates to a living individual who can be identified from that data, or from that data and other information which is likely to be in, or to come into, the possession of the requester. Disclosure of this information would contravene a number of the data protection principles in the Data Protection Act 1998, and would be regarded as ‘unfair’. By that, we mean the likely expectations of the data subject that his or her information would not be disclosed to others and the effect which disclosure would have on the data subject. Section 40(2) is an absolute exemption and is not subject to the public interest test.

If the individual data items released are not already listed on each application please provide this separately for any missing from those listed above (not the data itself, just the variable name i.e. 'Date of birth, surname, postcode, SEN status')

No individual data items at Tier 1 or Tier 2 were released for any of these requests that were not listed on the application form.

4. Please provide the number of unique users (not number of page views) who have visited this page of your website since July 4, 2015: https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...
The page was visited by 2,951 unique users between 4 July and 30 September 2015. The data provided is sampled<https://support.google.com/analytics/ans...> by Google Analytics and unsampled data is not available.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by copyright. You are free to use it for your own purposes, including for private study and non-commercial research, and for any other purpose authorised by an exception in current copyright law. Documents (except photographs) can be also used in the UK without requiring permission for the purposes of news reporting. Any other re-use, for example commercial publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder.

Most documents produced by a government department or agency will be protected by Crown Copyright. Most Crown copyright information can be re-used under the Open Government Licence (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/o...). For information about the OGL and about re-using Crown Copyright information please see The National Archives website -http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/infor... .
Copyright in other documents may rest with a third party. For information about obtaining permission from a third party see the Intellectual Property Office’s website at www.ipo.gov.uk<http://www.ipo.gov.uk/>.
If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you should make a complaint to the Department by writing to me within two calendar months of the date of this letter. Your complaint will be considered by an independent review panel, who were not involved in the original consideration of your request.
If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint to the Department, you may then contact the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Yours sincerely,
Martin Johnson

Web: https://www.education.gov.uk<https://www.education.gov.uk/>
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/educationgovuk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/educationgovuk

[https://www.education.gov.uk/images2/iri...

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Dear Department for Education,

Dear Mr. Johnson,
thank you for your reply and information of the 23rd October. I appreciate the fullness of the response.

Please can I ask for three clarifications? You stated in answer to question 3: "Please note that these are the original application forms as submitted to us and do not reflect any subsequent email communications with the requester to clarify their requirements and limit the data requested to only that which was needed."

Please could you confirm:
1: that the items requested on application 3b page 12/18 were indeed all supplied, or whether subsequent queries meant any data items were not provided that had been requested? Copy of an original document or communication to evidence this if there were changes would be helpful.

2. for what volume of individuals these data were provided? i.e 8 pupils, 800, or if it is by default the whole database of ca. 8m pupils or an estimate of its volume at the time (if not exactly known).

3. provide the confirmation of destruction notice(s) subsequently received for these data (reference the section "retention" on page 8) or extension request(s) to keep data longer, for that customer.

While I understand some may consider this a new request and wish to apply a further 20 day time period, I would be grateful if you are able to consider these as clarifications of the original request, as they will be used to inform upcoming discussion with DfE staff and it would be helpful to have this as soon as reasonably possible for that.

Yours sincerely,
Jen Persson

Department for Education

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Persson,
Ref: 2015-0048682
Thank you for your request for information, which was received on 29/10/2015. The request has been dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the Act”).
You asked the following questions about the previous FOI response (2015-0042170):

Please can I ask for three clarifications? You stated in answer to question 3: "Please note that these are the original application forms as submitted to us and do not reflect any subsequent email communications with the requester to clarify their requirements and limit the data requested to only that which was needed."

Please could you confirm:

1: that the items requested on application 3b page 12/18 were indeed all supplied, or whether subsequent queries meant any data items were not provided that had been requested? Copy of an original document or communication to evidence this if there were changes would be helpful.

Application 3b relates to the Daily Telegraph request. The following sensitive data requested were not approved and so not provided:

• Exam Candidate Number

• Candidate ID

• Names

• Address

• Postcode

• Output Area

• Date of Birth/Age

• Unique Pupil Number

• Unique Learner Number

• Children Looked After flag

• Children in Need flag

• Pupil Premium flag

• Service Child flag

• Pupil’s type of disability

• Absences

• Exclusions

The following sensitive data requested were provided (all classified as Tier 2 variables):

• Ethnic Group Major

• FSM eligible

• Language Group Major

• SEN Provision

The e-mail in the attached annex was sent to DMAP members after verbally discussing requirements with the requestor. This confirms the reduction in the variables required.
You will notice that the annex contains a number of redactions to which we are applying section 40(2) (personal data). Personal data is that which relates to a living individual who can be identified from that data, or from that data and other information which is likely to be in, or to come into, the possession of the requestor. Disclosure of this information would contravene a number of the data protection principles in the Data Protection Act 1998, and would be regarded as ‘unfair’. By that, we mean the likely expectations of the data subject that his or her information would not be disclosed to others and the effect which disclosure would have on the data subject. Section 40(2) is an absolute exemption and is not subject to the public interest test.

2. for what volume of individuals these data were provided? i.e. 8 pupils, 800, or if it is by default the whole database of ca. 8m pupils or an estimate of its volume at the time (if not exactly known).

The Daily Telegraph request in question received all pupils in the KS2, KS4 and KS5 cohorts for the years 2008-2012.

3. provide the confirmation of destruction notice(s) subsequently received for these data (reference the section "retention" on page 8) or extension request(s) to keep data longer, for that customer.

The agreement for the supply of NPD data clearly covers the ‘Licence End Date’ at which the agreement for the supply of this data comes to an end – if not terminated prior to that date. Section 8.9 of this agreement states that “Immediately upon the Termination date, the Requester undertakes to destroy all copies of the NPD Data and expunges it from any computer, word processor or other device or medium containing it (including all documents, material or copies of such documents or materials embodying any of such NPD Data)”. Before July 2015, we did not have the data destruction notice in place and so do not currently hold this notice for the Daily Telegraph request in question. However, we have received verbal confirmation that this data was deleted and are expecting the data destruction form to be returned to us shortly. In order to get further assurance on this element, we are currently in the process of reviewing older data requests with an aim of receiving the relevant confirmation of deletion.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by copyright. You are free to use it for your own purposes, including for private study and non-commercial research, and for any other purpose authorised by an exception in current copyright law. Documents (except photographs) can be also used in the UK without requiring permission for the purposes of news reporting. Any other re-use, for example commercial publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder.

Most documents produced by a government department or agency will be protected by Crown Copyright. Most Crown copyright information can be re-used under the Open Government Licence (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/o...). For information about the OGL and about re-using Crown Copyright information please see The National Archives website -http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/infor... .
Copyright in other documents may rest with a third party. For information about obtaining permission from a third party see the Intellectual Property Office’s website at www.ipo.gov.uk<http://www.ipo.gov.uk/>.
If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you should make a complaint to the Department by writing to me within two calendar months of the date of this letter. Your complaint will be considered by an independent review panel, who were not involved in the original consideration of your request.
If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint to the Department, you may then contact the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Yours sincerely,

Martin Johnson 

Web: https://www.education.gov.uk<https://www.education.gov.uk/>
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/educationgovuk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/educationgovuk

[https://www.education.gov.uk/images2/iri...

No Response documents were found. Please check Correspondence Documents and add manually if necessary. No Briefing documents were found. Please check Correspondence Documents and add manually if necessary.

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