Northumberland Information, Advice and Support Service - Privacy Notice

At Northumberland Information, Advice and Support Service we are committed to protecting your privacy and will only use your personal information to provide the service you request from us. This privacy notice has been written in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2018.

What type of information is collected?

We will ask for your personal information including your name, phone number, email address, address (if required for a home visit), child's name, child's date of birth and the school that your child attends. We will also ask for the names of other professionals that are involved with your child, any diagnoses or ongoing assessments and any further information in relation to your child's special educational needs or disabilities. We will not contact anyone in connection with your child unless you give your consent either verbally or in writing.

How is your information used?

Your contact details will be used when we need to contact you directly to provide you with information and advice. The information that you provide regarding your child's health and special educational needs or disabilities will be used to inform any advice we give you.

We will only contact other professionals regarding your child at your request. We will clarify with you what you would like us to find out and feedback to you following that contact. We will not disclose any personal information that you have given us without your consent. The only exception regarding confidentiality is if a member of the IASS staff feels that there are any safeguarding issues. They would then refer to the service manager who will take advice from appropriate professionals, in line with statutory safeguarding procedures.

We may contact you at a later date, to ask for some feedback as part of our quality assurance measures.

We may also use anonymised information gathered in our work to create anonymised data for general reporting and statistical purposes and to raise any issues about practice with schools, settings and the Local Authority.

Who has access to your information?

Your information is stored on a database within a secure folder.  Your information can only be accessed by Information, Advice and Support Service staff members.

How long is your information retained?

All paper records are stored securely and destroyed after one year following our last involvement with you.  Electronic information is stored for six years from the date of the last contact with a service user.

Will we share your information with anyone else?

No. Unless we have your permission to do so, we won't share your information with any organisations or individuals outside of the Information, Advice and Support Service.

Can you see the information we hold about you?

You can ask to see the information that we hold about you. You have the right to ask us to correct any inaccuracies in the personal information that we hold, or to delete the information if you decide at any time to withdraw consent.

By consenting to this privacy notice you are giving us permission to process your personal data specifically for the purposes identified above. If you would like to request a copy of the information that we hold about you, you can contact us by phone: 01670 623555 or email: iass@northumberland.gov.uk

Complaints procedure

Please let us know if you have any concerns about the way we have processed your data. You can also contact the Data Protection Officer for Northumberland County Council at informationgovernance@northumberland.gov.uk.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office if you are unhappy with the way we process your data. Details can be found on the ICO website, or you may write to the ICO at the following address:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Tel: 0303 123 1113
Email: casework@ico.org.uk