Fair Processing - information for stakeholders

Schools hold data on all their pupils, which they and others use for a variety of purposes. This page makes available to parents and pupils information on which organisations have access to this data and what they use it for.

Organisations with access to information on pupils, such as schools, Local Authorities, the Department for Children, are all "data controllers" under the Data Protection Act 1998. They determine the purposes for which "personal data" (i.e. data about living individuals, from which they can be identified) is processed, and the way in which that processing is done.

This page contains links to documents containing more detailed information on the kinds of organisations that have access to this information, and what they use this data for.

Obligations of data controllers

Data controllers have to provide "data subjects" (that is, individuals who are the subject of personal data) with details of:

• who they are;
• the purposes for which they process personal data;
• any other information that is necessary to make the processing of the personal data fair, including any third parties to whom the data may be passed on.

This is normally done using what is referred to as a "Fair Processing Notice".

Access to data

Pupils, as data subjects, have certain rights under the Data Protection Act 1998, including a general right to be given access to personal data held about them by any data controller.

It is generally assumed that a child of 12 years and over has sufficient maturity to exercise their rights themselves. This view is endorsed by legal guidance issued by the Information Commissioner.

Fair Processing Notice

Once a year, your child's school will send out a summary Fair Processing Notice to all parents and pupils, which tells you which organisations they supply pupils' information to and what this data is used for. Contact details for each organisation are also included.

Where a child is younger than 12, parents are encouraged to share this notice with the child, if they have the maturity to understand it.

Where the child is aged 12 or over, the school provides the Fair Processing Notice both to the pupil and to the parent. This acknowledges both the rights of the child and the parent's need to be aware of how their child's information is handled.

Attachments (see below)

There are four documents available to download from this page. Two are for pupils of age 12 and over, and two are for pupils under 12. Both sets contain a short version of the Fair Processing Notice, and the full text.

Further information

Further information about fair processing requirements, and guidance on the Data Protection Act generally, can be obtained from the Information Commissioner's website.