Privacy & Data Protection Policy

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Parent Privacy Notice

At Moss Hall Playcentre we respect the privacy of the children attending the Playcentre and the privacy of their parents/carers. The personal information that we collect about you and your child is used only to provide appropriate care for them, maintain our service to you, and communicate with you effectively. Our lawful basis for processing the personal information relating to you and your child is so that we can fulfil our contract with you. Our legal condition for processing any health-related information that you provide about your child is so that we can provide appropriate care for that child. 

Any information that you provide is kept secure. Data that is no longer required* is erased after your child has ceased attending our Playcentre. 

We will use the contact details you give us to contact you via phone or email so that we can send you information about your child, our Playcentre and other relevant news, and so that we can communicate with you regarding payment of our fees. 

We will only share personal information about you or your child with another organisation if we:

· have a safeguarding concern about your child

· are required to by government bodies or law enforcement agencies

· engage a supplier to process data on our behalf (eg to take online bookings, or to issue invoices)

· have obtained your prior permission. 

You have the right to ask to see the data that we have about yourself or your child, and to ask for any errors to be corrected. We will respond to all such requests within one month. 

You can also ask for the data to be deleted, but note that:

· we will not be able to continue to care for your child if we do not have sufficient information about them

· even after your child has left our care, we have a statutory duty to retain some types of data for specific periods of time* so can’t delete everything immediately

If you have a complaint about how we have kept your information secure, or how we have responded to a request to access, update or erase your data, you can refer us to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). 

* We do need to retain certain types of data (such as records of complaints, accidents, and attendance) for set periods of time after your child ceases to be in our care, but we delete as much personal data as we can as soon as possible. 

Data Protection

We respect the privacy of the children attending the play centre and the privacy of their parents/carers, as well as the privacy of our staff. Our aim is to ensure that all those using and working at Moss Hall Play Centre can do so with confidence that their personal data is being kept secure.

Our lead person for data protection is Evy Demetriou. The lead person ensures that the play centre meets the requirements of the GDPR, liaises with statutory bodies when necessary, and responds to any subject access requests.

Confidentiality

Within the play centre we respect confidentiality in the following ways:

· We will only ever share information with a parent about their own child.

· Information given by parents to play centre staff about their child will not be passed on to third parties without permission unless there is a safeguarding issue (as covered in our Safeguarding Policy).

· Concerns or evidence relating to a child’s safety, will be kept in a confidential file and will not be shared within the play centre, except with the designated Child Protection Officer and the playcentre manager.

· Staff only discuss individual children for purposes of planning and group management.

· Staff are made aware of the importance of confidentiality during their induction process.

· Issues relating to the employment of staff, whether paid or voluntary, will remain confidential to those making personnel decisions.

· All personal data is stored securely, on a password protected computer. 

· Students on work placements and volunteers are informed of our Data Protection policy and are required to respect it.

Information that we keep

The items of personal data that we keep about individuals are documented on our personal data matrix. The personal data matrix is reviewed annually to ensure that any new data types are included.

Children and parents: We hold only the information necessary to provide a childcare service for each child. This includes child registration information, medical information, parent contact information, attendance records, incident and accident records and so forth. Our lawful basis for processing this data is fulfilment of our contract with the child’s parents. Our legal condition for processing any health-related information about a child, is so that we can provide appropriate care to the child. Once a child leaves our care, we retain only the data required by statutory legislation, insurance requirements and industry best practice, and for the prescribed periods of time. Electronic data that is no longer required is deleted and paper records are disposed of securely. 

Staff: We keep information about employees in order to meet HMRC requirements, and to comply with all other areas of employment legislation. Our lawful basis for processing this data is to meet our legal obligations. Our legal condition for processing data relating to an employee’s health is to meet the obligations of employment law. We retain the data after a member of staff has left our employment for the periods required by statutory legislation and industry best practice, then it is deleted or destroyed as necessary. 

Sharing information with third parties

We will only share child information with outside agencies on a need-to-know basis and with consent from parents, except in cases relating to safeguarding children, criminal activity, or if required by legally authorised bodies (e.g. police, HMRC, etc). If we decide to share information without parental consent, we will record this in the child’s file, clearly stating our reasons. 

We will only share relevant information that is accurate and up to date. Our primary commitment is to the safety and well-being of the children in our care. 

Where we share relevant information where there are safeguarding concerns, we will do so in line with Government guidance ‘Information Sharing Advice for Safeguarding Practitioners’ (www.gov.uk) 

Some limited personal information is disclosed to authorised third parties we have engaged to process it, as part of the normal running of our business, for example to manage our payroll and accounts. Any such third parties comply with the strict data protection regulations of the GDPR. 

Subject access requests

· Parents/carers can ask to see the information and records relating to their child, and/or any information that we keep about themselves. 

· Staff and volunteers can ask to see any information that we keep about them. 

· We will make the requested information available as soon as practicable, and will respond to the request within one month at the latest.

· If our information is found to be incorrect or out of date, we will update it promptly.

· Parents /carers can ask us to delete data, but this may mean that we can no longer provide care to the child as we have a legal obligation to keep certain data. In addition, even after a child has left our care, we have to keep some data for specific periods so won’t be able to delete all data immediately.

· Staff and volunteers can ask us to delete their data, but this may mean that we can no longer employ them as we have a legal obligation to keep certain data. In addition, even after a staff member has left our employment, we have to keep some data for specific periods so won’t be able to delete all data immediately.

· If any individual about whom we hold data has a complaint about how we have kept their information secure, or how we have responded to a subject access request, they may complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

GDPR

We comply with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), regarding obtaining, storing and using personal data.