Privacy notice - Troubled Families

The Troubled Families Programme is a government funded programme which identifies complex needs through data collection for families who have a range of issues and are struggling to cope to provide the right support as soon as a problem emerges.

To be eligible for the programme families must have at least two sets of indicators from the following six issues.

1. Parents and children involved in crime or anti-social behaviour
2. Children who have not been attending school regularly
3. Children who need help
4. Adults out of work or at risk of financial exclusion and young people at risk of worklessness
5. Families affected by domestic violence and abuse
6. Parents and children with a range of health problems

We use information about children and families to enable us to carry out specific functions for which we are responsible and to provide you with the best service possible.

Sometime the information is written down or sometimes is kept securely on a computer which will consist of;

• Name, address and postcode, date of birth, gender, etc.
• National insurance number or NHS number
• Referral, assessment forms and action plans
• Other people living in your home

As most of the data to be processed for the purpose of identifying families will be ‘personal data’ within the definition of the Data Protection legislation, and in many cases this data may be considered ‘sensitive personal data’ within the definition of the Data Protection Act, Middlesbrough council Troubled Families programme will ensure that the processing of personal data is carried out in accordance with the data protection principles and will only be shared on a need to know basis. It will only be shared by those specifically authorised to do so and will not be kept longer than necessary.

Below are some of the legislation (Acts) which also allow us to share data and information.

• Section 115(1) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998
• Section 14 of the Offender Management Act
• Part 4 section 23 of the School Discipline (Pupil Exclusions and Reviews) (England) Regulations 2012.
• Under section 99 of the Children’s Act 2006, local authorities obtain information about individual children who are receiving early years provision; and under section 13A of the Childcare Act 2006,
• Under section 17 of the Children Act 1989
• More generally, implied data sharing powers under section 10 of the Children Act 2004 may also provide a means of obtaining information in order to safeguard and promote the wellbeing of children.
• Welfare Reform Act 2012. This allowed DWP to share data with local authorities – without informed consent – for the sole purpose of identifying eligible families.

As a local Authority taking part in the Troubled Families programme legal gateways, including statutory and common law powers, for sharing information.

To help us find out who we can identify for the programme we share personal information between departments of the council and between partner organisations to understand which families can be identified for the Troubled Families programme.

Some Families who are identified and already have someone working with them are just added to the programme. Some families will be identified who we feel will benefit from co-ordinated support.

We share this information with internal and external partner agencies which are working with Middlesbrough Council. Below are some of the partner agencies we share data with;

• Middlesbrough council internal partners
• Cleveland Police
• Thirteen Housing group
• Youth Offending Service (YOS)
• Prison services
• Department of works and pension (DWP)
• Public health
• Education

The security of your personal information is important to us. This is why we follow a range of security policies and procedures to control and safeguard access to and use of your personal information.

After we deliver a service to you, we have to keep your information as a business record of what was delivered. The type of service will determine how long we have to keep it. Our corporate retention guidelines show how long we will keep it for different services. This ranges from months for some records to decades for more sensitive records.

The Council will not process your information overseas, however it may be necessary if requested by an external organisation under a legal requirement or at your request. In any event we would ensure that your information is safe.

We will only send you information about our services and/or products if you have agreed for us to do so or we are sending you information in relation to similar services you have received in the past. You can opt out of this at any time by letting us know by unsubscribing or replying with your request.

Your Information Rights are set out in law and, subject to some exceptions, you have the:

• Right to rectification - to ask for information to be corrected
• Right to erasure - to have your personal data deleted
• Right to object - to how your data is used
• Right to restriction - to request limits on how your data is used
• Right to portability - to request that we move your data to another organisation
• Right of subject access - to request a copy of data the Council holds about you

If you have a concerns about the way we are collecting or using your personal data, you should raise your concern with us in the first instance or directly to the Information Commissioner's Office. Visit the website of the Information Commissioner's Office.

If you would like to discuss anything in this privacy notice or your information rights, please contact:

The Data Protection Officer
Middlesbrough Council
PO Box 500, Middlesbrough, TS1 9FT
Phone: 01642 245432
Email: dataprotection@middlesbrough.gov.uk