Information Sharing and Consent

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Information Sharing and Consent
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Agenda
Introduction to Information Sharing
Eight principles of Information Sharing
Individual Rights and the Data Protection Act
Consent and Case Studies
Any Questions
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A question of balance
Councils and agencies are given responsibilities
by law, regarding certain provisions to children.
In order to do this effectively the government
has recognised that these agencies will need to
share information. However, to ensure that
information about individuals is not passed
around carelessly, the rights of the individual
are protected by the Data Protection Act (1998)
and the Human Rights Act (1998). However, these
Acts are not intended to prevent professionals
from sharing sensitive information where it is
necessary for them to do so in order to carry out
their work in the best interests of the young
person. Working with RYOGENS requires you to find
a balance between these two legislative goals.
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Data Protection Act Definitions

• This training provides guidance on dealing with
  dealing sensitive personal information generally
  and the sharing of sensitive information.
• Eight principles set out good practice under the
  Data Protection Act
• You are probably following these principles
  already, but nevertheless they are important to
  note in relation to using RYOGENS.
• The Act grants individuals certain rights
  regarding this data
• The Data Protection Act 1998 lays down strict
  ground rules for dealing with personal
  information, which in the Act is called personal
  data
• Even stricter rules apply for sensitive personal
  data. This could be information about anything
  ranging from religious beliefs to physical or
  mental health

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Section 2 Eight Principles of Information Sharing
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Eight Principles of Data Protection help you with
good information sharing

• Personal information must be processed fairly and
  lawfully
• Personal data must only be processed for
  specified and lawful purposes
• Personal data must be adequate, relevant and not
  excessive for the purpose(s) it is being
  processed for
• Personal data must be accurate and kept up to
  date (where necessary)
• Personal data must not be kept for longer than is
  necessary
• Personal data must be processed in accordance
  with the rights of the data subject
• Appropriate technical and organisational measures
  shall be taken against unauthorised or unlawful
  processing of personal data and against accident
  loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal
  data
• Personal data shall not be transferred to a
  country or territory outside the European
  Economic Area, unless that country or territory
  ensures an adequate level of protection for the
  rights and freedoms of data subjects in relation
  to the processing of personal information.

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The Eight Principles Explained
Principle One Personal information must be
processed fairly and lawfully Defining Fairly and
Lawfully For RYOGENS to handle personal
information about young people you will need to
inform them why the information they are
capturing is needed. Even if Consent is not
granted, it is important that you inform the
young person and/or their parents of what you are
doing. You will also need to take care with
sensitive information captured.
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The Eight Principles Explained
Principle Two Personal data must only be
processed for specified and lawful purposes You
will need to ensure that the information you
obtain, hold, use or pass on from the young
person is relevant to the specific issue for
which it was originally obtained, and that issue
only. For most agencies, this means pigeon
holing this information and not using it for any
other purposes than the ultimate benefit of the
child.
Principle Three Personal data must be adequate,
relevant and not excessive and not excessive for
the purpose it is being processed for You will
need to ensure that you have just enough personal
information, neither too much nor too little. We
recognise that intermediate advice or casework
can be a time consuming job and thus you should
not overburden yourself with information, which
is not relevant and will not move the case
forward. You might consider whether all the
information obtained for a case should be kept.
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The Eight Principles Explained
Principle Four Personal data must be accurate
and kept up to date (where necessary) You must
take measures to see that personal information
held is accurate. You may also wish to implement
a periodic system of auditing the personal
information you hold, perhaps with the aid of
your data protection officer, to ensure that it
is accurate.
Principle Five Personal data must not be kept
for longer than is necessary You should consider,
as in principles 4 and 6, the length of time you
hold data and whether it is relevant to do so.
Getting rid of unnecessary documents will help
promote efficient data storage. RYOGENS has a
data retention policy.
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The Eight Principles Explained
Principle Six Personal data must be processed in
accordance with the rights of the data subject
The Data Protection Act gives various people
rights including the right of access to
information held on them. The Council will have
the responsibility for providing them with this
information, but you have the responsibility to
ensure that any incorrect or out of date
information is constantly amended.
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The Eight Principles Explained

• Principle Seven Appropriate technical and
  organisational measures shall be taken against
  unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal
  data and against accident loss or destruction of,
  or damage to, personal data
• RYOGENS is a secure web based system. However
  you also have the responsibility to follow proper
  security protocol.
• DO NOT divulge your password to anyone else. DO
  NOT write down your password anywhere where other
  people could find it.
• DO NOT divulge information in RYOGENS to any
  people or agencies not included in RYOGENS
• DO NOT leave your computer unattended while
  logged onto RYOGENS.
• A good rule of thumb is to treat RYOGENS with the
  same caution as you would your online banking
  details.

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The Eight Principles Explained
Principle Eight Personal data shall not be
transferred to a country or territory outside the
European Economic Area, unless that country or
territory ensures an adequate level of protection
for the rights and freedoms of data subjects in
relation to the processing of personal
information. People trust that the information
they provide to you will not be disseminated to
parties outside of RYOGENS, certainly not across
the UKs external borders. You must make sure
that the young persons rights are not
compromised.
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Section 3 Individual Rights and The Data
Protection Act 1998
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Individual Rights

• The Data Protection Act is more than just
  processing information, it represents an
  information partnership
• Individuals have the right to
• Access information stored about them
• Stop you using or passing on information in a
  way which causes them substantial damage or
  substantial distress
• Claim compensation for damage caused by breaches
  of the Act, and
• Apply for a court order requiring you to correct
  inaccurate information

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Information Requests
When people ask to the information stored about
them, advise them to put this request in writing
to the Council. The Council will have 40 days to
produce the information once requested in
writing. Best Practice If a young person asks to
see such information, and has trouble putting
this in writing, offer to help them make their
request to the council.
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Data Protection Act Definitions

• This training provides guidance on dealing with
  dealing sensitive personal information generally
  and the sharing of sensitive information.
• The Act grants individuals certain rights
  regarding this data
• Eight principles set out good practice under the
  Data Protection Act
• You are probably following these principles
  already, but nevertheless they are important to
  note in relation to using RYOGENS.
• The Data Protection Act 1998 lays down strict
  ground rules for dealing with personal
  information, which in the Act is called personal
  data
• Even stricter rules apply for sensitive personal
  data. This could be information about anything
  ranging from religious beliefs to physical or
  mental health

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Rules for sharing personal data
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RYOGENS helps you with matters of Data Protection
In cases where consent is not granted, RYOGENS
helps you stay on the right side of data
protection. To the right is a screenshot of the
Add Concern pop-up. This particular tab helps
you with the legal basis for sharing
information. Part of the process of using RYOGENS
is to ask for consent. In the exceptional
circumstances that this is not granted and you
still wish to share the information, this section
of RYOGENS helps you with the available
legislation for doing so. In the example that
you are sharing your concern because you are
Taking reasonable steps to identify children in
need. The system will tell you that you can
share information on the basis of
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Section 4 Consent and Case Studies
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Consent
Best practice is to ask the child, young person
or their parent for consent to share the
information about them. You should let them know
why you are doing this and what may happen with
the information. It is a good opportunity to
get them on board and ask them what they want to
get out of the process. Asking for consent is
therefore both a legal safeguard and a way of
getting the child or family involved.
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Best practice on consent
Asking for Consent to share information is a
practice that many agencies already have to deal
with. Working with RYOGENS should not replace
the best practices you already have. The
following information is intended to help you
with matters of consent as it relates to RYOGENS.
It is important to note that the originator of
the concern (you), not the RMF, is ultimately
responsible for obtaining consent.
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Best Practice on Consent
The image on the right shows the written consent
form The Data protection act makes no
distinction between verbal and written consent.
However, obtaining written consent is preferable
as it can be presented as evidence that consent
has been granted. Whether verbal or written
consent is asked for, best practice is to show
the young person and/or their parents the leaflet
called Your Questions Answered Parents and
Guardians can give consent on behalf of their
child is if the child is deemed not competent to
do so him or herself.
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Approaches to obtaining consent
Depending on your agency there are different
approaches to obtaining consent. And our
guidance would be for you to follow the best
practice of your agency. For a teacher who has
regular contact with a pupil, obtaining consent
might best be asked for after class in the
majority of cases. For other agencies, a home
visit could be more appropriate. REMEMBER Asking
for consent is not only a legal issue, it is an
opportunity to involve the child and or their
parents in the process. Given that RYOGENS deals
with non-critical needs, the types of service
offered usually requires the co-operation of the
child anyway. Take a moment to discuss and share
how obtaining consent in your agency could be
helpful in other agencies.
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Section 3 Scenarios
This Section starts with the stories previously
discussed. Three of those stories demonstrated
the appropriate use of RYOGENS. The following
scenarios are based on typical situations you may
come across. They will give some best practice
guidance to help you deal with Data Protection.
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Remember? Our three RYOGENS stories
A 14 year old girl is pregnant she hangs around
with a bad crowd and has been caught shoplifting.
A 14 year old is caught graffitiing walls and
smashing up the local bus stop.
13 year old is refusing to go to school and when
present causes disruption
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Scenario 1
A 14 year old girl is pregnant. She hangs around
with a bad crowd and has been caught shoplifting.

• Situation
• The girl is keen to get extra help and signs the
  consent form
• Her parents also want to get involved and give
  verbal consent.

Solution Consent by both young person and
parents is optimal. There is no need to use
additional legislation to share information
through RYOGENS.
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Scenario 2
A 14 year old girl is pregnant. She hangs around
with a bad crowd and has been caught shoplifting.

• Situation
• The girl refuses to give consent to share
  information
• Her parents are deceased
• Her legal guardian with parental responsibility
  gives written consent to share information

Solution Girl maybe deemed not competent or just
refused. In the event that she is not competent,
consent granted by a person with parental
responsibility, in this case her legal guardian,
is sufficient grounds to share information
Best Practice Keep trying to work with this
girl. Positive involvement is highly desirable
in achieving a positive outcome.
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Scenario 3
A 14 year old girl is pregnant. She hangs around
with a bad crowd and has been caught shoplifting.

• Situation
• The girl is keen to get extra help but she is
  illiterate. She cannot sign the consent form but
  gives consent verbally.

Solution Although written consent is preferable
generally, it is clearly not obtainable in this
situation. Verbal consent is sufficient to share
information.
Best Practice Describe the nature of the
situation surrounding consent in the enter
details box in RYOGENS Or discuss with girl to
get written consent from the parent/guardian in
support of this situation.
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Scenario 4
A 14 year old is caught graffitiing walls and
smashing up the local bus stop.

• Situation
• A police officer has written an ASBO just after
  she caught the 14 year old.
• Later on she hand delivers a Letter Two to the
  boys home.
• She asks for consent to share information on
  RYOGENS, but it is not granted by either the boy
  or his parents.

Solution The situation can be logged into
RYOGENS because there is sufficient legislation
to allow the police to share this information in
absence of consent. Best Practice is to keep
asking for consent and getting the family
involved.
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Scenario 5
13 year old is refusing to go to school and when
present causes disruption

• Situation
• A Teacher wishes to share this information
  through RYOGENS but young person refuses to give
  consent.
• However, a parent signs consent form at a
  parent-teacher conference.

Solution Use RYOGENS to share information if
the Young Person is not deemed competent to judge
their best interests parental consent may
over-ride.
Best Practice To keep working with this young
person. Positive involvement of this young
person is highly desirable in achieving a
positive outcome.
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Scenario 6
13 year old is refusing to go to school and when
present causes disruption

• Situation
• Young person refuses to give consent.
• Teacher contacts parents whom are un-cooperative
  and tell the teacher to deal with it
  themselves. No consent given.

Solution Despite lack of consent, there is
sufficient legislation in place to use RYOGENS to
share information. Details are available on the
RYOGENS system.

• Best Practice
• Re-evaluate the level of concern Parents lack of
  interest in the child could itself be another
  concern.
• If possible, keep young person and parents
  informed of actions you are undertaking in order
  to increase involvement in school

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Scenario 7
13 year old is refusing to go to school and when
present causes disruption

• Situation
• Young person refuses to give consent.
• Making further enquiries with the young persons
  parents, the teacher finds out that they are
  Class A drug addicts and that on reflection, the
  disruptive behaviour may be symptomatic of drug
  abuse.

Solution RYOGENS not appropriate. The severity
of the concern requires referral to social
services.