Why do we keep information about you?
SIASS is committed to respecting the rights of service users to confidentiality and/or
anonymity when seeking advice.
The SIASS runs a self-referral service for parents and carers, young people and children offering information, advice and support about all aspects of a child or young person’s Special Educational Need or Disability (SEND), including processes relating to health and social care and personal budgets. However, with your permission, if you are unable to self-refer a professional can refer on your behalf.
Like many other people who provide services you already use (for example, teachers and doctors) we hold information about you. When you contact us, we will ask you if we may write down some details which are stored electronically. With your permission, we store these on a computer so we can refer to them when we need to.
We record information so we can:
- Make sure you get the services you are entitled to
- Save you having to give us the same information more than once, if you contact us again and speak to a different person (Tell us Once Approach)
- Identify and build up anonymous statistics about things that parents/carers, children and young people in general are concerned about and the difficulties you are facing
The kind of written information we keep about you includes: name, address, telephone number, ethnicity, how you heard about the SIASS and an outline of your enquiry.
The kind of information we keep about you/your child or young person includes: the
child/young person’s name, date of birth, gender, ethnicity, school, year group, area of SEN/disability and level of SEN (e.g. School Support or an EHC Plan).
If arranging for parents, carers, children or young people to be interviewed, photographed, quoted or filmed, prior consent from you will be sought. SIASS staff shall obtain consent from you before discussing a child or young person with Local Authority (LA), the voluntary sector, outside agencies or education settings staff and record how we received this consent on your file.
At times it may be helpful to pass on information from SIASS electronic files, e.g. if we are involved in disagreement resolution work or negotiating on behalf of a parent/ carer, child or young person. However, this will only be done with your permission.
The only time we would pass on information without your permission is when the law says we must (for example, when a child’s safety is at risk).
If we receive a request for information from LA Officers for legal reasons, e.g. judicial review, it will go to the head of service, or if absent, to the line manager, who will consider the request and, with the parents’/carers permission, where necessary, the relevant information be extracted from the electronic file, and sent to the relevant officer, with a copy to the you.
In the event of case notes being requested by parents under the Freedom of Information Act, the manager of SIASS will send the requested notes directly to parents/carers.