School Counselling Service Privacy Statement
Description
Highland Council needs to collect, store, and use personal data so they can offer a School Counselling Service to young people over the age of 10 years.
By data we mostly mean your name, age, gender, year group etc. and also details of how we can support you through counselling.
We therefore store information for the following reasons -
We record personal data so that counsellors can arrange counselling sessions with you.
We store personal data so that assessments, attendance, and progress can be recorded, and support given to you. This may include brief notes about what you have said which is not shared with others. (see exception below).
We also store anonymous information collected from the pupil database (SEEMIS) and from young people’s feedback to help us improve our service, this information does not identify you.
Personal data is securely stored both digitally and sometimes in hard paper copy.
Conditions for processing personal information
The Highland Council needs to process your data to provide you with a counselling service as required by the Scottish Government.
Counselling is an important service to help support the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people.
Articles 6(1)(e), 9(2)(g) and 9(2)(h) are the conditions under UK GDPR which make this processing legal.
Your rights
If you want to you can
· See your personal data -
· Change personal data
· Delete personal data
· Decide on what personal data you want recorded
· Object to the recording of your data
Find out more about your rights
Who we share your personal data with
Your personal data is not shared with other people by the Counselling Service without your permission. (see exceptions below).
Where necessary your data may be shared with school staff if it is necessary for them to know where you are during a school session.
If a counsellor felt that you or another person was in danger they would share your personal data without your permission with other services possibly including your school, social care services and police. A counsellor would let you know if they needed to do this.
We keep your information as long as it is required and it is destroyed when you are 25 years of age.
For children & young people who are currently or have been Looked After & Accommodated by the local authority, there may be other legal reasons to extend this period.
Who Do I Contact About My Personal Data?
The Council has a Data Protection Officer to make sure it is complying with data protection laws, they can be contacted at: Data Protection Officer, Highland Council, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness, IV3 5NX Email: dpo@highland.gov.uk Telephone: 01463 702029 More information can be accessed on Highland Council's website or from the Information Commissioner's Office https://ico.org.uk/ who are responsible for making sure organisations like the Council handle your data properly & in line with the law