Privacy notice - Childcare providers
Overview
This privacy notice covers the processing of personal data carried out by the Early Years Improvement Team and the Family Information Service (FIS), as required to support childcare providers and those working in childcare.
This privacy notice tells you how we use your information, the reasons for doing so, and also what rights you have in connection with the information we hold about you.
East Sussex County Council takes data protection seriously. Please be assured that your information will be used appropriately in line with data protection legislation, will be stored securely and will not be processed unless the requirements for fair and lawful processing can be met.
What information is being used?
Both services hold details of all Ofsted registered childcare. Ofsted have a duty, under the Childcare Act 2006, to share information about registered childminders and childcare providers with local authorities in England.
The information which Ofsted must share with us is specified in the Childcare (Supply and Disclosure of Information) (England) Regulations 2007, including 2008 and 2015 amendments to the regulation.
Early Years Improvement Team (EYIT)
In order to provide our services, the information we collect about childcare providers and those working in childcare includes: full name of the registered body or person, name of provider, provider address, email address, telephone numbers and Ofsted URN.
How will your information be used?
Early Years Improvement Team (EYIT)
We will use your information to help set you up as a childcare provider and to provide support services, including audits, visits and training. We also hold your information so we can keep in touch with you. We do this to fulfil our statutory duty to support childcare providers.
Family Information Service (FIS)
We receive updates from Ofsted for childcare providers only. This isn’t personal information, apart from information about registered childminders. We share this with the Early Years Improvement Team weekly.
We collect further information from childcare providers and other services and publish it on escis.org.uk (East Sussex Community Information Service) to share with families on the website, over the phone and in writing. Parents, professionals and other interested parties can use the website and contact us to find services.
We aim to maintain high standards, adopt best practice for our record keeping and regularly check and report on how we are doing. Your information is never sold for direct marketing purposes.
Our staff are trained to handle your information correctly and protect your confidentiality and privacy.
Your information is processed in the UK or in a country with an adequacy agreement with the UK.
What is the legal basis for processing your information?
Early Years Improvement Team (EYIT)
We have a statutory duty under section 13 of the Childcare Act 2006 to provide information, advice and training to childcare providers. We process your information because we are acting in the public interest and exercising our official authority.
Family Information Service (FIS)
We have a statutory duty under section 12 of the Childcare Act 2006 to provide information, advice and support to parents about childcare in the area. We process your information because we are acting in the public interest and exercising our official authority.
We will only share your data with families on our directory at escis.org.uk (East Sussex Community Information Service), over the phone or in writing, where we have your consent to do so. You can withdraw your consent for us to share your information at any time.
How long will your information be kept for?
We keep data on childcare providers for 6 years after a setting closes and destroy this data after this time. We keep financial records for 7 years.
We keep data on prospective childcare providers (including prospective childminders) for one year. If a prospective childminder becomes registered, we will keep their data for 6 years as above.
When Ofsted notifies us of a resignation or suspension of a service the Family Information Service deletes their record from escis.org.uk within 24 hours. If a suspension is lifted, and the provider wishes to share their data, we can reinstate it.
All information processed by Children’s Services is subject to a retention policy which details how long we will retain the information. This is governed by the category of data and the requirement to hold it in our records in line with statutory provisions or other operational requirements.
Full details of the Children’s Services retention policy and schedules can be found in the Council’s retention schedule.
Sharing your information
In order to safeguard and protect children’s welfare, we may share your information with any of the following organisations:
- Ofsted
- other departments in East Sussex County Council
- other organisations or childcare providers of childcare services
- the Police
- other local authorities
We may use the information we hold about you to assist in the detection and prevention of crime or fraud.
Any sharing of personal data is always done:
- on case-by-case basis
- using the minimum personal data necessary
- with the appropriate security controls in place
- in line with legislation.
Information is only shared with those agencies and bodies who have a "need to know" or where you have consented to the sharing of your personal data to such persons.
We may use the information we hold about you to assist in the detection and prevention of crime or fraud. We may also share this information with other bodies that inspect and manage public funds.
Your rights
Under data protection legislation, you have the right:
- to be informed why, where and how we use your information
- to ask for access to your information
- to ask for your information to be corrected if it is inaccurate or incomplete
- to ask for your information to be deleted or removed where there is no need for us to continue processing it
- to ask us to restrict the use of your information
- to ask us to copy or transfer your information from one IT system to another in a safe and secure way, without impacting the quality of the information
- to object to how your information is used
- to challenge any decisions made without human intervention (automated decision making)
Please visit data subject rights for further details.
How to find out more or complain
Should you have any further queries on the uses of your information, please speak directly to our service:
Early Years Improvement Team – 01323 463026
Family Information Service – 0345 60 80 192
Children’s Services Customer Relations Team
To complain about the use of your information, please contact our Customer Services Team or our Data Protection Officer.
Further information on making a complaint.
You can also contact the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) for further information or to make a complaint:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
Phone: 0303 123 1113 (local rate)