The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham is committed to ensuring that your personal information is used lawfully and appropriately.

The Start for Life and Family Hub programme is a single front door to bring services together to improve access, for families to the right type of support at the right time. There are three Family Hubs across the borough offering support to families from conception and two, and to those with children of all ages, which is 0-19 or up to 25 for those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), with a great Start for Life offer at their core.

The data we may collect 

The type of personal information that the Council processes for these purposes includes: 

Personal information 

The personal information we may collect from you includes:

• contact details: including name, address, email address, and telephone number. 
• date of birth 
• information about you and your family 
• social and personal circumstances 
• financial details 
• housing information relating your council tenancy 

Special category data 

We may also collect special category (sensitive data) of personal information that may include: 

• physical or mental health details 
• racial or ethnic origin 
• gender 
• religion  
• gender and sexual orientation 

If you do not wish your information to be shared with another service then you will still be provided with a service, however, you may have to repeat your information if you require support in the future. 

We may also anonymise some personal information you provide to us to ensure that you cannot be identified and use this data to allow the council to effectively target and plan the provision of services.  For example, we may use statistics/numbers relating to ethnicity of families to measure reach of services to ensure we are reaching the whole community. 

How we collect your personal information 

We collect your personal information when you register with the Family Hub or from other partner services, these are for example: information of a new birth when you have agreed for Health Visiting to share these details. 

Any parent or carer who does not wish to receive such support can decline the offer and no additional information recording or sharing will take place. 

Why we process your personal information

The council is working to ensure that families that would like support receive coordinated help when it is most needed, and that this help and support is delivered using a whole family approach through Family Hubs.

Family Hubs work with families and children aged 0-19 (25 with SEND).

We process your personal information for the following purposes: 

• to determine the services and support that you may require
• to keep you informed of related events and activities that may interest you
• monitoring use of Family Hubs across the borough. This includes numbers of referrals, attendance at groups and numbers of families accessing family support. 
• collating thematic reasons for providing support within specific geographical areas to allow us to plan a service based on community need 
•  to improve the health, development and well-being of babies, young children and adolescents in Barking and Dagenham
• to improve the health and wellbeing of parents and carers in Barking and Dagenham
• In some cases, the council process use your information for another purpose if it has a legal duty to do so or to provide statistical returns to Government departments.

From time to time we may contact you about the service you received.

Lawful basis for processing your personal information 

Our lawful basis for processing your personal information is as follows:

Article 6.1(a) Consent

• Article 6 (a) Consent, and 
• Article 9 (a) Explicit Consent in respect of any Special Category Data (information regarding your: racial or ethnic origin; political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs; health or sexual orientation).

Article 6.1(e) Public Task -  necessary to enable us to carry out our tasks, functions, duties or powers or to perform a task carried out in the public interest, improving the well-being of young children. 

We have a lawful basis for processing this data under Performance of a task carried out in the public interest (Data Protection Act 2018 schedule 3, part 3 para 8; Working Together to Safeguard Children statutory guidance July 2018).

Our legal gateway  for collecting this data is legal obligation under the Children Act 1989, Children & Young Persons Act 2008, and United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.  It is also considered necessary to enable us to carry out our tasks, functions, duties or powers.

Special category data is being processed under the lawful basis of Substantial Public Interest (DPA 2018 schedule 1, part 2, para 18 &19.

Where will we store your information?

The data we process for these purposes is stored in the UK.  Should data be transferred outside the UK, the Council will ensure that it has the appropriate safeguards in place. 

The Council has appropriate security and controls in place to prevent data loss, for example, hacking attempts, however, we cannot guarantee that the personal information you submit will not be intercepted.

Sharing your personal information

We may share personal information if there is a risk of serious harm or threat to life, or where we are required by law to do so.

Keeping your personal information

Your data will be processed until the child is 25 years old. 

Your Individual Rights

To learn more about your Individual Rights, or how to raise a concern, please go to our General Privacy Notice page.