Home to School Transport: Early Years, Further Education (FE) and Post-16 School Transport Application – Privacy Notice

Why do we collect and use this information?

Hampshire County Council is the Data Controller for the purpose of collecting and using information from parents/carers to establish a child’s eligibility for transport assistance to attend Early Years settings, Further Education (FE) and post-16 establishments including any exceptions to policy, due to a family’s circumstances.

We collect information from you about your child, including details of any special or medical needs which we may need to take into account when considering eligibility for and planning your child's transport. We also collect information about you as their parent/carer submitting their Early Years/FE/ Post 16 transport application and any siblings. We hold this personal data securely and use it to:

  • determine eligibility for transport provision
  • understand a families circumstances to see if they merit transport as exception to policy
  • provide safe and appropriate transport
  • invoice parent or carer for contributions towards transport (where applicable)
  • contribute to the core education record of your child
  • undertake statistical forecasting and planning
  • share with schools and transport operators to confirm the identity of those using transport and to provide safe and appropriate transport
  • ensure compliance with our obligations under the accuracy principle of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (Article (5)(1)(d)), making sure our records about you and your family are up to date

CAPITA plc is a data processor for this information acting on our instructions for the purpose of delivering a contract to the County Council around the hosting and supporting of the CAPITA One system, which the County Council uses to store the information provided to us, as identified under this privacy notice. This includes accessing the CAPITA One system to fix any technical issues to ensure the system is fit for use.

The following sections provide further detail around the information we process setting out what allows us to do this (lawful basis), who we may share it with, how long we keep it for (the retention period), alongside identifying any rights you may have and who to contact if you think we’re not handling your information in the right way.

The categories of information that we collect, hold and share

The following personal and special category information is processed:

  • your child’s personal information (such as name, address, date of birth, post 16/FE/early years setting details)
  • information about your child’s characteristics (such as looked after status, physical disability and medical conditions indicator, details about escort requirements, and supporting details and details about their exceptional circumstances)
  • any siblings personal information (name, date of birth, educational establishment name)
  • your personal information (name, home address, contact number, email address, driving information and whether you are in receipt of benefits)

The lawful basis on which we use this information

We collect and use the information ensuring that we comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA2018) requirements for processing through:

  • Article 6(1)(e) – the processing is necessary to perform a task in the public interest or for our official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law
  • Article 9(2)(g) – Necessary for reasons of substantial public interest on the basis of Union or Member State law which is proportionate to the aim pursued and which contains appropriate safeguarding measures
  • Sch.1, Pt.2, 1 – Substantial public interest conditions, for processing under the DPA2018

These articles under the UK GDPR and the DPA2018 are supported by the following specific legislation:

  • Section 509AA(2), (3) and (7)(a) of the Education Act 1996

Under this lawful basis we do not require your consent to process this information but we are required, through this privacy notice, to ensure you are fully informed of why we are collecting this information and what we will do with it. Please note that no automated decision making (decisions taken without a person involved) occurs for any parts of these activities controlled by the County Council. The County Council does not use profiling for this service.

Storing and securing data

The information provided to us will be held within the County Council’s CAPITA One system, which we use to provide home to school transport. The information held within CAPITA One will be kept in line with our retention schedule and then disposed of as appropriate. The County Council’s CAPITA One system is hosted by CAPITA plc in secure data centres based in the UK. Information is encrypted when in transit between County Council users of the system and the data centre the information is hosted within.

Your application and additional evidence submitted will be scanned (if paper submission) to create and electronic record and stored within the County Council’s Document Management System (DMS), with the paper version being destroyed. If submitted electronically, the electronic record will be used and added to our DMS. The file will be linked to the record created in CAPITA One for reference. The information held within the County Council’s DMS will be kept for in line with our retention schedule and then deleted as appropriate. The County Council’s DMS is hosted by the County Council in secure UK based data centres, which are on site.

The County Council takes its data security responsibilities seriously and has policies and procedures in place to ensure the personal data held is:

  • prevented from being accidentally or deliberately compromised
  • accessed, altered, disclosed or deleted only by those authorised to do so
  • accurate and complete in relation to why we are processing it
  • continually accessible and usable with daily backups
  • protected by levels of security ‘appropriate’ to the risks presented by our processing

The County Council also ensures its IT Department is certified to the internationally recognised standard for information security management, ISO27001.

Who do we share information with?

We do not share information with anyone unless there is a lawful basis that allows us to do so.

Depending on the individual circumstances of each situation, we may have to share this information with other teams within the County Council to fulfil other duties and powers to support our work. These might include our Children Missing Education (for ensuring the provision of full time education); Data Protection Team (for personal data incidents); Virtual School (for support of children looked after); and/or Social Care teams (supporting welfare, safeguarding and corporate parent functions). We may also share information through the County Council’s role in the Hampshire Safeguarding Children Partnership (HSCP) to comply with their statutory duties.

If applicable, as part of the payment stage of the process, information is shared with the County Council’s Integrated Business Centre (IBC) for the purpose of them being able to set up the invoice and manage the payment.

Requesting access to your personal data and your rights

Under data protection legislation, individuals have the right to request access to information about them that we hold. To make a request for your personal information, or someone you have responsibility for, please contact the Children’s Services Department’s Subject Access Request (SAR) Team.

You also have the right to:

  • prevent processing for the purpose of direct marketing
  • object to decisions being taken by solely automated means
  • in certain circumstances, have inaccurate personal data rectified, blocked, erased or destroyed
  • claim compensation for damages caused by a breach of the Data Protection regulations

Please note that under the UK GDPR, there is also a right to erasure but the right to erasure does not provide an absolute ‘right to be forgotten’. Where the data being processed is for the purpose of ‘performing a task in the public interest or for our official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law’ (Article 6(1)(e)), this right does not automatically apply.

Further information

The above information is the specific privacy notice for this service. For more information about your rights in relation to your personal data, see the County Council’s general privacy notice.

You have some legal rights in respect of the personal information we collect from you. See our Data Protection page for further details.

You can contact the County Council’s Data Protection Officer by email [email protected].

If you have a concern about the way we are collecting or using your personal data, you should raise your concern with us in the first instance or directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office.