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Data Protection Policy

  1. The Data Protection Act 1998 is concerned with the protection of human rights in relation to personal data. The aim of the Act is to ensure that personal data is used fairly and lawfully and that where necessary the privacy of individuals is respected.

  2. Personal data is data relating to an individual, for example names, addresses, phone numbers, solicitor details, etc.  

  3. Processing data includes obtaining, holding, maintaining, storing and erasing data. The rules about data protection do not distinguish between manual and computer records.

  4. People are entitled to know what data the Contact Centre holds about them and what it is used for, although there is an exemption which allows for non-disclosure of sensitive data if the Centre holds it for the purposes of preventing the occurrence of crime due to violence. There is a right to have any inaccuracies in data corrected or erased.

  5. Withington Child Contact Centre will

    1. Obtain and process data fairly and lawfully

    2. Hold data only for lawful purposes

    3. Ensure data is adequate and not excessive

    4. Ensure data is up to date provided families and referrers notify the centre in writing of changes to their personal data

    5. Keep data only as long as is necessary.  Accident logs and safeguarding data must be kept indefinitely

    6. Process data in accordance with the rights of data subjects under the Act

    7. Keep data secure under lock and key or under password protection.  Data will be securely destroyed when no longer needed.

    8. Not transfer data outside the European Economic Area unless with the consent of the individual or where the country has adequate systems in place to protect personal data.  The exception to this is when non-EEA servers are used where data is transmitted via email or the internet.

  6. Information relating to families and volunteers will be disposed of as confidential waste after 3 years.

  7. As part of contact centre re-accreditation, NACCC may view some data about families and volunteers that we hold on file.  NACCC will not remove, store, retain or record any personal information.  NACCC assessors need to see that we use our systems consistently and that
    information is used in a logical way to ensure safety.

  8. This policy is reviewed annually and was last reviewed in March 2024.

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