UK GDPR overview

UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR)

Who is our Data Protection Officer?

Data Protection Officer: Andi Boultwood, Claire Fletcher

Deputy Data Protection Officer: Surjit Sandhu

Email: DPO@pennwood.slough.sch.uk

Telephone: 01753 521811

Address: Penn Wood Primary and Nursery School, Penn Road, Slough.  SL2 1PH.

UK GDPR

Following Brexit, Regulation (EU) 2016/679, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is retained EU law and known as UK GDPR.  The UK GDPR sits alongside an amended version of the Data Protection Act 2018 that relates to general personal data processing, powers of the Information Commissioner and sanctions and enforcement.  Schools have a legal duty to comply with the UK GDPR.

What does UK GDPR mean for schools?

 A great deal of the processing of personal data undertaken by schools falls under a specific legal category 'in the public interest'.  As it is in the public interest to operate schools successfully, it means specific consent is not needed in the majority of cases in schools.

UK GDPR ensures data is protected and gives individuals more control over their data, however this means schools have greater accountability for the data:

• Under UK GDPR, consent must be explicitly given to anything that isn't within the normal business of the school, especially if it involves a 3rd party managing the data.  Parents (or the pupil, depending on their age) must express consent for the their child's data to be used outside of the normal business of the school.
• Schools must appoint a Data Protection Officer and must prove they are UK GDPR complaint.
• Schools must ensure 3rd party suppliers who may process any of their data are UK GDPR compliant, and must have legal finding contracts with any company that processes any personal data.  These contracts must cover what data is being processed, who it is being processed by, who has access to it and how it is protected.
• It is compulsory that all data breaches, which are likely to have a detrimental effect on the data subject, are reporting to the ICO within 72 hours.