Guidance

Privacy information notice: Education and Child Health Insights from Linked Data (ECHILD)

Published 31 July 2024

Applies to England

Introduction 

This privacy notice explains how the Department for Education (DfE) uses (processes) any personal data you give to us, or any that we may collect about you as part of the Education and Child Health Insights from Linked Data (ECHILD) project. 

The ECHILD project originated at University College London (UCL) and was created in partnership with NHS England (NHSE) and DfE and funded by Administrative Data Research (ADR) UK.  

For the purposes of relevant data protection legislation, DfE is the data controller for personal data processed by DfE as part of ECHILD. Separately UCL is the data controller for personal data processed and shared by them as part of ECHILD. Further information about the UCL role in ECHILD is available through their own privacy notice. 

You can contact us: 

• for more information about how we process your personal data or your data protection rights 

• to make a request about your information, for example to request a copy of your information or to ask for your information to be changed 

• to contact our Data Protection Officer 

DfE Data Protection Officer

Department for Education (B2.28)
7 and 8 Wellington Place
Wellington Street
Leeds
LS1 4AW

Contact form https://form.education...

How we use your information 

ECHILD has been created for research purposes only. There are strong protections in place to ensure that ECHILD data is used in line with the purposes outlined in the data sharing agreements and meet the legal requirements for all uses to be in the public interest. 

The ECHILD database has been through a number of ethics assessments before it was created. Data that is comprised of health information is governed by Independent Group Advising on the Release of Data (IGARD). Data proposed for usage under the ECHILD programme was subject to clearance from the Research Ethics Committee before IGARD approval was granted. The proposal was also granted approval from National Statistician Data Ethics Advisory Committee. 

The ECHILD project links education and health data together to provide an evidence base to allow policy makers to better understand how health can impact education and how education can affect health. For example, the research planned by DfE using ECHILD includes: 

• what is the impact of educational outcomes on health, social care and wellbeing of children and young people? 

• whether there are differences in the health and educational outcomes of vulnerable children and young people when compared to other children and young people

• investigate the drivers of health inequalities for children in need and looked after children and whether any identified inequalities affect their educational outcomes

• assessment of the long-term impact of COVID-19 on both education and health of children and young people

Data we use

ECHILD holds different categories of data for different cohorts of individuals depending on the nature of their interactions with the education, children’s services and health sectors. The data sources included are as follows:

• national pupil database 

• hospital episode statistics 

• mental health services data 

• community services data 

• maternity services data  

Full details of the data fields included in ECHILD are available from the ECHILD data catalogue. 

Linking the data 

To make the pseudonymised data link for ECHILD, information relating to the same person is linked by using identifiers, such as: 

• names  

• date of birth  

• addresses  

These are held in the source data. This information is shared with those responsible for linking the data, in this case NHS England. 

Once the link is made, all personal identifiers are then removed and replaced in the data linking process by a reference number that has been generated specifically for creating ECHILD. This ID number is unique to ECHILD and not used in any existing operational systems. Researchers, including anyone permitted to access ECHILD in DfE, will then only have access to the data with the personal identifiers removed and the anonymised reference number assigned. It is therefore not possible for DfE to identify individuals in ECHILD. 

This process is referred to as pseudonymisation. Further information on pseudonymisation can be found from the Information Commissioner. 

Lawful use of personal data 

To enable our use of your personal data to be lawful, we need to meet one or more conditions in the data protection legislation. For the purpose of this project, the relevant conditions are: 

• article 6(1)(e) GDPR, to perform a public task as part of our function as a department 

• article 9(2)(g) GDPR, to process special category data for reasons of substantial public interest  

DfE is able to rely on these lawful bases provided it is “exercising a function”. The function which we are exercising with regards to ECHILD is the duty of the Secretary of State for Education to ͞promote the education and well-being of children in England. There are various pieces of legislation which set out that function which include, section 10 of the Education Act 1996 and section 7 of the Children and Young Persons Act 2008. 

In addition to these functions, all other relevant data sharing and data protection legislative frameworks have been met to ensure our processing and use of ECHILD remains lawful at all points. This includes ECHILD being governed by legally binding data sharing agreements which ensures a framework for appropriate processing, including:

• the contents and duration of the share  

• permitted uses of the data  

• the legal basis and justification for processing  

• the protections in place 

Data storage 

ECHILD is not held in DfE and rather is stored and processed in the Office for National Statistics Secure Research Service (ONS SRS). The ONS SRS is a globally recognised Trusted Research Environment (TRE). The ONS SRS protects the data it makes available by adopting the 5 safes approach. 

To ensure that health and education identifiers do not leave the secure health servers, the pseudonymisation process takes place at NHS England and only the pseudonymised data is stored in the ONS SRS.

The ONS SRS does not store personal data outside the UK and, as such, there is no storage or processing of ECHILD outside the UK. 

Who we will make your personal data available to 

The data processed by DfE as part of ECHILD (for which DfE is the data controller) is only made available through the ONS SRS to analysts and researchers employed by DfE who are trained and accredited in accordance with the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) accredited researcher scheme.  

Beyond ONS as the service provided for the ONS SRS, the ECHILD data for which DfE is the data controller is not shared externally by DfE with any third parties.

See the UCL ECHILD privacy notice for details of any onward sharing through the ONS SRS of the version of ECHILD for which they are the data controller. 

How long we will keep your data as part of ECHILD 

The data in ECHILD will only be kept for as long as we need it for the research and statistical purposes it was originally created for. Under data protection legislation, and in compliance with the relevant data processing conditions, personal data can be kept for longer periods when processed purely for research and statistical purposes. 

Currently the ECHILD data will be available to DfE through the ONS SRS until at least 31 December 2025. Between now and that point, the retention and ongoing benefits of the dataset will be reviewed on an ongoing basis and should decisions be made to update the data and/or extend its retention, this privacy notice will be updated. 

Your data protection rights 

Under the Data Protection Act 2018, you are entitled to ask us for: 

• the right to access - you can ask if we hold information about you and ask for a copy by making a ‘subject access request’ 

• the right to rectification - you can request to correct any information you believe is inaccurate 

• the right to erasure - you can request for your information to be erased, under certain circumstances 

• the right to restrict processing - you can request that we restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain circumstances 

• the right to object to processing - you can object to DfE’s processing, under certain circumstances 

More information on how to request this, and about how DfE handles personal information, is published in our personal information charter.  

As ECHILD is pseudonymised before being made available to DfE, and DfE do not hold the linking keys to re-identify the data, any requests should be made to the party holding the original source data.  

Further information about your data protection rights is available on the Information Commissioner’s website. 

How to complain 

If you have a question, or feel your data has been mishandled, you can contact Emma Wharram, DfE Data Protection Officer:

DfE Data Protection Officer

Department for Education (B2.28)
7 and 8 Wellington Place
Wellington Street
Leeds
LS1 4AW

Contact form https://form.education...

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office: 

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Contact form https://ico.org.uk/glo...

Helpline number: 0303 123 1113

Changes to this privacy notice 

We may need to update this privacy notice periodically, so we recommend that you revisit this information from time to time. This privacy notice was last reviewed in July 2024.