Child’s right to see information recorded on Social Work Children & Families system: FOI release

Information requested

What processes are recorded as being put in place [potentially under the Children (Scotland) Act 2002] such that a child can see the false information on one or both parents that has been recorded on the Social Work Children & Families system having been sourced from a false (and not investigated) police report at a multi-agency meeting such as an Inter-Agency Referral Discussion (IRD) or Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) such that the child can see how the state has removed and eradicated one parent from the child’s life for no reason only on vexatious heresay and libel?

Response

Personal information including convictions, crime reports and Interim Vulnerable Person Database entries shared by Police Scotland during Initial Referral Discussions (IRD) and Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference is shared for law enforcement purposes to safeguard prevent, investigate and prosecute criminal offences.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 require all organisations that process personal data to comply with six enforceable principles regarding privacy and disclosure; these vary slightly according to why personal data is being processed. These principles are that data shall be:

• Processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner*
• Collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes
• Adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary
• Accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date
• Kept for no longer than is necessary
• Processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security

* The requirement for transparency does not apply in the same way to processing of personal data for law enforcement purposes – defined as the prevention, investigation or prosecution of criminal offences or the execution of criminal penalties, including the safeguarding against and the prevention of threats to public security. This is because the disclosure of information relating to this processing may prejudice these purposes.

Any decisions made during an IRD and MARAC process that affects a child will be explained to them, but this will not include the disclosure of personal information about other parties unless it is necessary to safeguard. Section 38 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 allows for a 3rd party to apply for personal information about another person however there are a number of exemptions and in most cases will not include information recorded for law enforcement purposes.

A person can apply for their own personal information by means of a subject access request under the Data Protection Act 2018 by means of a Subject Access Request. I have attached a hyperlink from the website of the Scottish Information Commissioner, which you may find useful:
Exemptions - Personal information (section 38) (itspublicknowledge.info).

I have also attached a link below to the Keeling Schedules, which provides the updates to the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR since 2018:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-protection-law-eu-exit.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.