The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and your personal data
Data protection affects every single customer of the College, including staff and students, and the following articles explain what you can expect from the College.
What is Data Protection
Data protection legislation sets out the requirements for how Blackburn College, as a data controller, processes personal data. Personal Data is defined as any data that identifies or is likely to identify a living individual, including facts and opinions.
The collects and processes a range of data from its students, from details of your previous qualifications and attendance marks, to the grades you achieve whilst studying with us.
From time to time you will be asked to provide us with personal information about yourself (e.g. name and email address etc) in order to become a student or a client, to use College systems and services etc. At the point of collecting the information we aim to clearly explain what it is going to be used for and who we may share it with. Unless required or permitted by law, we will always ask you before we use it for any other reason. We would only use it for marketing with you prior consent.
Any sensitive personal information will never be supplied to anyone outside the College without first obtaining your consent, unless required or permitted by law. We comply with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), including removing your personal information from our systems when it is no longer required and ensuring that all personal information supplied is held securely.
Whenever you provide such personal information, we will treat that information in accordance with this statement, current legislation and our Data Protection Registration (Registration Number: Z6753776. We also aim to meet current best practice.
Individuals whose personal information the College holds have certain rights under the law. More information can be found on the Information Commissioner’s website.
Enrolment
This section explains how the College uses the personal information that you give us on the enrolment form.
How the College uses your information
The information will be used for purposes relating to education, training, employment, general advice services, well-bring and research. The College may share non-sensitive personal information about you with other organisations, for example the Local Authority (see below), for these purposes. We do not share your information for purposes that are incompatible, such as product marketing.
Sensitive personal information you provide (e.g. disability or ethnicity) may be used by the College for the purposes of equality of opportunity, support for your studies and to minimise risk. It may also be used anonymously for statistical purposes. The College will ask your permission before sharing sensitive information with other organisations, unless the sharing is permitted by law and necessary.
How government departments use your information
We pass information to government agencies to meet funding arrangements as required under our contractual obligations. The College is a Data Processor for the Education and Skills Funding Agency. This means that the College will pass most of the personal information and some of the sensitive information you provide to the Education and Skills Funding Agency and the Office for Students, both of whom are part of the Department for Education (DfE).
The information is used for the exercise of functions of these government departments and to meet statutory responsibilities, including under the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009. It is also used to create and maintain a unique learner number (ULN) and a Personal Learning Record (PLR).
The information may be shared with other organisations for purposes of administration, the provision of services and the provision of career and other guidance and statistical and research purposes, relating to education, training, employment and well-being. This will only take place where the sharing follows Data Protection legislation.
You may be contacted after you have completed your programme of learning to establish whether you have entered employment or gone onto further training or education.
Further information about use of and access to your personal data, and details of organisations with whom the data is regularly shared are available at: http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-privacy-notice
The legal basis for collecting the information
Most of the information on the form is collected because it is necessary for your enrolment as a student, to manage your progress on your course or is required by law. You must provide it in order to enrol at the College.
Parents, carers and guardians
Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), young people aged 16 and over can decide for themselves and give consent for the processing of their personal information Parental consent is not required. There may be exceptions in regards of students with severe learning difficulties, school link students and those who are otherwise unable to decide for themselves.
The College has found that it is very beneficial to the young person’s progress as a student if the College is able to engage with the parents (or carer/guardian). Therefore, it is very important that we have the parents’ details recorded on our systems to allow the College to effectively communicate on the student’s progress, attendance etc.
Participation in Learning: Sharing information with Local Authorities
This section applies to:
- 16 and 17 year olds
- Vulnerable 18 year olds (‘vulnerable’ is defined locally be individual Local Authorities)
- 18-25 year olds with an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP)
The Education and Skills Act 2008 (the Act) places duties on Local Authorities (LAs) to promote the effective participation in education and training of all 16 and 17 year olds resident in their area, and to make arrangements to identify young people resident in their area who are not participating. It is part of the LA’s duties to secure sufficient suitable education and training provision for all 16-19-year olds, and to encourage, enable and assist young people to participate in learning.
Under the Act, it is the College’s duty to provide relevant information about their students to the LA of each student’s residence, when requested to do so, and notify local LAs when a young person leaves learning at the College. All educational institutions are required to share information with LAs as part of their duty under the Act.
Section 72 of the Act provides the legal basis for sharing information between LAs and educational institutions. The link to the relevant section is referenced here: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2008/25/section/14
When you give us your information we will use your details to inform the LA where you live, about the learning you are participating in so that they are able to report monthly to the Department for Education and deliver their duties listed above.
Please note that some of the services for young people provided by the LA to fulfil their duties are provided by commissioned external contractors and organisations and they are required to use the same security standards as the LA.
If you wish to opt out of the sharing of your basic details for this purpose, or wish to see information held by the College about you for this purpose, please refer to our Data Protection Policy.
Criminal Convictions
As an applicant to Blackburn College you will be asked to declare any unspent criminal convictions and/or inform the College of any convictions that are obtained whilst a student/member of staff.
Blackburn College serves the community inclusive of children and thus all individuals will be asked about any unspent criminal history in order for a safeguarding assessment to be exercised.
In rare instances individuals may be denied access to the institution due to the nature of unspent convictions or appropriate control measures will be suggested.
Website and Cookies
This section applies to anyone accessing the Blackburn College website.
A cookie is a small file, typically of letters and numbers, downloaded to your device (e.g. your PC) when you access the College website. Cookies allow the website to recognise your device and so distinguish between the different users that access the site.
Session cookies will remember your selections as you browse the site. These cookies are for the browsing session and not stored long term. No personal information is collected by these cookies.
Google Analytics cookies help us to make the website better for you by providing us with user statistics, for example: which pages are the most visited; how a user navigates the site. No personal information is collected by these cookies.
You may delete or control the use of cookies through your browser settings.
To find out more about cookies and what cookies might be stored on your device, visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org. If you have any queries or concerns about our use of cookies on this website, please contact marketing@blackburn.ac.uk
During the course of your study you may be asked to use third party websites or services or access linked content (e.g. YouTube) which may collect personal data about you. Each site will have its own privacy notice to explain how they use your data.
Responsibilities
The College as a corporate body is the data controller under the Data Protection Act 2018, and the Board of Governors is therefore ultimately responsible for implementation. The designated Data Controller who is appointed to ensure compliance with the Act is the Vice Principal: Finance and Corporate Services (Data Protection Officer).
Further Information
If you have any questions about the ways in which we use your personal information, please contact the Data Protection Officer:
Jennifer Eastham, Vice Principal: Finance and Corporate Services
Blackburn College
Feilden Street
Blackburn
BB2 1LH
Tel: 01254 292331
Email: jennifer.eastham@blackburn.ac.uk
If you have a data protection concern that cannot or has not been resolved by the College, you have the right to raise it with the Information Commissioner’s Office.
