Early Years and Childcare Settings Privacy Notice

Our Early Years Team collects data about children, parents and families in public, private, voluntary and independent early years and childcare settings in order to:

• Analyse and compare the performance and attainment of children and subsequently offer advice and guidance where relevant to reduce inequalities that exist.
• Improve the general well-being of children in childcare settings.
• Identify eligibility for free and funded childcare places and to monitor the attainment of children attending early year’s settings.

We collect personal information to make sure that we can carry out our work. The personal information we collect includes:

• Name.
• Age and date of birth.
• Address.
• Gender.
• Ethnicity.
• Employment status.
• Parent or carer status.
• National Insurance and National Asylum Support Service numbers.
• First language.
• Disability.
• Special educational need status.
• Education and attainment data.

When we collect personal information it may be about:

• Children.
• Families.
• Parents and carers.
• Students.
• Service users.

We use your personal information to:

• Maintain records.
• Confirm service eligibility.
• Provide early years education support and advice.
• Conduct reviews and research.
• Assess performance.
• Support early years childcare and educational outcomes.
• Safeguard the welfare of children.
• Commission and plan services.
• Improve service delivery.
• Undertake regulatory activity.

We are required by law to improve the well-being of young children and reduce inequalities between young children. This is detailed in legislation and guidance including:

• The Childcare Act 2006
• The Childcare (Provision of Information About Young Children)(England) Regulations 2009
• Family Hubs and Start for Life Programme Guide August 2022
• The Childcare (Provision of Information About Young Children)(England) Regulations 2017
• Early Education and Childcare: Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities (April 2023)
• Department for Education Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage 2021
• The Education Act 2002
• The Equality Act 2010
• SEND Code of Practice 2015
• The Children and Family Act 2014

We are allowed to process personal and sensitive data for the following reasons under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Articles and the Data Protection Act:

• To comply with a legal obligation.
• To provide a statutory function.

We collect information from and disclose information to individuals and organisations that can support our work including:

• Public, private, voluntary and independent childcare providers.
• Partner agencies.
• Council departments.
• Schools and other education providers.

• Early help support for families

Contact the team