PN124 - Fostering Enquiries and Assessments Privacy Notice

Torfaen County Borough Council is committed to protecting your privacy when you use our services. This Privacy Notice is designed to give you information about the data we hold about you, how we use it, your rights in relation to it and the safeguards in place to protect it.

TCBC Service Area: Social Care and Housing
Work area: Fostering
Contact Details: Kirsty Cooke, Team Manager, Family Placement Team
Privacy Notice Name: Fostering Enquiries and Assessments

Data controller: Torfaen County Borough Council, c/o Civic Centre, Pontypool NP4 6YB

If you wish to raise a concern about the handling of your personal data, please contact the Data Protection Officer on 01495 762200 or email dpa@torfaen.gov.uk

Foster Wales Torfaen is the fostering service that manages all fostering related enquiries for Torfaen County Borough Council, to the point that potential candidates are approved and beyond.

This notice is provided for clarification on what information the Council needs in order to process enquiries to foster. It is necessary for the Council to gather, collect, store and process personal information relating to individuals who enquire about fostering. The Council puts measures in place to protect the privacy of individuals throughout this process.

Who provides your data to the Council?

The personal information we process is provided to us directly by you at the point of making your enquiry / application and throughout the assessment process, if this progresses.

Your consent is sought at the point of your application to obtain your information indirectly from other relevant agencies, departments and individuals to enable the assessment process.

It is important that we hold accurate and up to date information about you in order to assess your needs and deliver the appropriate services. If any of your details have changed, or change in the future, please ensure that you tell us as soon as possible so that we can update your records.

How does the Council collect this information?

Information is collected through:

The online enquiry form
Telephone conversations
Face to face sessions with the prospective foster carer/s
Letters, reports and other information is sought from other organisations and individuals connected with your assessment

What information does the Council collect about you?

The information obtained in relation to your enquiry to foster will only be used to contact you to discuss your enquiry further. Foster Wales Torfaen collects the following information at enquiry stage:

Name, date of birth, gender
Address, contact telephone number/s and email address
Details of your General Practitioner (name, surgery, address and contact telephone number)
Whether you have previously been known to Social Services and if so, brief details of any involvement
Your employment patterns
Name, date of birth and gender of all other residents in your home, including their relationship to you
Name and address of any regular visitors to your home, including their relationship to you
The number of bedrooms you have available for fostering
Details of any pets
Whether you or anyone in your household smoke
Your motivation for fostering

Separate consents will be required for any other personal information needed to continue with the fostering process.

If you are going through the process of assessment to become a foster carer, we will process information on you, your partner – anyone in your household who will be involved in the process. This information may include, but not be limited to:

Criminal convictions including DBS checks
Full medicals undertaken by GP and medical advisor comments
Any other information relevant to your application

Why does the Council process your personal data?

Under Article 6 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing this information are:

(e) We need it to perform a public task

Please note we may ask for consent to engage in aspects of this service, however, consent is not the legal basis we rely on to process your personal data.

Special categories of personal data

We collect the following special category data:

personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin
personal data revealing religious or philosophical beliefs
data concerning health
data concerning a person’s sexual orientation
personal data revealing political opinions
data concerning a person’s sex life

We collect this under Article 9 of the UK GDPR.

AND

Where we collect criminal data, this is processed within the Council under Article 10 of the UK GDPR.

Who has access to your data?

Your data is shared internally only with the appropriate staff where it is necessary for the performance of their roles.

Your personal information is not shared with any other organisation at the point of enquiry. Your information will only be shared if the enquiry proceeds, for the fostering service to determine your suitability to become a foster carer. At this point you will be asked to give consent for your personal information to be shared internally. Should you progress to full assessment you will be asked for consent for your personal information to be shared with other persons / organisations who are an essential part of your full assessment. Further details will be provided about these other persons / organisations should you progress to full assessment. These may include, but not be limited to:

Care Inspectorate Wales
Local Authority checks

Apart from where previously stated, we do not pass your details to third parties unless we are lawfully required do so.

Is the Data transferred out of the UK?

Data is not routinely transferred outside of the UK. However, there may be occasions where information is requested from agencies / individuals outside of the UK. For example, where the applicant has previously resided outside of the UK or where a family member currently resides outside of the UK.

How does the Council keep your data secure?

The Council has internal policies in place to ensure the data it processes is not lost, accidentally destroyed, misused or disclosed. Access to this data is restricted in accordance with the Council’s internal policies and in compliance with the UK GDPR.

Data will be stored securely in:

A secure database - WCCIS (Welsh Community Care Information System)
The Council’s secure network drive

Where the Council engages third parties to process personal data on its behalf, they do so on the basis of written instructions. These third parties are also under a duty of confidentiality and are obliged to implement appropriate measures to ensure the security of data.

How long does the Council keep your data?

The Council will hold your personal data only for the period that is necessary and will follow organisational and Local Authority standards in this area. At the end of the retention period the Council will securely destroy or dispose of the data in line with retention schedules.

All fostering records are retained for a period of 75 years

Are we making automated decisions/profiling with your data?

Your rights

You have a number of Rights you can exercise:

Access - to obtain a copy of your data on request. (Please note Community Meals dashcam footage is only available for two hours. i.e. footage recorded at 1130 will be overwritten by 1330 the same day. Footage recorded after 1300 will be overwritten by 1130 the following day).
Rectification – to require the Council to change incorrect or incomplete data
Object, Restrict or Delete - under certain circumstances you can require the Council to delete or stop processing your data, for example where the data is no longer necessary for the purposes of processing
Data portability – to receive and/or transmit data provided to the Council to other organisations (this applies in limited circumstances)
Withdraw your consent at any time (where consent has been given)
To know the consequences of failing to provide data to the Council
To know the existence of any Automated Decision-making, including profiling, and the consequences of this for you.
To lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority (Information Commissioners Office)

If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact: Kirsty Cooke, Team Manager, Family Placement Team, Torfaen County Borough Council, Glantorvaen Road, Pontypool NP4 6YB. Email: SS_CHFP@torfaen.gov.uk

The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office (Wales), 2 nd Floor, Churchill House, Churchill Way, Cardiff, CF10 2HH. Telephone 0330 414 6421 or e-mail Wales@ico.org.uk.

Last Modified: 17/07/2023 Back to top