As Family Safeguarding is a multi-agency approach to safeguarding, Dudley Local Authority have access to data held by partner agencies in delivery of their joined-up services. The intention is to use the multiple sources of information across the partnership to understand what services have been delivered and what benefits there has been for families.
For those families involved in the evaluation, anonymised data will be shared confidentially and securely with the University of Birmingham. You will be allocated to one of two groups; one will be a group of families who have been supported within the Family Safeguarding model, and the other will be a group who were supported by Children's Social Care before Family Safeguarding was introduced. We will collect information from police, health, education, substance misuse and domestic abuse records from the period you were being supported by Children's Social Care.
A confidentially agreement and university ethics committee agreement will be in place covering the protection of the sharing of this data with the University of Birmingham.
Families who were invited to be part of the evaluation were written to and given the option to opt-out of the evaluation, whether they were allocated as part of the treatment or control group. Participants who have engaged with Family Safeguarding at a later date and may form part of treatment are also written to in order to give the option to opt-out.
If families choose not to take part in the evaluation, this will not affect the support you receive from Children's Social Care.
The University of Birmingham will retain anonymised information for 10 years within a secure data archive, according to UKRI research guidelines. Any information that could directly or indirectly identify individuals will first be removed.
Where truly anonymised data is being shared and processed the requirements of the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 do not apply, however please note that a confidentially agreement and university ethics committee agreement will be in place covering the protection of the sharing of this data with the University of Birmingham.
In terms of the Council and Partners processing personal data for evaluation purposes, the Lawful Basis for this processing is:
UK GDPR, Article 6, 1 (e) – Public Task – processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of an official authority vested in the controller (e.g. scientific research, public health etc).
And for the processing of special category data:
UK GDPR, Article 9, 2, (h) – processing is necessary for the purposes of preventative or occupational medicine, for the assessment of the working capacity of the employee, medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems and services on the basis of UK Law.
The "UK Law" supporting this would be:
Children Act 1989: This legislation outlines the duty of local authorities to safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area. It emphasises that any services provided should aim to prevent the need for children to enter care and that interventions should be based on an understanding of the child’s best interests, which can be informed by evaluations.
Children Act 2004: The Act reinforces the duty of various agencies to work together to safeguard children. The Act encourages collaboration and accountability, which support the systematic evaluation of models like Family Safeguarding to improve multi-agency practices.
The Care Act 2014: Although primarily aimed at adults, this Act influences children’s services through its emphasis on safeguarding and the transition from children’s to adult’s services. Its emphasis on prevention and outcomes encourages evaluating and refining approaches that support families holistically.
Working Together to Safeguard Children: This statutory guidance emphasises evidence-based practice and the need for continuous improvement in safeguarding children. It promotes evaluation and learning from interventions to enhance practice across services.
Children and Social Work Act 2017: This Act introduced measures to improve social work practice, such as the What Works Centre for Children's Social Care. This centre promotes the evaluation of different models to establish effective practices.
Public Health Legislation: As the Family Safeguarding model involves integrating health professionals, public health frameworks support evaluation and emphasise the importance of evidence-based interventions to address family welfare issues.
For further details relating to how Children's Services processes your information for delivery of the services it provides, please see the separate Privacy Notice that is available at this link:
Children's Services Privacy Notice
Under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, parents/carers and young people have the right to request access to information that we hold about them.
To make a request for your (or your child’s) personal information, contact the Council's Corporate Information Governance Team;
email at information.governance@dudley.gov.uk or by calling 0300 555 2345 and asking to speak to the Data Protection Officer.
Depending on the lawful basis, you may also have the right to:
• object to processing of personal data that is likely to cause, or is causing, damage or distress
• prevent processing for the purpose of direct marketing
• object to decisions being taken by automated means
• in certain circumstances, have inaccurate personal data rectified, blocked, erased or destroyed; and
• a right to seek redress, either through the ICO, or through the courts
Where we are processing your personal data with your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent. If you change your mind, or you are unhappy with our use of your personal data, contact the Data Protection Officer at information.governance@dudley.gov.uk or by calling 0300 555 2345 and asking to speak to the Data Protection Officer.
