TeesLSCB’s Information Sharing Protocol

Tees LSCB’s Multi –Agency

Information Sharing Protocol

Contents

Page Number

Introduction

Purpose of Protocol

What is Information Sharing?

Flowchart of Key Questions for Information Sharing

Key Considerations for Information Sharing

Confidentiality and Sensitive Information

Duty of Confidentiality

Whose Consent to Seek

Sharing Information without Consent

When Consent should not be sought

Can I share Information when I cannot obtain

Consent or Consent is refused?

Confidentiality of Information Exchanged

Sharing Information Appropriately and Securely

Disclosure of Information about an Offender/

Suspected Offender

Pressing Needs Assessment regarding an

Offender/Suspected Offender

Information Sharing Protocol Partners

Information Security

Information retention

Information Transfer and Security

Designated Officer

Disclosure

Subject Access Requests

Freedom of Information

Review and Audit

Appendix 1: Glossary of terms

Appendix 2: Seven Golden Rules of

Information Sharing

Appendix 3: Pressing Needs Assessment

Proforma

Introduction

Local SafeguardingChildren Boards in Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar & Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees need to make sure that children across Teesside are safe. This means that they get the support they need when they need it.

Sometimes this requires sharing information between agencies and practitioners. Practitioners are often concerned about the possible legal or ethical restrictions on information sharing and about the impact of disclosure on their relationship with the child, young person and family. There are some clear circumstances in which professionals have a duty to share information in order to protect a child at risk of significant harm. Additionally, it is increasingly recognised in practice that a failure to share information, even regarding a low level need, may have serious consequences for the welfare of a child if not considered together with the concerns of others. Therefore it is vital we all clearly understand when information can be shared, when it would be inappropriate to share and how we share information.

Working Together to Safeguard Children (2013) states that:

  • Effective sharing of information between professionals and local agencies is essential for effective identification, assessment and service provision.
  • Early sharing of information is the key to providing effective early help where there are emerging problems. At the other end of the continuum, sharing information can be essential to put in place effective child protection services. Serious Case Reviews (SCRs) have shown how poor information sharing has contributed to the deaths or serious injuries of children.
  • Fears about sharing information cannot be allowed to stand in the way of the need to promote the welfare and protect the safety of children. To ensure effective safeguarding arrangements:
  • all organisations should have arrangements in place which set out clearly the processes and the principles for sharing information between each other, with other professionals and with the LSCB; and
  • no professional should assume that someone else will pass on information which they think may be critical to keeping a child safe. If a professional has concerns about a child’s welfare and believes they are suffering or likely to suffer harm, then they should share the information with local authority children’s social care.
  • Information Sharing: Guidance for practitioners and managers (2008) supports frontline practitioners, working in child or adult services, who have to make decisions about sharing personal information on a case by case basis. The guidance can be used to supplement local guidance and encourage good practice in information sharing.See the Department for Educationguidance on information sharing.

Purpose of the Protocol

This protocol reflects and builds upon Working Together 2013. The effective and timely sharing of information is essential to deliver high quality services focussed on the needs of the child. It is vital to ensure that children with identified needs get the services they require when they most need them and when they can have the most impact. A culture where information is shared with confidence as part of routine service delivery must be encouraged. The purpose of this agreement is to facilitate the lawful exchange of personal and sensitive information in the interests of protecting children from actual or potential harm.

The public expects, and the Data Protection Act 1998 requires, that personal information held by statutory agencies will be properly protected. However, there is also a public expectation that there will be an appropriate sharing of information between partners for specific areas with statutory obligations. The protocol has been developed in order to:

  • Promote effective multi-agency working that supports the work of all providers to improve the life chances of children across Teesside;
  • Support the implementation of the Common Assessment Framework and the development of integrated working and;
  • Ensure that Government Guidelines are followed for effective information sharing by all professionals.

It provides:

  • an outline of the type of information that is available and how it is viewed
  • practical guidance on how to share information

To supplement this Information Sharing Protocol all professionals should have access to and be aware of the following procedures, protocols and guidance:

  • Teeswide LSCB Multi-Agency Child Protection Procedures
  • HM Government Information Sharing: Guidance for practitioners and managers (2008)The ‘seven golden rules for information sharing’ contained within the document are attached (appendix 2) for ease of reference.

All organisations can accomplish information sharing lawfully by adhering to governing legislation and the principles of the Data Protection Act. Whilst an Information Sharing Protocol (ISP) is not a legal requirement, it is strongly felt that having real clarity around information sharing will improve the effectiveness and efficiency of service delivery and contribute to the improvement of outcomes for children.

Information Sharing Protocol’s are not required before front-line practitioners can share information about an individual, and the lack of a Protocol must never be a reason for not sharing information that could help a practitioner deliver services to an individual.

What is Information Sharing?

Information sharing should occur where there is a clear need for the exchange ofinformation to take place and there are legal powers that enable the agencies involved to doso. The information concerned should be both relevant to and proportional for the purposeconcerned. It can take place in a number of ways:

  • Disclosure, in which an agency acknowledges that it possesses relevant data. Itmay make that data accessible to a requesting agency or individual, but retainsownership and responsibility.
  • Sharing in which agenciespool available data and maintain single, service based records (often multi-agency teams). Ownershipand responsibility for the record also needs to be shared
  • Exchange in which one agency provides one or more other agencies with relevantdata. Ownership and responsibility passes to the new agency, who may add,update, or amend the record to meet further requirements.
  • Reporting, in which an agency provides statistical data for an agreed reportingmechanism which may be reported to local as well as national groups/agencies. Thesource/ owner of data presented in any report should be identified in all cases.

Each of these approaches needs to be managed appropriately. Failure to do so can createconfusion and uncertainty for front line staff, along with the potential for disproportional orirrelevant exposure of information.

There are three types of information that public sector agencies manage and may share:

  • organisational material: plans, policies, guidelines, minutes of meetings. Thisis generally freely available under the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act,subject to specific exemptions where the material concerned may be consideredcommercially sensitive or otherwise restricted.
  • Statistical material: aggregated and/oranonymised data, along with relevant analysis. This type of information is usually disclosedby publication, or exchanged between agencies. Exchange often involves the provision ofraw data sets which the receiving agency may combine with other data in order to providemore detailed analysis. This kind of data is generally structured to avoid identification ofspecific individuals.
  • person-identifiableinformation: (as defined by The Data Protection Act 1998)
  • Any information that may identify a living individual, whether that individual is a service user (i.e. patient, client etc), an employee or any other relevant person; for example, a customer reference number, address, photograph or CCTV image.
  • Any information that can clearly identify a living individual when combined with any other data;
  • Aggregate information which may contain information about a group of individuals from which a single individual may be identified.


Key Considerations for Information Sharing

  1. Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights gives everyone the right to respect for family life, home and correspondence.

Authorities can only interfere with this if they are acting lawfully, are pursuing alegitimate aim, (including protection of health and the rights of others) and the action is no more than is needed. Sometimes this may mean the balance of one individual’s rights against another’s (e.g. a child’s rights against the parents) or the different rights of the one individual (e.g. a young person’s right to privacy against their right to protection).

  1. Individuals should be provided, openly and honestly, with what and how information will, or could be shared and the reasons why such information will be shared. The presumption will be that consent is given to the sharing of this information in appropriate circumstances. There must be the opportunity to record within the information retention and sharing mechanisms of the relevant organisation that an individual has exercised his or her right to refuse to allow sharing of their information.
  1. Safeguarding and promoting the welfare, and future welfare, of a child is the prime consideration in all decision making about information sharing.
  1. Information to be shared is accurate and, necessary for the purpose for which it is being shared, shared only with those people who need to see it and shared securely.
  1. Every proposal to share service user identifiable information between organisations must have a defined and justifiable purpose.
  1. There may be occasions where a judgement is made that the refusal to give consent to share information would put that child, young person or others at risk of significant harm or if it would undermine the prevention, detection or prosecution of a serious crime, including where seeking consent might lead to interference with any potential investigation. In such circumstances the expectation is that the information would be shared, overriding any expressed refusal to share on the part of the individual.
  1. Respect where possible the wishes of adults, children, young people or families who do not consent to sharing confidential information.

You may still share information, if in your judgement on the facts of the case; there is sufficient need to override an absence of consent in order to protect the welfare of a child or adult.

  1. Seek advice where you are in doubt, especially where your doubt relates to a concern about possible significant harm to a child or serious harm to others.
  1. Always record the reasons for the decision, whether it is to share information or not and ensure that appropriate managers/panels/groups are informed of any significant actions so that it is logged and agreed by more than one person.

Confidentiality and Sensitive Information

Not all information is confidential. Confidential information is information of some sensitivity, which is not already lawfully in the public domain or readily available from another public source, and which has been shared in a relationship where the person giving the information understood that it would not be shared with others. Information which is not confidential may generally be shared where that is necessary for the legitimate purposes of statutory and preventative work.

Basic demographic information (such as names and addresses) is not considered as confidentialinformation,as long as it can be demonstrated that the information is not sensitive and that it isappropriate to share with other statutory agencies, in order to enable them to fulfil their individual and collective statutory duties. Examples include:

  • The localauthority can share basic demographic information such as pupil names and addresses from school lists with the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)in order for the School Health Service to carry out statutory schoolhealth checks within schools.
  • The CCG can share basic demographic information such as names and addresses for children 0-5 so that Children’s Centres can provideuniversal early years services to new families and so that the LA can perform its statutoryduties for childcare planning and provision.

Confidence is only breached where the sharing of confidential and sensitiveinformation is notauthorised by the person who provided it or to whom it relates. If the information was provided on the understanding that it would be shared with a limited range of people or for limited purposes then sharing in accordance with that understanding will not be a breach of confidence. Similarly, there will not be a breach of confidence where there is explicit consent to the sharing.

Where the sharing of confidential and sensitive information is not authorised, you may still lawfully shareit, if it can be justified in the public interest, e.g. to protect a child or someone else from harm or to promote the welfare of a child or to prevent crime and disorder.

Duty of Confidentiality

The duty of confidentiality is owed to the individual to whom the information relates and to the person who has provided the information on the understanding it is to be kept confidential.

Where there is any concern about achildyou should not regard refusal or absence of consent asa reason to stop the sharing of confidential and sensitive information.

Consent

Many issues surrounding the disclosure of personal information can be avoided if theconsent of the individual has been sought and obtained. Obtaining consent remains amatter of good practice and in circumstances where it is appropriate and possible, informedconsent should always be sought.

Practitioners from all agencies should proactively inform children, young people and families, when they first engage with the service, about their service’s policy on how information will be shared, and seek their consent. Where there is a significant change in the use to which the information will be put, or a change in the relationship between the agency and the individual, consent should be sought again. It must be remembered that individuals have the right to withdraw consent at any time.

Informed consent means that the person giving consent needs to understand why information needs to be shared, who will see their information, what it will be used for and the implications of sharing that information. There should be a climate of openness and honesty with children and families where, in the main, informed consent is obtained at the start of intervention in children’s lives and gained again where circumstances alter for example where an agency wishes to make a referral of a child with additional needs or a child in need to another agency.

Children and families should be encouraged to see information sharing (and giving their consent to share their personal information) in a positive light, and as something which makes it easier for them to receive the services that they need.

Where possible, the wishes of children, young people or families who do not consent to sharing confidential information should be respected.

Whose Consent toSeek

All people aged 16 and over are presumed, in law, to have the capacity to give or withholdtheir consent to the sharing of confidential information, unless there is evidence to the contrary.

Seeking consent can at times pose difficult dilemmas. The principle should always be one of openness with both parents and children; practitioners wherever possible should seek to gain the consent of both parents and children. All people over the age of 16 are presumed to have capacity to give or withhold their consent to sharing of confidential information, unless there is evidence to the contrary under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

A child, who has the capacity to understand and make their own decisions, may give, or refuse consent to share information. In every case assessment should be made of a child’s understanding explaining the issues to the child in a way that is suitable for their age, language and likely understanding and using their preferred mode of communication. Generally children aged over 12 may be expected to have sufficient understanding. However younger children may also have sufficient understanding. When assessing ‘sufficient understanding’ practitioners should consider whether the child has a reasonable understanding of what information might be shared, the main reason(s) for sharing it and the implications of sharing or not sharing the information. Practitioners should then assess whether the child can

  • “appreciate and consider the alternative courses of action open to them;
  • weigh up one aspect of the situation against another;
  • express a clear personal view on the matter, as distinct from repeating what someone else thinks they should do; and
  • be reasonably consistent in their view on the matter, and are they constantly changing their mind?” Information Sharing: Guidance for Practitioners and managers, 2008

Where a child cannot consent one person with parental responsibility should be asked to consent on behalf of the child. In these circumstances it remains important that practitioners seek the child’s views as far as possible. When seeking parental consent, practitioners should ensure proper consideration is given to whose consent to seek. For example where parents are separated consent should be sought from the parent with whom the child resides.

Where a child is able to give informed consent the practitioner must consider their consent or refusal even where a parent disagrees. In such circumstances the practitioner must encourage the child to discuss the issue with their parents and agree how this will be managed. Practitioners must not withhold any service on the condition that parents are informed.