What this privacy notice is for

Our core data protection obligations and commitments are set out in the council’s primary privacy notice:

• Data protection - web page

The Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) service is the single point of access for all safeguarding concerns across all service areas for both Children & Adults with care and support needs. The MASH consists of representatives from the council's adult safeguarding and children's social care departments working alongside partner organisations:

• to identify children, young people and families who are eligible for help and support
• to understand and meet the needs of children, young people and families
• to ensure services across a range of organisations are coordinated and focused on children, young people and families with the most pressing and complex needs
• to participate in local and national research to assess how well the services are working in
• delivering better long-term outcomes for children, young people and families and in making services more effective

This support can include the signposting to other agencies and/or referral to children’s social care depending on the level of risk.

Updating our privacy notices

We may update or revise our privacy notices at any time so please refer to the version published on our website for the most up to date details.

What we use your information for

The MASH service will collect and processes/use information for individuals:

• To prevent harm or abuse for Children & Adults who by reason of their care and support needs are unable to protect themselves from either actual or potential abuse or harm.
• Where appropriate, to arrange for the concern/risk to progress along an alternative care pathway e.g., social care assessment/ carer's assessment / care package increase etc. to minimise the risk of abuse or harm and to promote wellbeing
• To make contact with the service user (or their representative if appropriate) to discuss safeguarding enquiries and their desired outcomes in line with making safeguarding personal.
• To make an initial view regarding Adult mental capacity and as appropriate refer to the appropriate service such as Advocacy Services for alleged victims, who may lack capacity and may require support to participate in the safeguarding enquiry process and the safeguarding planning arrangements.
• To consult with Police partners within the MASH where there is concern that an alleged victim is the subject of crime – to determine if the police should lead the safeguarding enquiry and to determine if a single agency community visit or police and social worker joint enquiry is needed.
• To consult with Police partners to obtain police intelligence of the person alleged to have caused harm to determine if there is intelligence which may suggest risk to alleged victim/risk to others /risks to the environment.
• To share information and discuss with key statutory partners to mitigate against such risks.
• To work alongside and in partnership with MASH and the council’s partners such as the MASH and the Emergency Duty Team (EDT) out of hour's social work service.
• To notify the CQC the regulator (for regulatory purposes) in respect of all safeguarding alerts received in respect of all allegations for individuals in receipt of registered residential or domiciliary care services for consideration of regulation breach.
• To notify contracts where there is information and allegations relating to quality concerns and consideration of contractual breach.
• To consult with registered service providers to enable them to take timely action to mitigate the immediate risk and or prevent a re-occurrence of the safeguarding incident.
• To obtain assurance that advice and medical intervention as required has been obtained.
• To work to the categories of abuse as defined in the Care Act 2014 (amended 2016)
• To work to the categories of abuse as defined in the Children Act 1989, 2004, Working together to safeguard Children 2018.
• To record and maintain information on the Radar spreadsheet which contributes to the Radar and QPIP quality meetings so that the overall quality of registered services in Lancashire can improve and contribute to patient safety.
• To follow the council’s serious incident reporting procedure where criteria is met.
• Where possible signpost Children and families to a service that can meet their level of need, and where safeguarding is identified, a safeguarding plan is put into place in a timely manner.
• Where possible and appropriate make section 42 safeguarding enquiries (Care Act 2014) and reach a conclusion, ensuring that a safeguarding plan is in place. Where an enquiry concludes neglect or an omission of care has occurred within regulated services, make recommendations in respect of actions required to prevent a re-occurrence.
• Information will only be shared on a need to know basis in accordance with the information sharing agreement and General Data Protection Requirements.
• To monitor, evaluate and plan for service improvements.

What categories of personal information we use

Personal information can be anything that identifies and relates to a living person. This can include information that when linked with other information, allows a person to be uniquely identified. For example, this could be your name and contact details.

The law treats some types of personal information as ‘special’ because the information requires more protection due to its sensitivity. This information consists of:

• Racial or ethnic origin
• Sexuality and sexual life
• Religious or philosophical beliefs
• Trade union membership
• Political opinions
• Genetic and bio-metric data
• Physical or mental health
• Criminal convictions and offences

In order to carry out these purposes we collect and obtain the following personal information.

MASH collects and holds information about people to whom this safeguarding duty applies. This information is only shared between MASH partner agencies were relevant and on a need-to-know basis and in response to allegations or likelihood of abuse and/or harm

This may include making referrals to various organisations to contribute to a safeguarding plan and/or as part of an assessment/review.

Legal basis for processing

The legal basis for processing and or sharing your personal information, under Article 6, is:

(c) Legal Obligation: the processing is necessary for you to comply with the law. You must reference the applicable legislation if you wish to rely on this basis for processing.

(d) Vital Interests: the processing is necessary to protect someone's life.

(e) Public Task: the processing is necessary for you to perform a task in the public interest or for your official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law. You must reference the applicable task/function and its' basis in law if you wish to rely on this basis for processing.

The legal basis for processing your special categories of personal data, in accordance with the UK GDPR is:

(g) Processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest.

(h) Processing is necessary for the purposes of preventive 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.

Supporting legislation:

• The Care Act 2014
• Children Act 2004 - Sections 10 and 11
• Children Act 1989 - Section 47 and Section 17
• Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018
• Crime and Disorder Act 1998
• The Localism Act 2011
• Human Rights Act 1998
• The Mental Capacity Act
• Counterterrorism and Security Act 2015

The Data Protection Act 2018 provides a lawful basis to process criminal offence data, as defined in Article 10 of the GDPR. The local authority will collect the personal data under the public task basis to improve services for families.

Information sharing/recipients

We may share personal information about you with the following types of services/ organisations:

• Police
• Council social care teams for children and adults
• UK Border Agency
• Department for Education
• Health Agencies e.g., NHS, GPs
• Youth Offending Service
• Fire Service
• Education providers
• Schools
• Substance misuse agencies
• Domestic violence services
• Housing Providers
• Department of Work & Pensions
• Third-sector/voluntary organisations
• Judicial agencies e.g. Courts/Probation/Prison Services

Other Local Authorities who need to carry out checks for their MASH, child and family assessments and child protection enquiries.

Data Transfers beyond European Economic Area

We do not transfer any of your personal information outside the European Economic Area (‘EEA’).

Automated Decisions

All the decisions we make about you involve human intervention.

Our Guide to Exercising Your Rights outlines the procedure to ask us for an automated decision to be reviewed by an appropriate officer. This can be found at:

• Your data rights - web page

How long do we keep your data?

We will only keep your personal information for as long as the law specifies or where the law does not specify this, for the length of time determined by our business requirements.

Where can I get advice?

More information on how to seek advice in order to exercise your rights, raise a concern or complain about the handling of your personal information by the council can be found in the council’s privacy notice which can be found at:

• Data protection - web page