Birmingham Youth Justice Service Privacy Notice

Who are we?

Birmingham Youth Justice Service (BYJS) in Birmingham Children’s Trust work with children who are involved in, or at risk of offending behaviour. We do this be working with children, their parents or carers, the victim of crime, volunteers and the local community. The service works with children and young people, from as young as 10 up to 17 years of age, who have broken the law have either been sentenced by a court or have come to the attention of the police but not been charged.

Birmingham Youth Justice Service is a multi-agency team made up of staff from a range of organisations including the Police, Probation Service, education and children’s social care all working together to support children. We also have specialist workers within the Birmingham Youth Justice Service who can support with Health, restorative processes and education.

We identify risk factors in young people's lives, which make it more likely they will re-offend and put interventions in place to reduce the risks and prevent re-offending.

This is done with young people who appear before the courts and with young people on pre-court programmes and out of court disposals.

What personal data do we collect and record?

To provide you with high quality and safe services, which are relevant to your needs, the Birmingham Youth Justice Service will collect and hold information that is appropriate to the service you require. This may include:

  • Basic details such as your name, address, date of birth
  • Parents/carers, family members - name, address, contact details
  • Housing records
  • Education records
  • Police reports
  • Offences (including alleged offences), criminal proceedings, outcomes
  • Medical Reports including physical health or mental condition
  • Information from the Youth Justice Service
  • Information from other professionals who may be involved with you e.g. CAMHS, substance misuse, speech and language
  • Information about victims of youth crime
  • You and your family Immigration status
  • NHS Number  

We also collect the following special category data:

  • Gender
  • Ethnicity
  • Religion
  • Medical information

Information from other professionals who may be involved with you e.g. CAMHS, substance misuse, speech and language.

We collect information about you in the following ways:

  • Face to face
  • By secure email
  • By post
  • By telephone
  • Paper electronic or online forms
  • Use of audio monitoring equipment or CCTV

Information may also be collected from relevant partner agencies as appropriate, such as:

  • Police
  • Probation
  • education providers e.g., nurseries, schools, and colleges
  • health services (health visitors, school nurses, GPs, consultants)
  • Trust’s Practice Team which social care services
  • Restorative justice team
  • NHS

The Birmingham Youth Justice Service team works with all children and young people who come into contact with the criminal justice system because they have committed an offence. We assess and look at the situation of every child and identify or assess the possible reasons why they may have committed the offence and any problems they may be experiencing which may increase the likelihood they will commit further offences in the future.

Information you provide will enable BYJS to plan and support you and your family, however, information about you may be requested by the court and it can affect plans if it is not shared.

Sometimes we are required by law to share information about you, and we do not need to get your permission to do this. Examples might be to protect you or others against risk of harm or to prevent any future crimes.

Lawful Basis

The service has both statutory and voluntary teams working with children, young people and their families from age 10 – 17 (24 for young people with additional needs).

Consent

Where we are providing service to families that is voluntary, the lawful basis we rely on is consent.

Withdrawal of consent

Where personal data is processed based on consent, you will have the right to withdraw that consent at any given time. You can withdraw your consent by a telephone call.

If the withdrawal of consent request qualifies as a valid request, we will stop the processing immediately. Once the consent is withdrawn, we are obliged to delete that data, if there is no other justification for the continued storage of that data. If the Trust has an obligation to retain the information, this will qualify for deletion after the retention period is complete.

Legal Obligation

Where we are providing a statutory service, the lawful basis we rely upon is to meet the requirements of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.

We have a legal obligation:

  • to support young people (and their families) within the criminal justice system and reduce youth offending
  • to address problems and factors that lead to criminal offending behaviour
  • the behaviour of individuals constitutes a serious risk of harm to the individual or to others (6(1)(d))
  • processing is needed for legal proceedings, advice or for establishing, exercising or defending legal rights

Public Task

We use this lawful basis where processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller.

Special Category Data

When we collect or share special category personal data such as ethnicity, religion, and health related data, we rely upon the following legal bases under UK GDPR:

  • Article 9(2)(a) – The individual has given explicit consent to the processing of their personal data for one or more specified purposes.
  • Article 9(2)(f) - Legal claims or judicial acts
  • Article 9(2)(g) - Reasons of substantial public interest. We rely on the ‘administration of justice’, “statutory and government purposes”, and ‘safeguarding of children and of individuals at risk’ purposes conditions from Schedule 1, Part 2, of the Data Protection Act 2018 when relying on Article 9(2)(g) to process your special category data.
  • Article 9(2)(h) - Health or social care*

*The associated conditions in the legislation relating to processing that takes place under the Article 9(2)(h) lawful basis are provided in the Data Protection Act 2018, particularly, Schedule 1, Part 1, Paragraphs 2(2)(d) the provision of health care or treatment; and (2)(e), the provision of social care.

These legal bases are underpinned by acts of legislation that dictate what actions can and should be taken by local authorities. For the Trust’s YOS team this includes:

  • Criminal Justice Acts 2003 & 2015.
  • Crime & Disorder Act 1998.
  • Legal Aid Sentencing & Punishment of Offenders Act.
  • Bail Act 2017.
  • Sex Offences Act 2003.
  • Children Act 1989.
  • Children and Families Act 2004.
  • Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014.
  • Access to Health Records Act 1990.
  • Access to Medical Reports Act 1988. 

The nature of our services means that we need to collect data about criminal offences.  To process this data, the Trust complies with Article 10 of the UK GDPR. 

What is your personal data used for?

Personal data collected is processed to fulfil the following purposes:   

  • To support those children who are:
    • bailed from courts.
    • supervised on formal Court Orders or out of court disposals.
    • remanded into youth detention accommodation.
    • given custodial sentences.   
  • The prevention of crime.
  • Assessment of need and risk.
  • Safeguarding of children and other vulnerable individuals.
  • Prevention of offending or re-offending by children through programme interventions.
  • Protection of the public.
  • Reporting on the performance of the YOT to the Ministry of Justice to fulfil statutory obligations.

Types of information usually held

  • full name
  • any alternative names/aliases
  • age/date of birth
  • address (including previous addresses)
  • ethnicity (as defined by the individual)
  • schools and colleges attended
  • details of employment
  • details of current and previous offences
  • details of current and previous disposals (i.e. reprimands, Final Warnings and Convictions)
  • details of current and previous assessments (including risk assessments)
  • details of current and previous programmes of intervention (including response to previous programmes)
  • details of any relevant services currently or previously involved with
  • current and past legal status if you have been looked after by a local authority
  • relevant health information essential for the safe conduct of assessment and delivery of interventions

How do we keep your information secure?

BYJS team holds the information securely on Pathways, our case management system. This is a secure access-controlled system where only authorised professionals have direct access to the information.

How long we will we keep your personal data?

We have a legal obligation to keep business records of our involvement with you. The type of service you receive will determine how long we must keep your personal data. This has been set out in the Trust retention schedule.

 Who will we share your personal information with?

To provide our services to you, we will need to securely share your personal to other organisations outside the Trust’s Youth Offending Service.  For example, we may share your data with:

  • Your parents, unless you are 16 or over and not in contact with them
  • Health services (health visitors, school nurses, GPs, consultants)
  • Schools, Department of Education and academies
  • Police
  • National probation service
  • drug and alcohol services
  • HM Courts and Tribunal Services
  • Prisons
  • Solicitors
  • Other services in the Trust (eg: Early Help Team)
  • Other Local Authorities

We share information to tell the other professionals that we are working with you, so that we can coordinate the work we do for you and fulfil our purposes above.  Any further information they request about you will only be given if you give your consent, or if we are required to share it by law.

There are other times not linked to your care and support where we may need to share your information lawfully. These include:

  • Where there is a serious risk of harm to you or to others
  • Where there are concerns for the welfare of a child
  • For the Prevention or detection of crime
  • Where a court order requires us to share information about you

Is your personal information processed outside of the European Economic Community (EEC)?

We do not process your personal data outside of the EEC.

Marketing

At no time will your information be used or passed to others for marketing or sales purposes, or for any commercial use without your express consent.

What are your information rights?

Under UK GDPR you have rights which you can exercise free of charge which allow you to:

•            Know what we are doing with your information and why we are doing it

•            Ask to see what information we hold about you (subject access request)

•            Ask us to correct any mistakes in the information we hold about you

•            Object to direct marketing

•            Make a complaint to the Information Commissioners Office

•            Withdraw consent at any time (if applicable)

Depending on our reason for using your information you may also be entitled to:

•            Ask us to delete information we hold about you

•            Have your information transferred electronically to yourself or to another organisation

•            Object to decisions being made that significantly affect you

•            Object to how we are using your information

•            Stop us using your information in certain ways

We will always seek to comply with your request however we may be required to hold or use your information to comply with legal duties. Please note, your request may delay or prevent us delivering a service to you.

For further information about your rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the guidance from the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under UK GDPR.

Contact us

Please contact the Disclosure Team at DisclosureTeam@birminghamchildrenstrust.co.uk to exercise any of your rights.

If you have a complaint about why your information has been collected, how it has been used or how long we have kept it for, please contact CustomerRelations@birminghamchildrenstrust.co.uk.

You can contact our Data Protection Officer at dpo@birminghamchildrenstrust.co.uk, or write to: Data Protection Officer, Birmingham Children’s Trust, 1 Avenue Road, Birmingham, B6 4DU

UK GDPR also gives you right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner who may be contacted on 03031 231113.