• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • FAQ
  • Meet the Team
  • About The London Economic
  • Advertise
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
NEWSLETTER
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Food
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Food
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home News Education

Department for Education in ‘direct breach’ of data law as number of state schools not open rises

“Given the volume and categories of personal data being processed, the lack of awareness amongst staff presents a high risk that data will not be processed in a compliant manner and could result in multiple data breaches or further breaches of legislation.”

Joe Mellor by Joe Mellor
October 7, 2020
in Education, News
Credit;PA

Credit;PA

The Department for Education has struggled to comply with data protection laws after the regulations were not “prioritised”, a watchdog has warned.

This news comes as nearly one in five state secondary schools were unable to fully open last week – and most were due to Covid-related reasons, figures show.

An audit by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) found that the Government department had been in “direct breach” of a data protection law as there was “no clear picture” of what data it held.

The Department for Education (DfE) failed to “demonstrate accountability” to General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), according to the ICO report.

We have published the outcome of our compulsory audit of the Department for Education. Read the executive summary here: https://t.co/If7Dlh8Vtz

— ICO (@ICOnews) October 7, 2020

The watchdog, which upholds information rights in the public interest, has issued 139 recommendations for improvement, with over 60% classified as “urgent or high priority”.

It has warned that a lack of awareness among staff at the DfE could lead to “multiple data breaches or further breaches of legislation” due to the high volume of personal data being processed.

Audit

The compulsory audit, which was carried out in February and March, followed complaints from campaign groups DefendDigitalMe and Liberty about the National Pupil Database.

RelatedPosts

UK records most daily Covid-19 deaths since pandemic began

Racecourse vaccination centre to shut for day to allow horse racing to continue

Jeremy Clarkson is ‘fed up’ with parents ‘whingeing’ about free school meals parcels

From insurrection to impeachment: The ignominious final days of Trump

It found that there was no record of processing activity in place – which is a “direct breach of Article 30 of the GDPR” – making it difficult for the DfE to fulfil other obligations around privacy information and security arrangements.

The ICO said it found that data protection “was not being prioritised” by the DfE and that this had “severely impacted” the department’s ability to comply with the UK’s data protection laws.

“Limited reporting lines, monitoring activity and reporting means there is no central oversight of data processing activities. As a result, there are no controls in place to provide assurance that all personal data processing activities are carried out in line with legislative requirements,” the report said.

It added that the department had provided “very limited training” to staff about information governance, data protection, records management, risk management, information security, individual rights, and in some cases “there is no assurance that staff are receiving any training whatsoever”.

Warning

The watchdog warned: “Given the volume and categories of personal data being processed, the lack of awareness amongst staff presents a high risk that data will not be processed in a compliant manner and could result in multiple data breaches or further breaches of legislation.”

A DfE spokesman said: “We treat the handling of personal data – particularly data relating to schools and other education settings – extremely seriously and we thank the ICO for its report which will help us further improve in this area.

“Since the ICO completed its audit, we’ve taken a number of steps to address the findings and recommendations, including a review of all processes for the use of personal data and significantly increasing the number of staff dedicated to the effective management of it.

“As well as welcoming these moves, the ICO has recognised the stringent processes we have in place to make sure children and young people’s personal data is secure.”

Not open

Nearly one in five state secondary schools were unable to fully open last week – and most were due to Covid-related reasons, figures show.

The proportion of state schools that were fully open has dropped, but pupil attendance has risen slightly, according to the Department for Education’s (DfE) latest statistics.

It comes as education unions call for students due to take their GCSE and A-level exams next year to be prioritised for Covid-19 testing to reduce “ongoing disruption” to their learning.

Around 82% of state secondary schools were fully open on October 1 – down from 84% a week earlier.

Schools are considered to be not fully open if they are unable to provide face-to-face teaching for all pupils for the whole school day and have asked a group of students to self-isolate.

Overall, approximately 92% of state schools were fully open, down from 93% on September 24.

The cause of schools not being fully open was mostly “due to Covid-19 related reasons”, the DfE said.

However, pupil attendance increased in secondary schools from approximately 84% to 86%.

About 90% of pupils in all state schools were in attendance, up from 88% a week earlier.

The DfE suggested that groups of pupils being asked to self-isolate “are becoming smaller”.

Barrier

It comes as an Ofsted report warned that many heads saw the lack of availability of Covid-19 testing as “a real barrier” to staying  up and running.

The report – based on 121 pilot visits to schools across England last month – said: “Leaders of some small schools described how quickly their school might have to close if staff could not get tested when they needed to, though this fear was shared by schools of all sizes.”

On the latest DfE statistics, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “Too often groups are having to be sent home whilst schools wait days for results to come through.

“We need to remember that we are still only at the beginning of autumn and if government doesn’t get a handle on the situation quickly, these figures are likely to get worse as we move into the colder months ahead.”

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: “This is the second week of a downward trend in the number of fully open secondary schools, and means that since September 17 the number that are fully open has fallen by 10% from 92% to 82%.

“It reflects the extremely tough circumstances in which schools are operating due to the impact of Covid.

“We remain concerned that schools lack the support from the Government that they need in this challenging task.

“The Government must redouble its efforts to improve the Covid testing system, and ensure that schools are supported by clear and consistent guidance.”

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said: “The vast majority of schools are open, as has been consistently the case since the start of term, with a 2% increase in the numbers of pupils attending to more than 7.4 million pupils last week.

“Attendance in fully open primary schools is now consistent with what we would have expected before coronavirus.

“We will continue to work with schools to ensure all appropriate steps are taken to keep pupils and staff safe.”

Related – Outrage as Secretary of State for Education Gavin Williamson vanishes during University crisis

Since you are here

Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.

Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.

Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.

If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.

To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.

The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.

The shop can be found here.

You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .

Support fearless, free, investigative journalism Support fearless, free, investigative journalism Support fearless, free, investigative journalism

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending fromTLE

  • All
  • trending

Stress, fear and homelessness: The threat looming over families confronted with eviction

File photo dated 07/11/03 of a prison cell.

The other prison pandemic

Credit;PA

Repressionomics: Get ready for the new permanent austerity

Latest from TLE

Tories vote down protections for NHS in trade deals on deadliest day in pandemic

Euro Millions results Tuesday 19th January 2021

thunder ball results

Thunder Ball Results, Tuesday 19th January 2021

UK records most daily Covid-19 deaths since pandemic began

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

Address

The London Economic Newspaper Limited t/a TLE
Company number 09221879
International House,
24 Holborn Viaduct,
London EC1A 2BN,
United Kingdom

Contact

Editorial enquiries, please contact: jack@thelondoneconomic.com

Commercial enquiries, please contact: advertise@thelondoneconomic.com

SUPPORT

We do not charge or put articles behind a paywall. If you can, please show your appreciation for our free content by donating whatever you think is fair to help keep TLE growing and support real, independent, investigative journalism.

DONATE & SUPPORT

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech & Auto
  • About The London Economic
  • Meet the Team
  • Privacy policy

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.