A SNAPSHOT OF CLIENT QUERIES

We’ve picked a few of the most interesting questions we’ve dealt with since our last issue, which may be useful if you ever find yourself in a similar situation at your school.

Query: Our school has been approached to appear on a news item on ITV on Monday - there will be recordings of interviews with Head, staff and pupils on Monday morning and then live broadcast from outside the school at 11.30am. Can you let us know what we need to consider/put in place from a GDPR and H&S perspective please? We are assuming that existing parental permission for public photos/videos is sufficient?

The school must inform parents that this is happening and offer them the opportunity to say their child cannot be filmed. Adults can decide themselves whether or not they are happy to participate in the filming.

The TV company will need overt parental consent to interview any students and the school must tell parents that the company will be on site and offer them the opportunity to withdraw their child from being filmed as part of general filming (i.e. crowd scenes and not interviews). However, it is unusual for TV companies to show children’s faces on news reports.

Generally, the TV company will ask adults to sign release forms if they are to be filmed, but that is for usage of footage purposes rather than data protection.

From a health and safety perspective, the key issue will be the increased number of trip hazards due to the amount of camera, lighting and broadcast equipment onsite. Handsam would recommend that the school cordons off an area for the live broadcast and ensure only the required people enter it at the time when the TV company says they are needed. The TV company may want to want to use the hall so that may need to be out of action while they set up. Access for a van to drop equipment off on site will probably be required and the school should discuss this with the TV company.

Parents who choose to record conversations with school staff often do so in the context of a complaint, possibly seeking evidence to support their position. In other cases, covert recordings may occur when the relationship between the school and the parent has broken down, leading to a loss of trust in school staff. If parents wish to record a meeting, they must obtain explicit permission from all parties involved.

Such actions can strain the relationship between schools and families, as school staff need the freedom to address sensitive and confidential issues without fear that conversations will be shared with third parties (including on social media) or taken out of context.

Under data protection laws, such recordings may fall under the “household exception,” which exempts processing when done “by an individual in the course of a purely personal or household activity.” This differs from the legal requirements placed on schools if they wish to record conversations. However, the legal situation could change if a recording is shared with third parties without consent, depending on how the recording is used.

If staff suspect that a conversation may be recorded, it is essential to address this concern at the start of the meeting or phone call. While it may not always be practical in a busy school environment, having another staff member present to take notes is a good practice.

Query: What are the protocols around sharing CCTV footage with the police? How is this best done and any general advice around this and methods of sharing with them?

Paragraph 10 of Schedule 1 of the DPA 2018 provides a condition for sharing special category data or criminal offence data where it is necessary for the prevention or detection of unlawful acts, and where asking for consent would prejudice that purpose.

The school may find it helpful to read the ICO guidance on sharing data with law enforcement agencies as this outlines the considerations to take into account.  In particular, the question of whether parents’ consent would be required is addressed in the section on ‘How do we decide on our lawful basis for sharing?’.  As you will see from this, it is unlikely to be practical to rely upon consent to share this information but the school could consider an alternative lawful basis such as legitimate interests or public task.

Generally speaking, data protection legislation requires organisations to be transparent about any data sharing and individuals have a right to be informed about how their data will be handled, including whether it will be disclosed to other bodies.  However, if informing individuals or their parents would be likely to prejudice the police investigation, then the school could consider relying upon the crime and taxation: general exemption instead.

Query: My understanding is to record a meeting between a parent and school staff, you need the permissions of the individuals involved otherwise you cannot do it?