Elective home education privacy notice

Portsmouth City Council (“the Council”, “we”, “us”) is the data controller for the personal information described in this notice. We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), registration number Z5578313.

• Data Controller: Portsmouth City Council (Registration Number Z5578313)
• Address: Civic Offices, Portsmouth, PO1 2AL
• Data Protection Officer (DPO) Email: DataProtection@portsmouthcc.gov.uk
• Telephone: 023 9282 2251

• Children and young people who are educated at home (elective home education)
• Parents, carers, or others with parental responsibility who contact or engage with the Elective Home Education (EHE) service

• Identity and contact details: name, address, date of birth, contact details of the child and parent/carer
• Education information: details of previous or current schools attended, education history, and information relating to the provision of education at home
• Characteristics: such as ethnicity and first language (where relevant)
• Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND): including information about additional needs or relevant medical information
• Safeguarding information: such as details of professional involvement or court orders, where necessary
• Evidence of suitable education: information provided to demonstrate that a child is receiving a suitable, efficient, full‑time education

• Meet our statutory duties in relation to children educated at home
• Establish whether a suitable and efficient full‑time education is being provided
• Provide advice, guidance and support to families who elect to educate their children at home
• Safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people
• Respond to complaints, concerns, or legal requirements
• Produce anonymised statistics to help plan and improve services

• Article 6(1)(c) – processing is necessary to comply with a legal obligation
• Article 6(1)(e) – processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority

• Article 9(2)(g) – substantial public interest, including safeguarding of children and individuals at risk
• Article 9(2)(h) – health or social care purposes

• Other Council services, such as children’s social care or special educational needs services
• Education providers or professionals, where relevant
• Health, safeguarding, or law enforcement agencies, where there is a legal requirement or safeguarding concern
• The Department for Education, where required by law

We keep personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected and in line with the Council’s corporate retention schedule. Retention periods are determined by legal, regulatory, and safeguarding requirements.

• Secure IT systems and controlled access
• Staff training on data protection and confidentiality
• Policies and procedures designed to protect information from loss, misuse, or unauthorised access

• The right to access your personal data
• The right to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data
• The right to request erasure or restriction of processing, in certain circumstances
• The right to object to processing, where applicable

If you have a complaint or query about how we collect and use personal information, if you would like a change to be made to your record, or want to object to processing, please contact us using the details above.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO):

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 (national rate)