1.8 Information Sharing and Confidentiality |
SCOPE OF THIS CHAPTER
For additional guidance see the documents contained in the HM Government Information Sharing Guidance issued in October 2008 which can be found on the Every Child Matters website/HM Government information sharing guidance.
See also the local Information Sharing Protocol for your area:
Leeds Information Sharing Protocol
Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield Information Sharing Protocol
Contents
1. Introduction
| 1.1 | Sharing information is vital for early intervention to ensure that children with additional needs receive the services they require. It is also essential to protect children from suffering Significant Harm. |
| 1.2 | Practitioners are sometimes uncertain about when they can share information lawfully. It is important therefore that they:
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2. Key Points on Information Sharing
| 2.1 | It is important that each agency involved in providing services to children and families has a systematic approach to explain to children and families when they first access services, openly and honestly, what and how information will, or could be shared and why, and seek their agreement. The general principle is that information will only be shared with the consent of the subject of the information. |
| 2.2 | In some circumstances, however, it will not be appropriate to seek consent before sharing information with others and/or information can be shared where consent has been refused. The exception to this is where to do so would:
This may be the case where making a referral to Children’s Social Care Services under the Referrals Procedure. |
| 2.3 | Practitioners must also share information when they are in situations where there is a statutory duty or Court Order requiring the information to be shared. In such situations, information should be shared even if consent has not been given. However, wherever possible, the individual concerned should be informed about the information to be shared, the reasons and to whom it will be disclosed. |
| 2.4 | Practitioners must always consider the safety and welfare of a child when making decisions on whether to share information about the child. Where there is concern that the child may be suffering or is at risk of suffering significant harm, the child’s safety and welfare must be the overriding consideration. |
| 2.5 | Practitioners should, where possible, respect the wishes of children or families who do not consent to share confidential information. However, they may still share information if in their judgement there is sufficient need to override that lack of consent. |
| 2.6 | Practitioners should seek advice where they are in doubt, especially where the doubt relates to as concern about possible significant harm to a child or serious harm to others. |
| 2.7 | Practitioners should ensure that the information they share is accurate and up-to-date, necessary for the purpose for which they are sharing it, shared only with those people who need to see it, and shared securely. |
| 2.8 | Practitioners should always record the reasons for their decision – whether it is to share information or not. |
3. Confidentiality and the Public Interest
| 3.1 | In deciding whether there is a need to share information you need to consider your legal obligations including:
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| 3.2 | Not all information is confidential. Confidential information is information of some sensitivity, which is not public knowledge, and which has been shared in a relationship where the person giving the information understood that it would not be shared with others. For example, a teacher may know that one of his/her pupils has a parent who misuses drugs. That is information of some sensitivity, but may not be confidential if it is widely known or it has been shared with the teacher in circumstances where the person understood it would be shared with others. If however it is shared with the teacher by the pupil in a counselling session, for example, it would be confidential. |
| 3.3 | Confidence is only breached where the sharing of confidential information is not authorised by the person who provided it or to whom it relates. If the information was provided on the understanding that it would be shared with a limited range of people or for limited purposes, then sharing in accordance with that understanding will not be a breach of confidence. Similarly, there will not be a breach of confidence where there is explicit consent to the sharing. |
| 3.4 | Even where sharing of confidential information is not authorised, it may lawfully be shared if this can be justified in the public interest. Seeking consent should be the first option, if appropriate. Where consent cannot be obtained to the sharing of the information or is refused, or where seeking it is likely to undermine the prevention, detection or prosecution of a crime, the question of whether there is a sufficient public interest must be judged by the practitioner on the facts of each case. Therefore, where a practitioner has a concern about a child, he or she should not regard refusal of consent as necessarily precluding the sharing of confidential information. |
| 3.5 | A public interest can arise in a wide range of circumstances, for example, to protect children or other people from harm, to promote the welfare of children or to prevent crime and disorder. There are also public interests, which in some circumstances may weigh against sharing, including the public interest in maintaining public confidence in the confidentiality of certain services. The key factor in deciding whether or not to share confidential information is proportionality, i.e. whether the proposed sharing is a response in proportion to the need to protect the public interest in question. In making the decision, the practitioner must weigh up what might happen if the information is shared against what might happen if it is not, and make a decision based on a reasonable judgement. |
| 3.6 | It is not possible to give guidance to cover every circumstance in which sharing of confidential information without consent will be justified. It is possible however to identify some circumstances in which sharing confidential information without consent will normally be justified in the public interest. These are:
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End