►Help4teens: Keeping your Personal Information Secure
Connexions Personal Advisers work with young people aged 13-19 in the One Point service which brings together services for children and families across County Durham. The Help4teens website supports the work of Connexions Personal Advisers by providing web based Information to help you make important decisions about your future.
Connexions Personal Advisers are trained and qualified to provide you with Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) to help you as you make positive decisions about your future. For example on: careers; educational choices; progression opportunities or personal development.
To ensure that you get the best information we are linked to a database which provides us with some basic details about you (your name and address and those of your parents). When you meet with a Connexions Personal Adviser they may collect additional information such as: date of birth; gender; ethnicity and your place of learning. They may write a plan for you to take away, this will remind you of what you have discussed. A copy of the plan, and the information we collect about you is stored in your file in a secure client record system.
If you contact us via the help4teens website we will either send you an e-mail response or if you need more in depth support we will refer you to see a Connexions Personal Adviser. We will use our secure client record system to record what we have done.
Your conversations with a Connexions Personal Adviser and contacts with Help4teens are confidential; we will only break your confidentiality if:
►you tell us something which makes us worried that you (or someone else) may be harmed; we will have to pass this information on to keep you (or the other person) safe.
►Your Connexions Personal Adviser and you agree that it would be useful if some specific information was shared with an external person for example to when you are applying for a college place or job. You would be asked for your consent to share this information and this would be recorded on your file.
All information held in the secure client record system is held in compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998. If you have any questions or concerns about the information we hold on you, you have the right to see all the information in your record. If you would like to find out more about how to do this contact your Connexions Personal Adviser.
You can find out about the law governing Data Protection and Information Security on the Information Commissioner’s Office website.
► Help4teens- Frequently Asked Questions
► Who are you?
Help4teens is a website providing careers, educational and other information for young people in County Durham. We are linked to Connexions Personal Advisers who work in the One Point service to provide targeted support to young people in County Durham. We also are linked to the Improving Progression of Young People Team which includes:
► Specialist Personal Advisers for young people with Special Educational Needs
► Careers Advisers working in some schools
► Transition Support Workers who are advisers working on some specific projects across the County
► What information do you hold on me?
Before you meet with an adviser for the first time we only know your name and address and details of your parents. This information comes from a database held by the Local Authority which has these details about every single person who attends nursery or school in the county. We use them to create an individual record for you on our secure database so that when you meet with an adviser check that these details are correct.
We will also ask you for other details that will help us provide service to you. Your record contains the following details about you:
| ► Name | ► Ethnicity |
| ► Address | ► E-mail Address |
| ► Phone Number | ► Name of your School |
| ► Gender | ► What you are currently doing e.g. school year 11. |
Your adviser can add information about what you discussed in your interview or any sessions you attended. If the adviser writes an action plan for you or completes any forms, a copy will be stored electronically.
► What if I enquire via the website?
If you send a message to us via the Help4teens website we will either send you an answer on e-mail, give you contact details of services that can help you or refer you to an adviser for further help; whichever we do we will make a note of it in your individual record.
► Where do you hold the information and who can see it?
Your details and contacts are stored in a secure electronic database which is password protected. Only advisers, their managers and members of the Improving Progression of Young People Team can use this database. All these people have been CRB checked and we have strict rules about keeping your record secure. Your parents, school or other organisations can not see what is in your record or have any other information we hold on you unless you have given us written permission to share it.
► Will I know what my Adviser has written about me?
When you meet with a Personal Adviser one to one they will keep a record of what you talked about, they will write this while you are with them so you will be able to agree to what is included so that it is useful to you. You will get a copy of the plan to take away as it may include careers information, website addresses or contact names.
► What if I want to see my record?
If you want to look at everything that is in your record, you might want to spend some time reading it and may want someone to explain some of the contents to you so you need to arrange this in advance. You can find out more about this by asking your adviser.
► How long will you keep my record for?
You can continue to get help from a Personal Adviser up to your 20th birthday After this your record will be archived; it will stay within the database but not be accessible by advisers. The record will be totally deleted when you reach 25.
If you have Special Educational Needs you can continue to get support from us up to your 25th birthday; we will archive your record when you reach 25, or if you are being supported by Adult Services and have not been in contact with us for two years. Your record will be deleted when you reach 27.
►When might the Adviser suggest sharing information?
It is important to share information which can help you make progress with your education, personal or career ambitions. Some examples of this might include:
► Sharing information about your expected grades with an apprenticeship provider
► Telling a college about the extra support you need for a disability
► Speaking to a GP or school nurse when you need a referral for a health issue
► Speaking to the Job Centre to make sure you are able to get their help
Your adviser will discuss with you why they think that it would help you to share the information and get your agreement to talk to a named person. For example: “So I will talk to Lynn Jones at the college……” Your Personal Adviser will ask you to sign a form which gives your permission to share this information before they do so.
►What if I tell my Adviser something private?
You might tell your Personal adviser something which is very private to you and then be worried that they will tell your school or parents. This will not happen, your conversations are confidential; this means that although your adviser may write down what you have told them, they will not tell anyone else. Sometimes you might decide together that it would help you if the information was shared with someone else; for example if you told them that you were not keeping up with the work in one of your subjects, they might suggest talking to the teacher with you about ways to catch up.
There are some situations where the adviser has to tell (break your confidentiality) to keep you or someone else safe. For example if you told them you were being abused, bullied or harming yourself or if you said you were going to do something really unsafe. This is required by law. The adviser would tell you that they have to break confidentiality and who they will need to speak to, they should never do this without your knowledge. For example: if you are still in school there is a senior member of staff who has responsibility for child protection so your adviser would speak to them.
►Will you keep a record if I see someone as part of the c:card scheme?
No! c:card is a scheme offered around Durham, it is run on behalf of the NHS Primary Care Trust. These visits are not recorded on the client database, but you must be over 13 and registered on the scheme. When you have a c:card appointment you will be asked for the first part of your postcode and your month and year of birth as this information is only used to check how many people are using the scheme their ages and the region in which they live.
