Data Protection

[Dawnieb]

Hi
Just found out I should be registered with the Information Commisssioners Office (ICO)...is everyone doing this or am I just playing by the rules too much??:eek:

[Koala]

I am registered.


I know lots of minders who arn't though.

[MessybutHappy]

I am! Was really surprised to find out others weren't, as I thought it was a "must do" a bit like insurance!

[jo.jo76]

I am and have been since I started. I naturally did it, as I also thought it was something we all had to do

[thills]

I just need to send back my registration form and payment and I will be :)

[gingerjames1]

I was adviced by my local network 2 years ago and have been doing so since.

Sent from my iPhone using Childminding Forum

[jadavi]

I told my DOs I was contesting it and they agreed. It gives you no protection if anything happens and seems to be a meaningless list. If you enquire what the money goes on, they say admin! Who are they protecting? And who is being protected by us paying £43?
It's another absurd tax. I didn't renew this year. I don't think Ofsted care. They didn't ask me.

[FussyElmo]

I told my DOs I was contesting it and they agreed. It gives you no protection if anything happens and seems to be a meaningless list. If you enquire what the money goes on, they say admin! Who are they protecting? And who is being protected by us paying £43?
It's another absurd tax. I didn't renew this year. I don't think Ofsted care. They didn't ask me.

My insoector was pleased that I had ICO and that it had be renewed :)

To the Op can there be playing by the rules too much? As it stands at the min due to whatever bit in the eyfs (Im sure someone clever along with the relevent bit) we should be registered until it gets repealed etc then you really should pay it.

Personally I hate paying my ofsted registeration and dont get me started on the road tax for the year :laughing::laughing:

[bunyip]

Here is the EYFS reference. EYFS does not directly state that "you must register with ICO" - possibly cos not everyone needs to under the terms of the Data Protection Act (although it's hard to think of a CM practice that would not need to.) Instead, section 3.68 states: "Providers must be aware of their responsibilities under the Data Protection Act (DPA) 1998 and where relevant the Freedom of Information Act 2000." Fulfilling your responsibilities under the Acts depends on how you operate in relation to what the acts say, so EYFS can't really say what each CM must do, without in effect copying the whole of the act into the EYFS document.

To give one of my (similar, but not exactly the same) analogies: I cannot find anywhere in the EYFS that states a CM must hold a driver's licence in order to use a car, so obviously DfE didn't feel the need to spell everything out to the letter when they wrote it.

I agree that asking "can we play by the rules too much?" is probably the wrong question.

I'm shocked at how many CMs avoid this legal responsibility. For all the excuses about ignorance and some supposed moral superiority about safeguarding, it's just about penny-pinching and ducking responsibility cos they can get away with it.

It boils down to whether a CM intends to be legal and honest. Nothing more than that. :mad:

[jadavi]

But Bunyip don't you think it's fair to ask why we pay this and what it's for? Rather different from road tax I think....
And if no one in their Dept can justify it or tell us what it's for - can't we question it?
Do it because I told you so? That's not normally how things work.
I would happily pay it if I felt I got anything at all from it or even if other people did.
But when no one can throw any light whatsoever on what it is and why we do it, including the people who work there?

[FussyElmo]

But Bunyip don't you think it's fair to ask why we pay this and what it's for? Rather different from road tax I think....
And if no one in their Dept can justify it or tell us what it's for - can't we question it?
Do it because I told you so? That's not normally how things work.
I would happily pay it if I felt I got anything at all from it or even if other people did.
But when no one can throw any light whatsoever on what it is and why we do it, including the people who work there?

Why different from road tax I thought paying dhs road tax meant the monies went into fixing the roads but seeing all the governments need more money they actually only spend a small amount on the upkeep of the roads. So we pay the ICO so that our information stored is safe and dat protected when any teenager could probably bypass most of the security us cms have.

We pay for something we dont actually get - and so the world turns :thumbsup:

[bunyip]

But Bunyip don't you think it's fair to ask why we pay this and what it's for? Rather different from road tax I think....
And if no one in their Dept can justify it or tell us what it's for - can't we question it?
Do it because I told you so? That's not normally how things work.
I would happily pay it if I felt I got anything at all from it or even if other people did.
But when no one can throw any light whatsoever on what it is and why we do it, including the people who work there?

Yes, I think it is fair to question why we pay it, but to do so whilst simultaneously fulfilling our legal and social responsibility to pay.

I pay my tax and NI, whilst at the same time questioning why so much of it is wasted on bombing parts of the world into rubble and maintaining weapons of mass destruction (oh, sorry - got my Newspeak wrong there. They're our WMD, so they have to be called a"viable deterrence.")

As far as ICO notification/registration is concerned, asking "what do I get out of it?" is the wrong question. It's not there to provide you with some sort of service, unless you regard proving that a CM is operating legally as a service in itself. Owning a driving license doesn't provide you with a service, but it does show you've fulfilled a legal obligation. Paying your Ofsted fee is not really that much different (just harder to get away with not doing.) I'm sure there are plenty of illegal unregistered minders who could equally argue that paying Ofsted for a certificate wouldn't make them any better at looking after children, and that would be true - but would it make it the right thing to do?

As I understand it, the ICO was set up to regulate all data handling. It ensures that no business (not just us CMs) is allowed to abuse the data they hold on us - and that is a huge amount of data in this age. Government decided that part of the cost of running the ICO should be met by the businesses that benefit from holding and using that data, rather than the entire bill being met by the taxpayer in general. It does receive some additional support from public money (as well as from fines levied on offenders). So, yes, we do pay for administration, but we only pay a partial contribution to the administration of an orgabnisation that protects and regulates the data we benefit from, and the data that is held on us by other businesses.

[jadavi]

I find it very strange that no one is ever able to explain anything whatsoever about how they 'protect and regulate' our data.

[bunyip]

I find it very strange that no one is ever able to explain anything whatsoever about how they 'protect and regulate' our data.

The answer is rather too long to fit into a forum post. The best I can do is refer members to the ICO website, especially the "Enforcement" link on the left hand side of their homepage, with sub-links to their functions which includes plenty of information on prosecutions and other taken against businesses and organisations who beach data protection regulations. :thumbsup:

[jadavi]

Thanks bunyip. I wonder why they don't educate their staff on that haha

[ivy]

After reading everyones answers to whether they shoould / or were registered with the DPO , i phoned up my CSSIW inspector and they informed me that they did not expect me to register , that it is was sufficent for me just to keep my files in a locked cabinet .

[bunyip]

After reading everyones answers to whether they shoould / or were registered with the DPO , i phoned up my CSSIW inspector and they informed me that they did not expect me to register , that it is was sufficent for me just to keep my files in a locked cabinet .

From what I've seen on other threads, that seems to be the pattern in Wales. In England, Ofsted seemed to take a "don't ask, don't tell" approach; or, in other words, they weren't going to do the ICO's job for them. But that doesn't leave an individual CM in the clear. CSSIW/Ofsted cannot make the decision about whether an individual or business needs to notify under Data Protection Laws. If the ICO catch up with a CM who has failed to notify when they should've done, it is no excuse to say "Ofsted/CSSIW said I was OK".

You'd be looking at an unlimited fine and a criminal conviction, which would have to be disclosed to Ofsted/CSSIW. Ofsted (and, I would imagine, CSSIW) are required to make a fresh 'suitable person' judgement about any practitioner convicted of a criminal offence. My guess is that they may well see any criminal offence related to a safeguarding matter as grounds for disqualification. :p

[Chimps Childminding]

I have registered, we were told it was a requirement by our LA!! Its just one of those things, I don't really like paying, but while I too don't understand exactly how it protects me, I know that it is something we are expected to do - so I have :rolleyes:

[supermumy]

Yep registered got told by ico and my local department it a must