Health and Wellbeing Consensus S4-S6
Dear Parent / Carers
We are aiming to improve children’s services in your area. To help with this, we are asking all primary and secondary schools in your area to take part, and to ask all children in Primary 5 (P5) to Secondary 6 (S6) about their lives and wellbeing.
Your child will be asked to complete a short online questionnaire during class time. The attached ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ provides you with additional information and contact details should you wish to learn more. It also explains what to do if you do not want your child to take part in the survey. Your child will also be given a leaflet explaining the survey.
The results of the survey will be used to understand the health and wellbeing needs of children. The survey will ask pupils questions on topics such as their school and aspirations; health and feelings; strengths and difficulties; alcohol, tobacco and drug use; friendships and family; relationships and sexual health; and what they do in their free time. This will help to improve the way children’s services are planned and delivered by your local authority and their partners, such as education, health and voluntary organisations. The results will not look at children’s responses on an individual basis, and any results produced will not enable an individual child to be identified.
You should be aware that the answers provided by your child will be linked to other data already held about your child. For example, data already held by the local authority (such as your child’s sex, ethnic background, the area they live in, etc.). However, any data linkage will only be done for statistical and research purposes, and will also ensure that your child remains unidentifiable. For more information on data linkage, please see the Frequently Asked Questions over the page.
Your child will not be asked to provide their name when answering the survey. However, your child will be asked to enter their Scottish Candidate Number (SCN) as this will then help for any data linkage for statistical purposes to take place. Your child’s name or contact details will not be linked to your child’s answers. Therefore, there will be no direct way your child or family can be identified from your child’s responses.
As your child’s answers are only to be used for statistical and research purposes, this means that Glasgow City Council will not use the information given by your child to actively identify individual pupil responses. Glasgow City Council will not use the responses provided in the Health and Wellbeing survey to identify individual children and will not contact any pupils or their parents/carers about the responses they have provided in the survey.
You do not have to do anything if you are:
- happy for your child to take part in the survey and for their answers to be linked to other data for statistical and research purposes; and
- aware that your child’s identity will remain confidential and that Glasgow City Council will not use your child’s survey responses to identify them or contact them about the responses they provide in the survey.
If, however, you do not wish for your child to take part in this survey, please complete the tear-off slip below and return it to your school within the next 10 days.
Your child will also be able to choose not to take part in the survey if they do not wish to, even if you say they can. If your child is aged 12 years or over then they may consent to participate in the survey if they wish to even if you opt them out of the survey.
More detailed information is enclosed. You can also find out more about the survey by visiting the website the Scottish Government’s website:
https://www.gov.scot/publications/health-and-wellbeing-census-2/
More details about what Glasgow City Council will do with this data can be found here in our Privacy Statement:
https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=25286
Alternatively, you can contact the school for more information.
If you would like to see the survey before granting consent or opting your child out of the survey, then please contact the school who can assist with this.
Yours faithfully
Patrick Oberg
Head Teacher
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HEALTH AND WELLBEING CENSUS
I do not wish …………………………………………….. (print name of child in capital letters) to take part in the Health and Wellbeing Census.
Signed ………………………………………. Date ………../………../……………
Name ………………………………………..
Relationship to child ……………………….
Child’s year group: P5 / P6 / P7 / S1 / S2 / S3 / S4 / S5 / S6 (please circle one)
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Why are you asking my child about their lives and wellbeing?
By law, local authorities and their partners are required to plan for children’s services for their local area. To ensure that this is done effectively, it is important to understand the wellbeing and needs of children in each local area. Your local service providers will use the results gathered from this survey to help improve services for children and families.
What is my child being asked to do?
We are asking P5 to S6 children to fill in an online health and wellbeing survey. Your child will be asked to complete an online questionnaire during class time that will take around 20-40 minutes. Your child’s school will organise and arrange for children to take part.
Are you allowed to ask for this personal data about my child’s health and wellbeing?
Yes, as local authorities are required by law to plan for children’s services in their local area, they have a legal basis to ask children and young people about their lives and wellbeing to help them with this.
The individual data about your child is collected by your local authority for statistical and research purposes only for the performance of a task carried out for reasons of public interest.
Why do you need this data about my child’s health and wellbeing?
We need this information about your child/children in order to:
- plan and deliver better policies for the benefit of all children and families, or specific groups
- better understand some of the factors which influence the outcomes for children
- target resources better
- enhance the quality of research to improve the lives of people in Scotland
- provide a window on society, the economy and on the work and performance of local and central government
Will anyone see my child’s answers?
No one other than a small team of analysts within your local authority will see your child’s answers. These staff are trained to keep data safe, confidential and anonymous. You child will not be asked to type in their name into the survey. Your child’s answers will be stored securely by your local authority, and the school or teachers will not see any of your child’s answers.
All information will be confidential and secure. Your local authority will not publish or make publicly available any information that allows for your child to be identified, nor will data be routinely used to take any direct actions on your child as a result of the information they provide.
As your child’s answers are only to be used for statistical and research purposes, this means that nobody will use the information given by your child to actively identify individual pupil responses.
Glasgow City Council will not use the responses provided in the Health and Wellbeing survey to identify individual children and will not contact any pupils about the responses they have provided in the survey.
What topics will my child be asked about in the survey?
Your child will be asked questions that cover a wide range of topics, such as:
Your child’s -
- Attitude to school
- Perception of achievement
- Perception on the pressure of school work
- Physical activity/exercise
- Eating behaviours
- General health
- General wellbeing (life satisfaction)
- Mental wellbeing (S2 pupils upwards)
- Physical or mental health condition
- Sleep pattern
- Feeling of discrimination
- Relationship with peers
- Self-perception (body image)
- Social media and online experience
- Relationships with family / environment
- Relationships with parents/carers
- Resilience
- Involvement in decision making
- Use of alcohol (S2 pupils upwards)
- Use of tobacco (S2 pupils upwards)
- Use of drugs (S4 pupils upwards)
- Involvement in positive activities
- Caring responsibilities
- Experience of bullying
- Aspirations and career planning
- Relationships and sexual health (S4, S5 and S6 pupils only)
- Sedentary behaviour
- Perception on places to play
It should be noted that at the start of each section of the questionnaire (as listed above) pupils will be given the option to answer the questions in that section or to skip that section altogether.
Should you wish to view the survey prior to your child completing, then please contact your school and they will make this available for you.
More information about this data collection can be found here:
on the Scottish Government’s website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/health-and-wellbeing-census-2/
Will the information about my child health and wellbeing be shared with others?
Yes, your child’s answers will be shared with analysts at the Scottish Government using secure transfer systems. This information is shared so that the Scottish Government can use this information to develop and monitor national policies, to target and provide resources, and to provide Parliament, Ministers and the wider community with information in relation to the lives and wellbeing of children and young people. Your child will never be identified from any published findings.
Glasgow City Council will share your child’s Scottish Candidate Number (SCN) as well as their survey responses with the Scottish Government but no other information that will identify them (such as their name or contact details) will be shared with the Scottish Government.
The Scottish Government will use the SCN to link the survey responses to other data they hold on pupils. However, they cannot identify individual pupils from this information as they do not hold data on pupils’ names or contact details.
Will the Scottish Government share information about my child’s health and wellbeing with others?
The Scottish Government may further share data about your child with other approved organisations and researchers. However, data access will only be granted once this has been thoroughly reviewed and approved by their own data access procedures, and will only be shared for further statistical and research purposes. Your child will never be identified from any published findings.
Any sharing or linkage of data about your child/children will be done under the strict controls, and will be consistent with their data policy and the National Data Linkage Guiding Principles. At all times your rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other relevant legislation will be ensured. Your child will never be identified from any published findings as a result of any linked data.
You can find out more from looking at the Scottish Government’s own website https://www.gov.scot/publications/health-and-wellbeing-census-2/
How long will you keep the data about my child’s health and wellbeing?
Data held about your child within the local authority is managed effectively by secure systems on secure servers and is exploited as a valuable corporate resource, subject to confidentiality restraints.
The personal data we hold about your child will be stored for longer periods as the data will be processed solely for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes and is subject to implementation of the appropriate technical and organisational measures required by the GDPR in order to safeguard the rights and freedoms of individuals.
Once the analysis of the survey data is complete, Glasgow City Council will delete the SCN from the final dataset before it is stored.
It should be noted that the Scottish Government may retain the SCN with the survey responses for a longer period. Full details of this can be found in their privacy statement - Health and Wellbeing Census - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
Will my child’s answers affect the services they receive?
No. Your child’s answers will be combined with what other children have said, to produce statistical summaries that, in turn, help plan services in the future.
Does my child need to take part?
No. It is up to you and your child to decide to take part. You can opt-out of taking part by completing and returning the slip enclosed with this letter to your child’s school. Your child can also say to their teacher that they do not wish to take part at any time. Not taking part will have no impact on your child’s schooling or any services used.
What are my individual rights?
The GDPR gives you the right to object to the processing of your child personal data. However, where the processing of personal data is for scientific or historical research, or statistical purposes, these rights to object is more restricted.
Can I object to the processing of my child’s health and wellbeing data?
No. If your child takes part in the survey, then as the processing this statistical data is necessary for the performance of a task carried out for reasons of public interest, you do not have a right to object to the processing of your child’s personal data.
Can I ask for my child’s health and wellbeing data to be deleted?
No. If your child takes part in the survey, then as the processing this statistical data is necessary for the performance of a task carried out for reasons of public interest (and for no other purpose, such as direct marketing), we are not required to erase your personal data as we need to retain this data for this purpose.
The council will also be completely anonymising the data shortly after it is collected; once the data is anonymised, the council will be unable to identify the responses from any particular person and so cannot delete these responses even if asked to do so by that person.
Can I ask to see what data you hold about my child’s health and wellbeing?
No. If your child takes part in the survey, they are providing information to the council in the expectation that it will be treated as confidential. The council will also be completely anonymising the data shortly after it is collected; once the data is anonymised, the council will be unable to identify the responses from any particular person and so cannot provide these responses even if asked by that person.
How can I find out more?
You can find out more information about this survey at the Scottish Government’s website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/health-and-wellbeing-census-2/.
What if I have concerns?
In the first instance please contact your child’s school who will be able to advise.