Vol. 571 No. 1
465 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Science the documents relating to a prospective student's application to a secondary school the school is obliged to release to the parents of the prospective student. [19727/03]
466 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Science the documents relating to a prospective student's application to a secondary school the school can refuse to hand over to the parents of the prospective student. [19728/03]
467 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Science the documents of any sort a secondary school can withhold from the parents of a child; the reasons necessary for this action to be justified; and the monitoring procedures in place to ensure such actions are justified. [19729/03]
468 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Science the alternatives available to the parents of a child who are refused access to documents they are entitled to by a secondary school. [19730/03]
469 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Science the documents a secondary school is obliged to reveal to an appeals committee established by the Secretary General under section 29 of the Education Act, 1998. [19731/03]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 465 to 469, inclusive, together.
The Data Protection Amendment Act, 2003, which came into effect on 1 July 2003, brought manual records within the scope of data protection legislation and strengthened the rights of data subjects, persons whose personal data are retained on a file. Every person who holds personal data, whether manual or otherwise, is bound by the provisions of the Data Protection Acts.
In August 2003, my Department issued an advisory notice to schools in order to ensure that school management authorities were aware of their obligations under the Data Protection Acts, 1998 and 2003. It is advisable for schools to have a written data protection policy in place which sets out the types of personal data they collect, their purpose/s for collecting the data and the persons or bodies to which they are likely to disclose it. Data subjects should be made aware of the policy, and, in the case of data pertaining to the student and/or the student's parent/guardian, the process of making them aware of the policy should commence, ideally, in the context the enrolment process.
The Data Protection Acts allow data subjects to establish the existence of personal data relating to them, have access to, and be given copies of the data – with limited exceptions and to have inaccurate data rectified or erased. Sensitive personal data may also be obtained, processed and disclosed by a school where the principal is required to do so under an enactment, for example, the Education Welfare Act, 2000. Where the provisions of such an enactment apply, therefore, the consent of the data subject is not required.
There are modifications to the right of access in the interest of the data subject or the public interest, designed to protect the individual from hearing anything about himself/herself which might cause serious harm to his or her physical or mental health or emotional wellbeing. The office of the Data Protection Commissioner should be contacted regarding any queries on the legislation or its application, including complaints in relation to schools.
Under the procedures for hearing and determining appeals under section 29 of the Education Act, 1998, a board of management will be asked to submit any information or documentation which it considers may be relevant to the appeal, including, where appropriate, a statement outlining the reasons for the decision of the board of management. Information submitted by the board of management may also include relevant school records, documentation relating to any local procedures used, or such psychological or medical reports as may be held by the school in respect of the pupil concerned.
