Who are we?

The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham (the ‘Council’) is committed to ensuring that your personal information is protected, used lawfully and respectfully and in a transparent manner.

The Council is a registered data controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), registration number Z7517364.

London Borough of Barking and Dagenham’s Public Health Team has a duty to improve the health of our local population.

We obtain data from sources including the Office for National Statistics, NHS Digital, GP practices, and hospitals to understand the causes of diseases and the healthcare needs of our community.

This information may include personal data.

What information do we collect 

The Public Health Team collects various kinds of information to fulfill its duties, such as information:

• collected at the registration of a birth or death
• on the provision of public health services including immunisations, drug and alcohol treatment services, sexual health services, 0-5 health services, school nursing services, health improvement services and other public health initiatives
• about lifestyles and behaviours collected through population surveys
• regarding the prevalence of disease, including cancer registrations
• about health and social care use, including GP services, hospital services, pharmacy services, NHS community services, mental health services and social care services

Although much of this information is gathered at the population level, certain data relates to specific individuals. Information that pertains to an identifiable living person, which can be identified from that data alone or in combination with other details held by the entity, is classified as personal data.

We receive some personal data under specific data access agreements, typically including NHS Number, name, date of birth, and postcode.

National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP)

The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) is a nationally mandated public health programme. Data is collated through school nurses/NHS Community Services who visit schools across Barking and Dagenham and record the height and weight of children in Reception Year and Year 6 of Primary schools. This data is used for the child excess weight indicators in the Public Health Outcomes Framework, and is part of the government's approach to tackling child obesity.

The OHID provides strategic leadership and support for this programme, and local authorities deliver it. Data is uploaded to an NHSD web tool and processed for the OHID before results are returned to the Local Authority.

Parents receive letters or emails if a child is considered underweight or overweight or if results are specifically requested by the parents.

Articles 6 and 9 of the GDPR provide a gateway in the legislation for sharing where the processing is '…necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority' and for '…medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems…' respectively.

Further, sections 8 through 11 of the DPA 2018 clearly codify the lawful basis for processing personal data and special categories of personal data as stated in Article 6 and 9 of the GDPR.

As the Public Health function is set out in statute and funded to protect and improve health, the programmes commissioned in support of this objective fall within the listed GDPR criteria. Further information on lawful processing in this arena, is available from NHS Digital.

Details of data we receive from NHS Digital

We receive the following data from NHS Digital which is supplied to us under Data Sharing Agreements (DSAs). The terms of this agreement stipulate that data are supplied to us in accordance with section 42(4) of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 as amended by section 287 and section 261(5)(d) of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, and Regulation 3 of the Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002. 

The latter stipulates that the data can only be used for statistical analyses carried out by Public Health Analysts for Public Health purposes.

Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) –

Pseudonymised records about health care and treatment of patients within any English hospital. This contains data collected when someone is admitted to a hospital bed, treated as a day patient, attends as an outpatient, or attends an urgent care centre (such as an Accident and Emergency department). This data includes the patient's age, method of admission, source of admission, diagnosis codes, procedure and investigation codes, area of residence, hospital attended, date of attendance, and GP practice of patient.

Primary Care Mortality Database (PCMD)

In Barking and Dagenham, the PCMD data is used by the local authorities to perform public health functions, including improving the health of the people and commissioning appropriate public health services 2. This data helps in understanding mortality trends and patterns, which can inform health interventions and policies.

Births data tables

This dataset provides us with access to identifiable data about the number of births that occur within Barking and Dagenham. It includes the address of usual residence of the mother, place of birth, postcode of usual residence of the mother, postcode of place of birth of the child, NHS number of the child and the date of birth of the child but no names.

How we use your personal information

How we Collect it

The Public Health Team receives information from the public, as well as national and local NHS organisations, NHS Digital, and local authority services and organisations. This information is shared in compliance with data protection legislation principles.

Why we collect it 

Since 1 April 2013, the Health and Social Care Act 2012 has empowered local authorities to perform public health functions. This requires LBBD to improve residents' health and commission suitable public health services.

The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham collects and processes necessary information to fulfill these responsibilities. Any personal data collected is handled in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018.

How we use it

The Public Health Team in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham will examine health data and related information to assess the health needs and outcomes of local residents, and track trends and patterns in diseases and their risk factors.

Examples of what this analysis informs include:

• statutory responsibilities of the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA), the local Health and Wellbeing Strategy and the Director of Public Health Annual Report
• informing commissioning and design/delivery of services
• health equity analyses
• clinical audits
• identifying and tackling inequalities
• identifying priorities for action
• public health surveillance
• evaluation of performance of the local health and care system
• health protection and other partnership activities

To maintain confidentiality, personal data is not disclosed, and any counts fewer than five are excluded.

Lawful basis for processing your personal information

The local authority possesses legal status permitting the processing of personal confidential data for specific public health purposes, as stipulated under Regulation 3 of the Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002.

The legal foundation for the transfer of data for the aforementioned purposes is established under Section 42(4) of the Statistics and Registration Service Act (2007), as amended by Section 287 of the Health and Social Care Act (2012).

Article 6 1 (e) Public Task

Processing is necessary to perform our public tasks

Article 9 (2) (h) Preventive or occupational medicine

Processing is necessary for the purposes of preventive or occupational medicine, for the assessment of the working capacity of the employee, medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems and services on the basis of Union or Member State law or pursuant to contract with a health professional and subject to the conditions and safeguards referred to in Paragraph 3 of the GDPR.

Protecting your personal information

Compliance with the Data Protection Act (1998) is necessary to manage information securely, and this is reviewed annually through the NHS Information Governance Toolkit assessment.

Access to the information is restricted to authorised professionals with a legitimate legal requirement, utilising secure transfer methods. Staff are required to undergo regular training and adhere to data protection, information security, confidentiality, and safe handling protocols. Personal details are promptly anonymised during intelligence processing.

All data is stored securely and retained only as long as necessary per the relevant policy.

Personal identifiable information will only be shared with those processing the data for specific purposes, unless legally required. This includes cases where such disclosure is necessary to protect someone from serious harm or is needed for crime prevention or detection.

International Transfer of personal information

No personal information is transferred internationally.

Automated decision-making/profiling

Data processing may involve automated profiling for the purpose of understanding health needs.

Cookies

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Your Individual Rights

If you have any questions or concerns about the way we collect, store or use your personal information, please contact us in the first instance on 020 8726 6000.

To learn more about your Individual Rights, or how to raise a concern, please go to our General Privacy Notice page.

Last Reviewed   

22 May 2025