The Educational Visits Advisory Service (EVOLVE) Privacy Notice

Who we are and what we do  

The Educational Visits Advisory Service is delivered by the Health & Safety Team within Gateshead Council. We are based at the Civic Centre, Gateshead and provide a traded service for educational establishments, which includes the following: 

  • access to the web-based software system EVOLVE via Gateshead Council's account with the full range of user accounts to include Staff, Educational Visits Coordinator (EVC), head teacher and read only (Governor) users.  
  • technical support for the Evolve system to the EVC. 
  • advice and support via telephone, e-mail or site meeting (subject to availability), on all aspects of educational visits, through the establishment's EVC.  
  • nationally approved training for the establishment's EVCs and visit leaders 
  • monitoring the establishment's Educational Visits provision through documentation on EVOLVE and field visits, as well as reporting the findings to the establishment's EVC. 
  • provide advice to the establishment for planning its critical incident or emergency response for serious incidents during educational visits. 
  • provide support to the establishment in the event of a critical incident though advice in dealing with the aftermath of the incident and helping the establishment review its policies and procedures. 

This privacy notice provides specific information about how the Health & Safety Team process your personal data and is an addition to the information contained  our Corporate privacy notice. and Health and Safety (Traded Service).

What type of information is collected about you

  • the name, gender, date of birth and contact details, including email address and telephone number of those participating in educational visits
  • information about dependents and emergency contacts
  • details of your qualifications and skills 
  • information about medical or health conditions, dietary requirements, including whether or not anyone participating in a visit may have a disability for which reasonable adjustments are required
  • details of any accidents, near misses or health and safety incidents that may have occurred during a visit

Special Category data  

  • disability 
  • health condition 

How we collect information about you 

We collect this information in a variety of ways as follows: 

  • Information is recorded on EVOLVE by each establishment including date of birth and emergency contacts. The health and safety team use the information on EVOLVE to monitor, review, and approve educational visits
  • Information obtained via correspondence with you in relation to Educational Visits policies and procedures
  • learning activities and training courses you have attended.  This can be necessary to check competencies e.g. EVC training
  • Information recorded or processed relating to accidents, near-misses or incident investigations relating to an educational visit. This can include names, addresses, phone numbers health information, details of any witnesses or third parties

Why we need your information 

Our purpose for collecting your personal data is to: 

  • enable us to perform the services listed above and with accurate and up-to-date information 

The lawful basis for our processing is: 

  • task in the public interest with a basis in law. 

Our lawful basis for processing of sensitive personal data is:  

  • reasons of substantial public interest (with a basis in law) 

Who your information can be shared with 

Our Corporate Privacy notice sets out the general types of information sharing that the Council carries out to fulfil statutory obligations, legal requirements and service delivery. The Educational Visits Advisory Service can share your information with: 

  • Health and Safety Executive (HSE) 
  • Central government, Department for Education and regulatory bodies including CQC, OFSTED 

Our lawful basis for this sharing is legal obligation, or public task and your consent is not required. If we wish to share your information with other council services or third parties for purposes outside of those listed above, we will ask for your permission. 

How long we will keep your information 

We keep your information for as long as we need in order to provide the service to you. We may also need to keep your information in accordance with legal or other obligations. Where we have no need to keep your data it will be securely destroyed. We have Record of Processing Activity (a requirement under the GDPR) which sets out the specific retention periods applicable in different circumstances. For more information about this please contact csghealthandsafety@gateshead.gov.uk  

Where your information is held 

Data is securely held electronically on the EVOLVE web-based platform managed by eduFOCUS. 

How you can update your information 

Our delivery of efficient services depends on the accuracy of your information. 

Please inform us of any changes to the following: 

  • email address 

  • personal circumstances 

  • postal address 

  • any of the other information we hold  

To inform us of any changes please contact: csghealthandsafety@gateshead.gov.uk  

Your information rights  

Please see the relevant section of  our Corportate privacy notice.

Marketing and e-newsletters  

Please see our email marketing privacy notice.  

Business intelligence, profiling and automated-decision making  

Please see the relevant section of our Corportate privacy notice.

Protecting your information  

Please see the relevant section of our Corportate privacy notice.

Data Protection Officer  

Data Protection Officer  

Civic Centre  

Regent Street  

Gateshead  

NE8 1HH  

DPOcouncil@gateshead.gov.uk  

0191 433 3000  

Information Commissioner's Office  

The Information Commissioner is the UK's independent body for upholding information rights. Visit their website to find out more about your rights under Data Protection law, and what to expect from us. 

For privacy practices or data protection rights concerns, contact the Information Commissioner's Office:  

Information Commissioner's Office 

Wycliffe House 

Water Lane 

Wilmslow 

Cheshire SK9 5AF  

0303 123 1113 or 01625 545 745  

casework@ico.org.uk