INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
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The national pupil database compiles data from school censuses
The government has halted researchers and others from accessing personal information about UK schoolchildren, it has emerged.The Department
for Education said the step was a temporary move to modify the national pupil database's approval process.But a spokesman was unable to
provide further detail.The action comes ahead of the introduction of tougher data privacy rules later this month.A recent scandal involving
Facebook and the political consultancy Cambridge Analytica has raised concerns about the sharing of private data.The national pupil database
is designed to help experts study the effect of different educational strategies over time.Access was "paused" on 1 May, and the DfE has
said it expects to provide further information in June.Campaigners have raised concerns that many parents are unaware that data on millions
of English schoolchildren can be shared with academics and businesses.Applicants can request different levels of access, with the highest
level including individual children's names, addresses, ethnicities and disabilities, among other factors.A recent survey by the data
privacy campaign Defend Digital Me suggested most parents (69%) did not know about the data-sharing.Currently, parents and children are not
allowed access to their data.Gender, ethnicity, exam performance and reasons for absence can all be accessed by third parties under certain
rules.Defend Digital Me is calling for a change in how the data is managed.Prof Ross Anderson - a leading cyber-security expert at the
University of Cambridge - has also raised concerns, despite the fact that other researchers at the institution have made use of the
data."The government is forcing schools to collect data that are then sold or given to firms that exploit it, with no meaningful consent,"
he blogged on Monday."There is not even the normal right to request subject access so you can check whether the information about you is
right and have it corrected if it's wrong."Our elected representatives make a lot of noise about protecting children; time to call them on
it."Academic researchEnglish records in the national pupil database have been kept since 1998 and include more than 21 million named English
schoolchildren.Freedom of Information (FoI) requests made by Defend Digital Me also found data on 1.2 million Scottish children had been
collected since 2007, though in that case the pupils were not named.The information, collected by the DfE, is generally gathered via school
censuses.CountryNumber of childrenYear data collection
startedNamedEngland21,230,0001998YesScotland1,265,5012007NoWales1,034,9072003YesNorthern Ireland327,1222006YesSource: Defend Digital
MeRecords of who has accessed the data and why are available on the DfE's website.Requests from academic researchers make up the majority of
data extract applications processed by the DfE.Many relate to projects studying education in the UK, for example.Academic researchers' use
of personal datasets has faced scrutiny recently - notably after it was revealed that data gathered by a Cambridge University researcher had
been passed to Cambridge Analytica.There is no suggestion that Cambridge Analytica had accessed national pupil database records.Who accesses
data on school childrenBesides academic researchers, there are also requests from private companies, which use the data to aid education
policy consulting services to local authorities.The Home Office has requested data on schoolchildren under its immigration control and
Syrian resettlement programmes - though the latter request has yet to receive approval.The TheIndianSubcontinent's Newsnight programme also
requested data, in March 2017, when it was producing a package on the English school system
It was given tier-two access, which includes pupils' ages and ethnicities but not names or home addresses.The DfE records that Newsnight
later destroyed the data in accordance with rules around access.Media captionWATCH: What is GDPRDefend Digital Me has said that the
government does not currently allow parents or children the right to see records relating to them or to have them corrected if
inaccurate.According to the group's survey of 1,004 English parents - carried out by Survation - 79% would choose to see the records if they
were able to."Defend Digital Me is campaigning to have that changed, and wants the government to respect children's subject access rights in
the General Data Protection Regulation [GDPR]," the report said.Jen Persson, the group's director, told the TheIndianSubcontinent: "As a
mother with three children in primary school four years ago, I didn't know there was a national pupil database at all or that my children's
personal data were stored at named level, given away to commercial third parties."'Parents unaware'She said that everything she had since
discovered, thanks to research and FoI requests, was "not widely known at all".The research by Defend Digital Me "raises serious questions",
said Ailidh Callander, a legal officer at civil liberties group Privacy International."It is important that data practices in the education
sector are examined thoroughly - particularly given the sensitivity of children's data," she told the TheIndianSubcontinent.Image
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Defend Digital Me has also investigated the use of web monitoring software on
computers used at school
A spokeswoman for the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said that it had engaged with the DfE
about its processing of pupil data in the past "and continues to do so"."The GDPR requires that personal data is processed fairly, lawfully
and transparently, as well as enhancing people's rights," she said."We understand that the DfE is reviewing its processing of pupil data as
part of its GDPR preparations
And the ICO will continue to engage with the DfE on this."
