Data Protection and Disability: Information for staff
To ensure that as full a range of services as possible can be supplied to disabled students, departments may need to collect and process information on disability. The Data Protection Act 1998 stipulates specifically that information about someone’s disability is sensitive, and that the specific written permission of the student must be obtained before it can be collected. The use of blanket consent forms is not appropriate for the collection of sensitive personal data, including disability data.
Departments will often collect student disability information at the admission stage (for example, through UCAS, and through the reference letters, interviews etc.), but collection of disability data may also occur throughout the period of study.
Departments should ensure that:
- procedures are in place both to protect an individual’s privacy and to permit necessary disclosure for the provision of effective support for disabled students or to ensure health and safety.
- all applicants, students and staff are provided with adequate information about university policies relating to the confidentiality and disclosure of personal information on disabilities, including information that is gathered for monitoring purposes
- where disability data are provided by a student for a stated purpose, (for example, to ensure adequate service provision), they are not misused for other purposes, such as to make a decision about whether to admit a student to a course of study.
- when there is a need to disclose disability data to external organisations (such as potential employers), the prior consent of the student is obtained for each disclosure and the following information provided to the student: the nature of the information to be disclosed; the intended recipient; and the purpose of disclosure.
- there are safeguards in place to ensure that students who disclose their disability status are protected against discrimination, harassment, and victimisation
Further information can be obtained from:
Information Rights Manager, Clare Coyne
Tel: (0117) 928 7674 (Internal 7674)
Email: Clare.Coyne@bristol.ac.uk
Equality and Diversity Manager, Tracy Brunnock-Cook
Tel: (0117) 331 7029 (Internal 17029)
Email: Tracy.Brunnock-Cook@bristol.ac.uk